More differentiated is the flair that is unique to each club. The old country clubs are particularly fascinating; for hobby golfers, their sport will be an experience unknown before. In most clubs, a lot of attention is paid to etiquette, appropriate golf clothing and correct play. You can see that in the courses: No matter where in Argentina, no matter what the vegetation and Climate zone, fairways and greens are mostly in perfect condition.
Frank Byczynski, who together with his wife Karina Rivero Almagro is behind thecompany Rivero Golf & Reisen, can confirm this from his own experience.
American care methods
The fairways seem to be more than just well-kept, despite the partly tropical heat. The secret of the Argentinean green-keepers heit tifway and is especially known from American golf courses. In Argentina, too, many clubs are now working with the artificially rolled out natural grass. Played off, the damaged turf is simply replaced by a new one, freshly bred. For the golfer this has several pleasant aspects: Not only does the lawn always look lush and green, but the ball always lies on a carpet, almost as if it were sitting on the tips of the blades of grass. This simply makes it easier and sometimes perhaps even better to play.
Playgrounds and noble places
Many clubs are characterized by a high level of comfort and nobility, others are more touristy and turn a golfing trip into a family experience. An example: The Jockey Club Cordoba is almost a small amusement park with all kinds of entertainment.
For in addition to an 18-hole golf course there is also a swimming pool as well as tennis and paddle courts. The surroundings of this playground are very inviting and the club, which is only five minutes from the centre of Cordoba, has made a good name for itself by bringing together different sports at one address.
The Jockey Club is not quite up to the high standards of the Cordoba Golf Club, but after all, the Cordoba Golf Course is considered the most important tournament course in Argentina with a par 72. World-class professionals such as Eduardo Romero or Angel Cabrera have almost made this their second home. If you want to explore Argentina’s tradition and culture, but don’t want to give up golf, you can come to Ascochinga, an area with a noble past and present. On such historical ground, culture becomes brittle and visible in all corners and ends.
The bird’s egg problem
No less interesting, because equally fascinating, is Argentina’s wildlife, which you can also get in touch with almost incidentally during a round of golf. Typically Argentinean are the so-called Teros, which for Europers look like Mwen on too long legs.
Many a golfer in Las Delicias, a course that hasn’t been on the hump for ten years, has been involved in tough battles with the birds. After all, such a small white golf ball can easily be confused with a small white tero egg for birds. Once the ball has rolled into the vicinity of their nests, which they have taken up off the fairway, the horde of birds forms and forms a defensive front. If you get too close, the Teros fly towards you like little kamikaze pilots, before they probably realise at the last moment that they are powerless against a golfer’s pitching iron and therefore buzz off to the side.
But there are also less nerve-racking and above all ball-saving encounters with nature. In some places, for example, little owls sit in the trees or on grass gels, watching every stroke and seem to chirp with glee when the ball once again lands in the river, over which only the shaky suspension bridge leads.
