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Athens Golf Club. (1924 – 1940)

According to the French guide “L’Annuaire des Golfs du Continent 1931” (Ed. Plumon, Paris) the Athens Golf Club was founded was founded in 1924. A 9-hole links course was built along the coast at Agios Kosmas, near Elliniko. According to Ellie Abravanel, publisher and editor of Golf and Tourism in Greece magazine, the course was not grass but sand mixed with light soil. Sometimes in the winter, sea waves flooded the course and, when dried, left a lot of salt on the fairways. Greens consisted of heavy sand [and oil], flattened by a light road roller. The fairways were made of dried mud. After every game, the green surface was flattened with a hard wide broom from the centre to the perimeter. Golfers used bottle tops as tees on the tee-box and on the fairways. The Club hosted social functions at its clubhouse, including an annual dance which, in the late thirties, King George II of Greece attended.

In 1931 the club had 300 members, the course was of 9-hole course and 2,500 yards long. The course record stood at 74 for amateurs and 64 for professionals (J.N. Farrar). The entrance fee was GBP 10 for gentlemen and GBP 5 for ladies, annual subscription GBP 6 for gentlemen and GBP 4 for ladies.

Prince Demidoff was the club president. Count Elim Pavlovich Demidoff, third Prince of St. Donato, (1863 – 1943) was the Russian’s Empire last ambassador to Greece. Speculating in 1895 about the richest man on earth, The Atlanta Constitution stated on 25 March 1895 that "the wealth of Elim Demidoff is beyond calculation.". In the early 20th century, Emperor Nicholas II sent prince Elim as the Russian ambassador to the Greek court. His Greek connections played a role when he arranged his nephew Prince Paul of Yugoslavia to marry Princess Olga of Greece and Denmark in 1923.

Already in 1913 Princess Demidoff  managed to rent from the Ministry of Finance 100 acres at Koupania in Kaesariani for ten years, in order to build a golf course there, and at the end of May of the same year a French engineer had arrived for this purpose. It is not known whether this golf course was ever opened or if the opening was delayed because of the outbreak of the great war. First sources confirming golf in Greece are dating from 1900 when Golf was at least practiced in the Sporting Club at Athens even though it is not known if a proper golf course was already built at that time.

Count Demidoff died in 1943 and is buried with his wife at the Russian Orthodox Church of the Holy Trinity, Athens.

Mr. Sakellarides was the club secretary and John N. Farrar was the resident British golf professional at Athens Golf Club during the early 1930s.

At that time golf in Greece was an elite sport like in other continental European countries. Members were primarily diplomats, wealthy Greeks who had learned to play golf abroad, and expatriates living in Greece. Or as the March 1927 edition of Proia referred to it as a 'sport for the privileged' and that 'golf is not one of the sports that can be popularised', but 'is for those with cars, time and money' and 'does not require the qualifications of an unfortunate youth'

By 1936 the Athens Golf Club had 400 members and in 1938 and 1939 Count Leonardo Mercati (1910 - 1974) was the club president. His father Alexander had played the 1900 Olympic golf tournament at Compiegne. The course record at Athens GC was now 62 (John Farrar) while Par was 66 and S.S.S. 70. The golf course became a casualty of World War II and was closed in 1940.

Christoph Meister, September 2021.

Further information on Golf in Greece can be seen on the link below.

https://www.golfgreece.com/the-story