Costa Navarino tees off landmark year of engaging golf events

An exciting year has started at Costa Navarino as leading players and international associations from the amateur and professional golfing world head to Messinia, Greece, for a series of golf events at Europe’s newest golf destination.

The Confederation of Professional Golf (CPG) chose Costa Navarino as the host for its Annual Congress and International Team Championship from February 20-24, the first in a busy calendar of events that the destination will be staging in 2023.

The CPG, an association of 39 National PGAs, headed to the Mediterranean’s prime sustainable destination for a series of seminars, serious championship competition and the opportunity to enjoy some relaxed networking in the pristine and unspoiled seaside landscape of the southwest Peloponnese.

The event begins a busy year for golf at Costa Navarino as players and international organisations take up the chance to experience the destination’s awarded golf and hospitality offering, more than 40 gastronomy venues, state-of-the-art sports facilities, and a wealth of experiences to engage with the region’s culture, history and nature.

After hosting the International Seniors Amateur Golf Society from May 13-20, when seniors from countries across the world including Australia, Thailand, Mexico and the United States will gather in Greece to contest the 2023 Mid-Winter Championship over 72 holes, one of the highlights of the 2023 domestic golf calendar will come a month later when the destination stages the Hellenic National Stroke Play Championship.

Taking place from June 29 to July 2 on the world’s first International Olympic Academy Golf Course, the tournament is the flagship event of the Hellenic Golf Federation, which determines the year’s national champions as well as shaping Greece’s national teams for the federation’s summer activities.

The International Olympic Academy Golf Course – one of two new José María Olazábal-designed layouts that opened at Navarino Hills in 2022 – will also have the honour of hosting the European Golf Association (EGA) European Team Shield Championship (Men’s and Ladies’) from August 2-5. Organised by the EGA and the Hellenic Golf Federation, the event brings together developing golf nations across the continent for the chance to be crowned European champions.

Related: GolfMagic chats to Jose Maria Olazabala at Costa Navarino

Autumn is also shaping up to be a busy time for Costa Navarino including the Greek Maritime Golf Event (September 7-10), the Global Amateur Golf Tour (September 22-29), and the Eagle Presidents Golf Cup (end of October), before the 2023 golf season comes to a fitting finale in November with the second edition of the Olazábal and Friends Charity Pro-Am.

Professionals and amateurs from around the golfing world including global golf icon Miguel Ángel Jiménez joined José María Olazábal at the inaugural event in November, which offer amateurs the exclusive opportunity to join the two-time Masters champion and his professional friends in an up-close and intimate playing experience on the courses he designed.

Named as the ‘World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination’ at the 2022 World Golf Awards, guests at Costa Navarino can now enjoy the challenge of four layouts within a 13km maximum distance, with each – The Dunes Course, The Bay Course, the International Olympic Academy Golf Course and The Hills Course – offering a different challenge and created according to the destination’s sustainable practices.

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