Amateur golfers head to Morocco

A total of 32 amateur golfers from across the UK head off to Morocco next month to enjoy some welcome sunshine and to compete in the prestigious grand final of the 2014 Morocco Matchplay, powered by HowDidiDo (February 8-14).

All 32 competitors will enjoy complimentary return flights to Morocco, six-nights’ accommodation at the stunning, five-star L’Amphitrite Palace hotel, in Skhirat – with its own Atlantic Ocean beach – and five rounds of golf, at both the prestigious Royal Golf Dar Essalam, which hosted the last Moroccan Open in 2001, won by Ryder Cup star Ian Poulter, and the Tony Jacklin Casablanca.

Participants will also receive a welcome reception and cocktail evening, and a final night presentation gala dinner.

Four competitions culminate at the grand final, sponsored this year by the Moroccan National Tourist Office: singles, pairs, mixed pairs and senior pairs, with a total of 32 golfers, from across the UK, ultimately fighting it out for the titles. Each pair will have played up to four qualifying rounds merely to reach the regional final, with the knockout rounds taking place between June and September, and the regional finals in October.

The burgeoning Kingdom of Morocco has 29 golf courses to be enjoyed in year-round sunshine – plus 11 more under construction – and, with flight times of less than three-and-a-half hours from the UK and Ireland, it is a hugely attractive alternative to the more traditional golf destinations of Europe.

HowDidiDo is Europe’s largest golfing community, holding in excess of 21 million rounds of golf along with the handicaps, results and scores of more than 1,300,000 UK golf club members.  Around 2,000 golf clubs currently use the HowDidiDo system, allowing members to analyse their game and compare performance with other players – at their own club or across the entire HowDidiDo network. It is also used for official CONGU handicapping and competition results.

More than 460,000 golfers currently use the HowDidiDo website. What’s more, the brand is also the driving force behind two of the best supported amateur golf events in the UK: the annual Titleist Order of Merit – the largest golf event of its kind in the country – and the Morocco Matchplay, powered by HowDidiDo.

It is also currently engaged in a widespread campaign with the BOSS Watches H1 Club to reward all its registered golfers with a luxury timepiece should they record a hole-in-one during an official club competition. Since the programme launched in April 2013, more than 4,000 HowDidiDo golfers have received a limited-edition watch worth £225.

■ The Morocco Matchplay, powered by HowDidiDo, takes place from February 8-14, 2015. Daily updates from the competition will be available online at www.golftournamentsltd.com.

www.howdidido.com | www.howdididomatchplay.co.uk