Golf - Too Posh For Bulgaria

Golf is a wonderful game in fact in my opinion too good for those who play it. This is what put me off plating golf in the UK, the worst kind of snobbiness and racist with it. Trying to join a golfing club in the UK being black was near on impossible when I lived there. Bulgaria as a major force in world golfing venues is doomed to fail, the sport it too posh for Bulgaria right now. If snobby golfers had a choice between Portugal or Bulgaria to play golf, where would they go? Will there ever be a time when Bulgarian can compete against the elite tourist destinations on the golf front. You can have the best golf club in the world but the location is everything with or without South African Gary Player who is in it for the money.

Golf was considered a sport of the capitalist elite and banned in Eastern Europe under the rule of communist regimes -- but in the 20 years since the Berlin Wall has fallen there has been a renaissance of the game in the region.

With rising disposable income and an increasing interest in leisure pursuits, a growing number of courses, more television coverage and availability of EU funds, the future of the industry in Eastern Europe is bright.

Bulgaria is one country where the sport is on the up. Eight years ago there were no golf courses but --to fulfil the increasing domestic demand and as a means to attract tourists to the region -- the country could be set for a boom in golf development.

Kancho Stoychev, vice president of Bulgarian Golf, believes that despite there being only 200 registered players in a country whose population is eight million there is set to be an explosion of interest in the sport.

Source: www.edition.cnn.com