The history of Andalucía Golf began in 1987 when two journalists, Antonio Sánchez and Rafael de Loma, who had been directors of the newspaper El Sol de España and the first Tribuna de Marbella, founded the company Interlínea Press to publish tourist publications.
They were later joined by Jeff Kelly, who worked in the advertising industry and collaborated journalistically in the newspaper Sur in English. It was Jeff who proposed, in the early summer of 1987, to do a special publication for the Ryder Cup that was to be played that year in Columbus, Ohio, at the Muirfield Village course, designed by Jack Nicklaus (by the way, Europe retained victory in the tournament, this time by 15-13). “Neither Rafael nor I,” recalls Antonio, “were very aware of what the Ryder Cup or the world of golf in general meant, but we took the plunge and made a first publication, dedicated exclusively to that event.”
In that embryonic edition of Andalucía Golf, we had the support of Turismo Andaluz, through Javier Baselga, then director of Promotion of that public company of the Junta de Andalucía, who understood perfectly what golf already meant and what it was going to mean as a tourist segment for the region. The then president of Valderrama, Jaime Ortiz Patiño, also collaborated in the initiative. “Although his course didn’t need publicity, he decided to support us because I think he already had in mind the idea of trying to get the Ryder Cup for his course at some point,” Antonio recalls. That first edition was also financially supported by many people from the world of golf on the Costa del Sol, among them one of the pioneers of golf in that area, Enrique Canales, and other golf course directors from the Golf Valley, such as Pascual Bejarano, etc.
With 6,000 copies of the creature, in tabloid format, newsprint and full color, Antonio, Jeff and Rafael presented themselves at Muirfield Village, “The truth is that it was a shock for the Americans,” recalls the editor of Andalucía Golf, “because no one had ever done anything like it before; no one, least of all from Spain, had ever presented themselves in the United States with 6,000 copies of a publication to distribute there. They were so surprised that they even let us distribute it on the course, because they were not used to it. At the Ryder Cup they were not used to doing these things, there are no stands and there is no promotion of this kind. But they were so amazed that some guys came from Spain with that publication that they let us put it everywhere, in the clubhouse, in the hospitalities, in the parking lots…”.
In view of that success, it was decided to continue with a golf publication that would also be a periodical. Thus was born the magazine, which at first was called Interlínea Golf (based on the name of the company) and had a tabloid format (newspaper size). A few months later it was decided to change the name and call it Andalucía Golf. In the first issues it was printed on newsprint but in a short period of time it was printed on couché paper. Rafael de Loma left the project because he went to run a newspaper and Antonio and Jeff remained in the company. The magazine, bilingual from the beginning, was of the so-called reversible type, that is, with two covers and read on one side in Spanish and on the other in English.
Already in the first year of life of the publication, we began to collaborate with Volvo to make the Official Journal of the Volvo Masters. At that time, thirty years ago, those newspapers were made in black and white for technical reasons, since the computer technology of that time was light years away from the current one. That tournament diary was something new in the world of golf. “We proposed it to Mel Pyatt (president of Volvo Events Management and ‘father’ of the Volvo Masters), he liked the idea… and we did it until the last tournament was held, 21 years later,” says Antonio.
Alberto Fernández Galindo joined the Andalucía Golf project from the beginning as commercial director and remained with the company for twelve years until he joined Golfspain. Almost from the beginning, Eduardo García Palacios joined the company as director of the magazine.
When the publication was born, Andalusia had barely thirty golf courses (today there are almost 120), the vast majority of them on the Costa del Sol, although the sector was already beginning to boil. There were numerous golf projects, although not all of them went ahead. “We lived through the birth of many golf courses, the laying of the first stones,” recalls Antonio.
In the early 1990s, the company began to publish an annual edition of a golf pocket guide for the Andalusian Regional Government, and also began international tourism promotion activities with the public company Turismo Andaluz, such as the British Open, workshops with tour operators, etc. “Our activity was no longer limited to the editorial aspect, with the magazine, the official newspapers and the guides, but we were beginning to diversify and promote Andalusia’s golf offer with international actions,” says Antonio.
In 1989, the company organized a business exhibition in Hong Kong for the Costa del Sol, which was attended by important businessmen from Andalusia. Such was the success of the initiative that it was repeated the following year.
Another business initiative undertaken by Andalucía Golf was Expo Golf Marbella, which became, in 1989, the first show of its kind to be held in Spain (the Madrid and Barcelona golf fairs were created later). It was held at the Palacio de Exposiciones of the aforementioned coastal city and was a great success, both in terms of exhibiting companies and the public. There was even a dazzling exhibition of acrobatic golf by the juggler Noel Hunt.
In the early 90’s, Jaime Ortiz Patiño decided to fight to bring the Ryder Cup to Spain. From the beginning, Andalucía Golf joined this initiative as the press office of the president of Valderrama to achieve that goal. “We collaborated with him creating the image that Valderrama and Andalucía were the only places where this tournament could really be held, because, although many people think that the only candidate for the Ryder Cup was Valderrama, the truth is that there were a large number of aspirants throughout Spain. Our job was to make the PGA Europe, the people who decided on the Ryder Cup, see that Valderrama had the institutional support of Andalucía, that it was the best possible course and that it had demonstrated its organizational capacity with the Volvo Masters,” says the editor of Andalucía Golf.
