Keen to support VW owner’s clubs all over the world, it was our pleasure to sponsor the 11th Anniversary of Clube Golf Portugal at the end of 2015. 250 people of all ages gathered around 140 Volkswagen Golfs of all generations. Every year, the event brings together enthusiasts of the legendary Volkswagen car, celebrates the anniversary of the forum and is a day of reunion for all Golf enthusiasts. We caught up with João from the club to find out more.

VWH: What’s the story of Clube Golf Portugal? How was it born?
João: The Club was founded in 2004 by Gonçalo Cravo. He was an active member of some car forums, but there were no forums dedicated to the Volkswagen Golf, so with some help from his friend Nuno, who is now the site administrator, they created the forum for Clube Golf Portugal in November 2004, our first annual meeting was in 2005.

VWH: How many members does the club have? Is the birthday event only for members or is it open to the public?
João: The club currently has 24,967 members registered in the forum; however, not all of them are active members. The birthday celebration is an event open to everybody, we celebrate it mainly for the members of the forum, but anyone who is interested can take part.

VWH: As a national event, where does the event take place? Do you celebrate it in the same location or do you alternate among different locations in Portugal?
João: The birthday celebrations can take place in any part of Portugal. We have already organised it in Estoril (2005), Coimbra (2006), Évora (2007), Faro (2008), Leiria (2009), Guimarães (2010), Castelo Branco (2011), Castelo Branco (2012), Lourinhã (2013), Batalha (2014) and Lourinhã (2015). We like to regularly change the location so everyone has a chance to participate; however, the number of participants has been growing for the last years so we have decided to choose a fixed location for the event in the centre of the country, because it is not easy to arrange a space for around 150 cars and 300 people.

VWH: Do you have prizes for those who take part during the events?
João: From 2005, we hold a competition to choose the “Best Golf” for each generation: Best Golf GTI; Golf GTD; Golf Cabrio; oldest Golf (white Mk1 5dr) and the Golf that travelled the greatest distance to get to the event. There is also a prize that we called the “Golf X” which a prize to a car chosen by the people who take part in the event, won this year by the Mk2 Golf below.
We also organise a VW Golf related photography competition in the forum. It all started because we have many amateur photographers among the members so we decided it would be an interesting activity to propose. A polling system is created and posted in the forum and anyone who is registered can vote for the photo they considered to be the best.

VWH: What are the plans for Clube Golf Portugal in 2016?
João: In 2016 we would like to start organising an event in May, we don’t want the birthday event in November to be the only chance for VW Golf enthusiasts to get together. We would also like to increase our team of forum moderators, which is formed only by two people at the moment and makes it difficult to develop new initiatives and new projects. What we know for sure it is that we will certainly gather again next year to celebrate the 12th anniversary.

VWH: Finally, could you tell us a bit more about the VW scene in Portugal?
Joao: The current VW scene, apart from specific meetings organised by clubs, is dominated by a growing trend on events focused on lowered cars. Engagement in forums has reduced massively, mainly due to users migrating to Facebook. However, the number of VW communities in the country keep increasing, whether it is around a group of friends or around forums.

A big thanks to João from Clube Golf Portugal for telling us a bit more about their event. If you would like your event covered on the VW Heritage blog, get in touch!

 The opinions expressed here are the personal opinions of the author and do not necessarily represent the views and opinions of VW Heritage