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THIS web site began as a project on a coffee table book tentatively entitled Great Golfing Holidays & Resorts, a collection of features compiled by Barry Ward since he reviewed his first golf resort, Pacific Harbour, in Fiji, in 1973.
But the winds of fate saw Barry change tack, first with the advent of the internet and then with his departure from Golf Monthly, for which he had written on the subject for several years.
Golf and travel have long been partners in Barry's life. As a young sports reporter he lived in Bermuda, where he first played the game and became a golf writer.
Four years spent in London as European Sports Editor for an Australian newspaper group took him to Sydney just after the 1963 Open Championship.
He lived there for 16 years, assuming various posts on newspapers, writing sports and golf columns, editing a golf magazine and covering the burgeoning Australian Tour.
It was shortly after his return to England in 1979 that he saw the writing on the wall apropos of golf tourism and switched from covering tournament golf.
A chance visit to Spain's Costa del Sol opened his eyes to its potential. He predicted it would become a major aspect of mass tourism, but no one could have foreseen the incredible growth the industry has enjoyed of late.
Now a recognised authority on the subject, Barry has visited resorts in 42 countries over the past 30 years or so, playing some 3,000 courses in the process.
Once in low single figures, he says his handicap is now "comparable to my collar size and rapidly approaching that of my inside leg measurement."
His favourite course? "A tough question. But I could name my favourite twenty. Perhaps that's an idea for a Posh Golf feature?"
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