The 90’s were the years of the construction boom of golf courses on the Costa del Sol and also of the great tournaments in the region, not only of the Ryder Cup, the Volvo Masters and the Andalucía Open, but also of the American Express World Championships, which were played in Valderrama two years in a row, after the Ryder Cup. In all these major competitions, Andalucía Golf was in charge of the official tournament diaries, as well as those of the Spanish Open played at San Roque Club, and the Volvo Match Play World Championships played at Finca Cortesín.
American Adventure
A very pleasant and not without complications was the experience of making the official diary of the Ryder Cup at Oak Hill, Rochester, in 1995. That American adventure was a great success and caused a sensation among American fans, as it was the first full-color tournament diary to be produced at the same club where the Ryder Cup was being held.
Another important publication in the life of this company was the Golf in Andalucía guide, with extensive and detailed information on the entire golf offer in the region, with descriptions and characteristics of the courses, prices, how to get to the courses, etc., as well as tourist information and information on hotels with agreements with golf courses.
The guide was born at the beginning of the 90s “to counteract a bit the moment of crisis that golf was going through at that time”, says Antonio, “because there was a perception among tour operators and European golfers that Andalusian golf courses had raised their prices a lot, that they were very saturated, etc. We produced the guide with complete price information to show that this image was not true and that the quality/price ratio was not as negative as it was portrayed”. In addition to the traditional Spanish-English editions, some German-Swedish editions were also produced.
Andalucía Golf has been present in practically all the major international tournaments, in many of them with a tourist promotion stand. “We have been to tournaments in the United States, Great Britain, Ireland, Germany, Sweden, Switzerland…. We were the only Spanish golf magazine covering all these major international events,” says Antonio.
The publication evolved over the years and changed from the tabloid format to the current magazine format, modernizing its design and expanding its pagination. Andalucía Golf is currently the oldest magazine in circulation in the region and also the oldest in Spain.
Spain Golf is born
In the mid-1990s it was decided to create a national edition, España Golf, because many courses where the magazine was sent outside Andalusia had the idea that it was a strictly regional magazine.
As a publishing company and apart from magazines, the aforementioned official journals of major tournaments and golf guides for various institutions (Junta de Andalucía, Patronato de Turismo de la Costa del Sol, Mancomunidad de Municipios de la Costa del Sol, Ayuntamiento de Marbella, Ayuntamiento de Benahavís, etc.), Andalucía Golf has made and makes books, newsletters, agendas and personalized calendars for golf clubs, brochures and advertising designs, golf foldouts, etc.. We have even made a hiking guide of the western Costa del Sol.
On May 15, 2003, Jeff Kelly, one of the pillars of the company, passed away due to illness.
In 2008, months after the twentieth anniversary of the magazine, Andalucía Golf organized the Andalusian Golf Awards, a splendid gala held at the Incosol Hotel in Marbella, which brought together some 400 people from the world of golf. Among others, Miguel Ángel Jiménez, Azahara Muñoz and Jaime Ortiz Patiño received awards.
A couple of years ago Stefan Tjellander, a successful Swedish businessman based in Spain for three decades and owner and general manager of Holiday Golf, the largest wholesale distribution company of golf items (clothing, footwear, clubs, balls, trolleys, bags, accessories…) to stores and golf clubs in our country, joined the company as a partner. This company, which celebrated its silver jubilee last year and is based in Marbella, is also a leader in Portugal and also distributes in Italy, Turkey, Morocco and Bulgaria.
Operating from a head office and main warehouse in Marbella, Holiday Golf is the leading wholesale distributor of golf products (apparel, footwear, clubs, balls, carts, bags, accessories…) to golf shops and clubs in Spain. It is also the market leader in Portugal, and distributes in Italy, Turkey, Morocco and Bulgaria. The company celebrated its 25th anniversary in 2016.
Permanent update
In these times in which it seems that our country is finally beginning to leave behind the long period of tribulations and economic uncertainties, Andalucía Golf, as a company, continues to update and adapt to the new demands of our customers, offering not only the advertising support of the magazine but also a web portal (andaluciagolf.com and espanagolf.es), social networks and newsletters in Spanish and English that reach tens of thousands of European golfers. By the way, ours is the first golf magazine in Spain to hold the distinction of Accredited Publication by IAGTO, the world’s leading association of golf tour operators.
Another facet of the company is the organization of tournaments, and in this regard highlights the Andalucía Golf Challenge Circuit, which for seven years has been held in summer in the best golf courses on the Costa del Sol (RCG Sotogrande, La Reserva, Valderrama, San Roque Old, RCG Guadalmina, Flamingos…) and attracts great interest among amateur players both Spanish and foreign.
Finally, Antonio dedicates a few words of thanks to all those who have trusted and trust in the magazine as an effective advertising medium to promote their products or companies: “From the beginning we have had great support, without which a magazine of these characteristics cannot function. I would like to express my most sincere thanks to both former clients, who have supported us from the beginning, such as Valderrama or San Roque Club, and to those who have joined us over the years, such as Sotogrande S.A., Finca Cortesín, to name but a few”.
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