The League Secretary, Dave Warren, visited Morocco recently as a guest of the Moroccan Golf Federation, with the intention of exploring reciprocal opportunities for our League Juniors and the Moroccan Juniors. Dave flew from Edinburgh, after his aircraft was de-iced, and landed 4 hours later in Marrakech, Morocco, North Africa. After changing into shorts and polo shirt, he played the two excellent courses where the LET final Q school qualifying was to be held. A few days later Dave took the train to Rabat where the MGF is based. There is a strong commitment to golf in Morocco which now has 10,000 players and 50 golf courses. In Rabat, Dave met with Officials of the MGF at the Dar Es Salam Golf Club, where there are two 18 hole courses and a 9 hole course. Dave was shown the new facilities being built, which included a new, state of the art, Golf Academy, a massive driving range and extensive short game practice areas, and putting labs. This facility is possibly better than any to be found in Europe. This link takes you to a time-lapse video of the construction process involved in the Academy. The MGF will also be building accommodation for visiting performance squads, so there is a good chance that a small squad from East Lothian might get some winter training there. Dave watched some Junior coaching taking place,. He also played 3 times on the shorter 9 hole Green course, which was shaped by his son Ben a few years back. Ben also worked on the reconstruction of the Blue and Red courses, the latter of which has hosted the Moroccan Open, a European Tour event. Dave found that course was a bit difficult, having a slope rating of 155 from the back tees! Dave also had brief meeting with HRH Prince Moulay Rashid, who is the President of the MGF, and a very keen golfer.
Photos – The driving range, Dave with 3 Moroccan Juniors, the short game tee area, and the newly built Academy HQ.