Rio’s Olympic golf course defying the odds

It appears that reports suggesting the Gil Hanse-designed Olympic golf course in Rio de Janeiro is in disarray are wide off the mark.

The boarded-up Olympic Village, which is home to 3600 empty apartments, is just one sign of the negative impact of hosting the Olympic Games. However, one venue is defying the odds without much help.

‘It’s one of the great legacies that has come from the Games,’ says Antony Scanlon, the executive director of the International Golf Federation, which oversees golf in the Olympics.

‘I know the Brazilian Olympic Committee is proud and are trying to change the wrong message from December that the course was closed and a white elephant. We’re seeing some regular use of the course and regular maintenance of the course, and it’s becoming a great story from the Games. Who would have thought that when you figured the five-, six-year build that we had and the humps we had leading up to that.’

The relative success of the course – which sees 700 rounds a month – is in part thanks to Marcio Galvão, the 67-year-old who took the job as the course’s CEO.

Galvao is intent on creating a golf legacy in a country that has just 9000 registered players.

‘We need to increase the number of golfers through social inclusion,’ said Galvão. Part of the plan includes free lessons for new players, regardless of age.

WATCH: Golf Channel’s investigation into the Rio Olympic course