If we have seen the flag hoisted mostly on football pitches or athletic fields all over the world, this is because of tradition: the culture of this sport is recent.The first golf course opening didn’t happen till 1917 in Tanger (18 holes) an international city at the time with many foreigners, mostly Europeans and diplomats. Until the beginning of the 1950’s the were no more than 5 to 6 golf courses in the whole country most of them privately owned. The second oldest “Royal Golf Course of Marrakech “(18 holes) dating back to the 1920’s, had known many famous players like Lloyd George or Eisenhower but especially Winston Churchill. A regular at the mythical palace “The Mamounia” Churchill kept a suite bearing his name and was exclusively reserved for him. It also served as a painting studio and was kept intact for his arrival. Legend has it that the British Prime Minister’s arrival was announced by the carriage that preceded him carrying his luggage and quite a few cases of whiskey!
To help this sport to become an established part of the local custom France’s top leaders) have really put themselves out there by using their century experience to help Morocco to catch up. Pierre Massie the general secretary of the FFG has recently stated in a magazine “Morocco is a predilection golfing destination. It’s an eldorado of golf situated just hours from Paris and holding some excellent golf courses in which the welcoming is legendary! The federation is anyhow going to help with training referees, the managing of the club and the green keeping Morocco is one of French golfers preferred destinations: 14% of them choose it for a holiday and 59% of the 70 000 foreign golfers who play here every year, come from France. As well as being blessed with weather that enables you to play all year round, whereas winter in France and the rest of Europe leads to less use of the courses. Morocco, during The Alpstour event, receives 200 European pros for training. At the beginning of January at the Gold Dar Salam under the management of Olivier Leglise and Patrick Talon, about a dozen pros amongst them Gregory Bourd and Gwladys Nocera took two weeks to get themselves ready and trained. Just after, the nine French pole players took over for two weeks playing side by side on the same course as Patrice Amadieu and Alexandre Bosseray.
The kingdom boasts 17 courses which at best are only used 27% of the time. However 13 new courses of 18 holes are under plan in the Casa Blanca Fés regions. They will be fitted with 6 watering stations and on the horizon for 2010 with an aim to attain 10 million tourists as opposed to the present 5 million. From this date onwards we are hoping to greet 172 000 golfers per year as opposed to the 57 000 in 2004. The general profit from this is currently 570 million dirham but will soon become 1.7 billion dirham. “Once this project has been carried out, 867 000 green fees will be sold per year generating 347 million dirham profit, according to Kamil Kholti who is the communications manager at the Royal Moroccan Golf Federation, as opposed to 91 million dirham in 2004. He precisely explained that tourism linked to golf is developing 5 times quicker and that 10% of golfers in the world associate their sport to with tourism and therefore spend 30% more than other tourists.
For 34 years The Hassan II challenge which takes place at the end of February with prizes totaling 5,000,000 dollars, pays homage to the one who helped to put golf into action in Morocco where at one time it would never have been considered: the late Hassan II father to the present sovereign. A passionate golf lover who could never have imagined spending his holidays without being far from a green where he was able to play his favorite sport. He even had a magnificent 45 holed golf course (350 hectares, 300 employees) at his palace for social purposes. It became a sort of annex open to the most powerful and diligent. Receiving ministers and national dignitaries or foreigners the king often made his decisions whilst “putting”.
For Jean- François Remesy n°1 French “the amount of organized events during this challenge are becoming more sumptuous than the previous. We are royally invited and we aren’t used to this type of life in European circles” Mohammed Bennani Smires, president of Anfa golf in Casablanca and Mohammedia, has established a fine and delightful welcome for foreign golfers calling this the “fchouch”. This popular term is used to describe whims when you purposely spoil a child. He higgledy piggledly describes all the special treatments start right from the flight where Royal Moroccan airlines carry their baggage for free their shoes are waxed and shined ready for them when they get out of the shower not to mention the number of available caddies at their service.
Upon leaving a green at Marrakech the golfer can easily take a trip to the mountains and meet other French golfers. Youths dressed casually and university students often “marabou pilgrims” near Essaouira worshipping “Sisi Kaouki” imploring for wind. Lots of wind that will bring on big waves and enable them to practice their sacred dedication to their ministry: windsurfing just facing the mausoleum and then when there is no more wind they can go up to the Atlas Mountains to entertain themselves. Overlookingthe magnificent array of palm trees of the ochre colored town beneath. We have knowingly criticized the “multiplication» of golf courses under the reign of the deceased king in a country where agriculture has to be the principal vocation or drought will tend to become a main structure. Paradoxically: it’s actually due to this policy of multiple dams and golf courses that the management of water in Morocco has become an international reference and that this country knows how to handle hydrous stress. All the 13 golf courses currently under plan have been authorized but provisions must be made to make sure that the green keeping uses mainly recycled water and ultra modern sprinklers with an extremely modern turf. The preliminary studies show that more than half a hectare of a golf course consumes a lot more water than a cultivated hectare for a much larger income, without counting the amount of employees otherwise being a lot more than a hectare! The problem of water wastage in a golf course is a false problem Bennani Smires reassures us about this fact on a final note. All that’s left to get around is the difference between a tomato and a golf hole! Riad Laora
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The establishment of golf courses in imperial cities, ancient capitals fraught with history, allows foreign golfers to admire between a couple of matches, the numerous ruins from an ancient civilization. The square Jemaa El Fna, the only one in the world, found in Marrakech, with its narrators, snake trainers, monkeys and other creatures at the foot of the famous minaret of the Koutoubia. The old Fes medina swarming with craftsmen’s studios, the Quaraouiyne, the oldest university in the world, founded in 859 by a woman. The stables at Mehknès stretching for miles for the 12,000 horses owned by the monarch Moulay Ishmael the modern version of Louis XIV. Salé, a famous city of pirates at the foot of Rabat… The delightful hospitality in Morocco is extended into the kitchen where cooking is renowned for its richness, eloquence and grand variety. The food here lives harmoniously with French cooking and is becoming more and more reputable for certain top chefs sometimes given stars in many famous restaurant guides. Just a horse and carriage ride away from the multi coloured narrow winding streets you can find at most of the top hotels ultra modern health spas fitted with steam and sauna rooms Jacuzzi and a gym.
 
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