Oceanico.Faldo Golf Course Closed

[carvoeiro1]

Can anyone confirm that The Oceanico group have closed the Faldo couse due to financial problems, even after reducing there green fees?

[martin]

where did you hear this?

[EMM]

They were playing golf on it a few days ago.

[carvoeiro1]

I couple of members of the course staff that have been laid off! had informed me

[blue]

Apparently the Oceanico group are very sensitive about any suggestion of their having any financial difficulties & have threatened other websites with legal action for allowing postings that say they are having problems. I saw people playing on the course last week when I got on the A22 at Alcantarilha.

[dodger]

14 guys willing to pay 50euros each to play there in mid june if anyone from the group reads this!!
Maybe if they charged less than the 125e they would have less money problems....thats if they do have problems at all of course!

[Graham]

Agreed - there prices were totally out of keeping with the area - hopefully they will come down to a rate I can afford by the Summer (Oceanico in Vilamoura were offering some cracking deals last year)

[EMM]

Excellent deals at Morgado 30 euros after 3.30 pm . Gramacho only 20 euros for buggie hire for twilight golf.

I think that they are getting the message.

[martin.cork]

I agree that the price of Golf is expensive in the Algarve, I have played the O' Connor Course and booked to play the Faldo Course in June.
The price includes the cost of buggies complete with water in ice, Strokesaver,tees, etc.
The clubhouse is excellent and the service is 5 star. The price all in should be around €100 in line with other
premier golf clubs in the region.
An offer of €50 to play this course is an insult, compare this to €30 at Vale de Milho.
Oceanico will have to reduce their fees in line with the rest of Europe. One can see that the cost of sterling versus the euro, the recession, and also the increased prices is having a big effect on tourism.
Maybe around Villamoura was busy this year but the golfers have deserted areas such as Carvoeiro.
Competition is also needed, Oceanico have a monopoly in the Algarve, We will wait and see.

[dodger]

I think you will find my offer of 50euros was tongue in cheek so please climb down from your high horse....the price of 125euros is however a joke especially at the fact that they are struggling to get folk playing after the initial flock of people after opening.
I have four times now contacted the company direct by email to their golf desk to request a quote for 14 of us to play after 1pm between 18th-23rd June and I have still not received a reply!!
Surely 14 x say an offer price of 90euros in the height of the summer when the course is quiet would be better than offering us 14 x 125euros and us declining??

The way I see it is that the Algarve is in danger of going down the route the Costa del Golf has done and golfers shunning it because they charged overflated prices for courses that were not worth it,the Costa Brava has the right idea in that the prices for playing golf are competitive and the courses are mostly great quality.

[Graham]

I don't see why 50 euros was such an insult - Gramacho and Pinta in June are only 45 euros each for 2 players including a buggy and from my visit to the Oceanico courses I cannot see that they are that much better than Pinta (ok, free water and tees - big deal)

I think it is odd that you say golfers have deserted Carvoeiro - advanced tee bookings in both February and April were very hard to make this year - as far as I could tell the courses were as near full as I have ever seen them. This is perhaps because of the special deals with the Pestana hotel groups - I see Oceanico are trying the same ploy but it is hard to get die hard 'golden triangle' golfers to travel more than a few miles outside their comfort zone.

The Vilamoura courses were offering superb deals last year (from memory, I think I paid 60 euros for myself and my son with a buggy on Laguna and about 90 Euros for 3 of us - yes, a bit of blagging was involved! - on Pinhal) - I sincerely hope that the Almondeira courses offer the same kind of deals this summer or they are going to be very quiet courses indeed.

PS It is the price at Val de Milho that is a joke, not the other way round!

[martin]

general report here thats worth a read

http://www.algarveobserver.com/cna/noti ... icia=29051

[ken]

Tend to agree that alot of the Eastern Algarve courses are taking the P*** on green fees, particularly many of the newer ones which have paid over the odds for 'named' designer and are desperately trying to re-coup this in chunky green fees and the courses just do not warrant these fees.

I stupidly paid E175 to play Nicklaus Course (Monte Rei) last summer expecting it to be out of this world but was really dissapointed (bland landscape, average greens, un-kept bunkers). To make matters worse when we complained (first time in my life have ever done so at course) they just shrugged their shoulders and gave us our free key ring momento and said 'hope we enjoyed the Nicklaus experience'.

They have got to realise that with todays exchange rate, when you are getting into the 75E+ green fee band you are up against some excellent courses in the UK. When you get into the 'silly league' 125E+ green fees courses (Monte Rei, San Lorenzo and some of the Oceanica) they are up against most UK open courses, Wentworth, Belfry etc so unless they offer a point of difference either in quality or price, people will just stop at home in UK. I know a group of people that have cancelled golf trips to Portugal due to green fees and even forfeited flights.

For what its worth, I agree with the earlier reply that Pinta is probably as good as most new courses in the algarve. However, if you want a course with a different feel then would pick Penina every time (excellent condition and great greens), and they sometimes have good summer deals around the 55E mark.

[widge]

I have seen how sensitive the Oceanico Group are about these rumours of their financial difficulties. I suspect there is some truth in them and that they are over extended and are seeking to make disposals - latest i heard was that both the new courses had been offered to Pestana but they declined.

The Irish economy is in the s...t and their banks have been subject to toxic debt and scandal, it wouldn't surprise me if Oceanico were running short of cash and the banks were leaning on them.

I support the view that golf here is too expensive but regret that every time i try to book Pinta or Gramacho they're full. Too many deals tied to selling bed nights in hotels and villas in exchange for cheap guaranteed tee times!

Too bad Oceanico didn't build hotels as well.

[ken]

Fair point about Pinta and Gramacho tee times are not that freely available, since every time I book seems fairly full. Normally via one of the discount green fee companies, and possibly they have slots allocated.
Suppose if its always busy, Pestana must be doing right marketing wise that other courses can learn from.