Peter J. Pappas Bringing Golf to Greece .NEO's November edition is online. Check it out!

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Which country has legendary vistas of sun, sea and sky and beautiful weather most of the year? Greece, of course, and yet Greece has never been a go-to destination for aficionados of a fair weather sport like golf. Until now—if Peter J. Pappas has his... way. An avid golfer (he and his pal Telly Savalas played legendary matches) the New York-born Pappas, who learned his game on the driving ranges and links of the Big Apple. He later played with presidents and Hollywood royalty and has been petitioning the Greek government to make golf one of their priorities to attract new visitors and new sources of income. by Dimitri C. Michalakis “At the present time Greece is selling four or five months of sun, sand and loukoumades,” says Pappas, the founder of P.J. Mechanical in New York, a leading Heating, Ventilating & Air Conditioning (HVAC) contractor. “I’m trying to impress on them that golf in many countries surrounding Greece, such as Bulgaria and Croatia, aside from Italy, Spain and France, are becoming fast growing golf destinations. They're promoting that because they realize that in the off season, it brings in more travelers. More travelers require more services: ground transportation, restaurants, clothing to buy, hotels to stay in, etc. It keeps the economy humming and that’s my whole purpose for Greece: to impress on them that we can establish a whole new industry for the country that will create jobs and revenue, which is desperately needed.” The first step is to cut the notorious red tape that makes every business venture in Greece an odyssey, and Pappas says he has been given assurances at the highest level. “I spoke with the Prime Minister and I spoke with the Minister of Tourism and his Deputies and they assured me that this will be put on a fast track basis with only 8-12 months needed for approvals,” he says. “This will change the whole business climate, so investors don’t look at Greece and say I’m not going to invest there because I might have to sit on my land for who knows how long before I can put a shovel to the ground. That’s been one of the obstacles all along.” There is a new website about Greece as a golf destination, which Mr. Pappas’ group has initiated: http://www.greeceisgolfing.com, and a Facebook page and an existing magazine devoted to the Greek golfing scene (Golf & Leisure in Greece), which offers tantalizing glimpses of golf courses that exist now in Greece and more. “Today, for example,” says Pappas, “Greece has several golf courses.” There is the venerable Glyfada Golf Course, with a pine-studded course and a view of the Saronic Gulf, and the course is open year round. There is the Corfu Golf Club on Corfu, the Porto Carras Golf & Country Club in Halkidiki, and the Afandou Golf Course on Rhodes, which is next to the Golf View Hotel and overlooks a course designed by David Haradine. There is the Crete Golf Club at Chersonissos, which has hosted the Aegean Airlines Pro-Am and the Porta Alunda Par 3 Course at Alunda. Lastly, one cannot overlook the spectacular Costa Navarino resort in Messinia, which is already one of Greece’s premier golfing destinations. The resort now features two golf courses: Navarino Dunes and Navarino Bay, with separate clubhouses and attached 5-star hotels, as well as residential real estate on seafront property with access to the golf courses. The Dunes Course was designed by former US Masters Champion and Ryder Cup Captain, Bernhard Langer and the Bay Course by American architect Robert Trent Jones with a par 71 course that offers some challenging greens. There is a Hellenic Golf Federation with hundreds of members, in addition to the P.G.A. office at the Glyfada Golf Club. Mr. Pappas says “the PGA Hall of Fame, which I visited, is very anxious to include Greece as part of it's membership. We have the Faldo (Series Junior Golf Championship) at the Glyfada course for anyone up to the age of 18, which just finished it's second series. Greece is a member of the PGA's of Europe and was given the highest rating for it's Agean pro-am played at the Costa Navarino. The course was magnificent, but other than that, the " filotimo" of the Greeks, our traditional service and kindness , has put us on the top of their list." So with Greece being such a natural for the sport,why hasn’t the game taken root there long ago? “Number one, Greeks don't understand golf,” Pappas tries to explain. “They think it is for the elite. The Glyfada course, as I understand, was built by the Army Corps of Engineers only because of the U.S. base located there. Once the Army pulled out, they left the golf course behind, I think, to the city of Glyfada. There is a Board in operation and some of that income is divided between the city and the golf course. However, it hasn’t been promoted well. Friends of mine who built the Costa Navarino site were golf enthusiasts and they realized by traveling around to different parts of the world, playing golf, that golf made sense for Greece as well. You don’t have to limit yourself to just 4-5 months of tourist season. You can play golf year round and bring in tourist revenue throughout the year in a climate such as Greece.” KPMG stated that Greece has over 300 playable golf days. Pappas himself started playing golf as a kid in New York; paying a few bucks to drive a few balls at a driving range and it created a lifelong passion. He's hoping that Greek kids can also be introduced to the sport early and grow with the game. They will be the future for golf in Greece. “What I try to impress on developers and the ministries,” he says, “is to provide some land and space in schools, gymnasiums, and auditoriums, where we can bring professionals to teach the game. By the way, we have Greek professionals who can teach young children, middle aged people and seniors to learn how to hold and swing a golf club. It brings them to a point where they can go out to the field and hit some balls on a driving range. Then you learn to get better, to get attached to the sport and as the years go on in your life, it will become a hobby.” As an industry in Greece, he says driving ranges alone can make serious money. “Today we have a place like Chelsea Piers (in New York City), where you can get a bucket of balls, maybe 80 balls for $20, and you can hit those 80 balls in about fifteen minutes. Chelsea Piers has three decks, maybe fifteen across, and you can see how it produces money. Not only does it produce money, it offers recreation for people who might go there to practice their game or to play for laughs.” Golf has been providing him with both since his younger days when he parred in the low 11s, and like most golfers, it has since become a passionate hobby. “There are people that paint, there are people that write, there are people that race cars. I’ve been playing a long time, but for the last fifteen years, I’ve been seriously competing in tournaments as an amateur, not as an A level, of course, but as a B level. My handicap fluctuates at an average of 16.” Competition, he says, is healthy for the game and when he played with Telly Savalas, it was nothing but competition. “He was an avid golfer and we played from sunrise to sunset,” he remembers. “We’d play golf all day long; eat, drink and play more golf. It was very competitive. There was always a wager, because that makes you more focused, I believe. There are many social golfers who just go out and hit the ball, and then there are others who need to compete, like Greeks. I think it makes the difference. It keeps you enjoying the game." He played with George Bush Senior in Kennebunkport, ME. in a tournament and he is heartened that President Obama plays golf, though the diehard Republican, Pappas, is not won over. “No, unfortunately,” he says of the president. “I’m on the other side of the spectrum.”