Golf & Social: from England to Italy to launch a start-up

Golf is good for your health but, unlike other sports, it does not require an “extreme” physical effort. In a study published in “The British Journal of Sports Medicine”, scientists analyzed approximately 5,000 studies associating the practice of golf to health conditions and they noticed that a regular practice has significant effects on heart, arteries and lungs, as well as a positive impact on the whole muscular system and on stress levels. Moreover, those who practice golf know well how, while walking in the green for hours, it is possible to create and deepen meaningful relationships which, in some cases, can turn into interesting business opportunities.

This is what Antonio Specchia, golf lover and startupper, strongly believes. Antonio, along with some professionals, decided to create a company which combines golf with socialization. Golfers’ Match: the golfers’ community who wish to play with people who might have common interests.

Antonio Specchia, an Italian with a career in management consulting which took him to the British capital well before Brexit, explains how it works: “Golfers’ Match was designed to create opportunities of socialization with one common denominator: golf. People can relax and talk about topics of common interest while playing outdoor. Golfers can create Topic Groups on specific subjects and organize thematic Tee-times. As a proactive member of Golfers’ Match – Specchia continues – each golfer can create and animate all the interest groups he wishes, welcome the participants, organize events, etc.

A social network for green lovers that allows “nomads” to select playmates based on common interests in order to have a better experience as far as socialization is concerned, also. Thanks to the platform created by Antonio and his team will now be easier to meet people who have common background, creating for specific interest groups.

Golfers’ Match is an English start-up with an Italian heart: Antonio, in fact, started its business in England but he has strong links with where he is now developing its activities, more specifically in Polo Tecnologico of Navacchio (Pisa). Golfers’ Match was selected among 11 startup candidates to mobility within the European Project ENDURE, led by the University of Pisa. The Project also involves the University of Surrey, IDEA (the Entrepreneurship Centre of the University of Southern Denmark), CEDIN (Tuscan Training Agency) and three companies: Polo Navacchio S.p.A. (Italy), Blue Ocean Robotics (Denmark) and iVeridis (United Kingdom). The main goal of the project is to investigate the needs of those who start a business from scratch and better define the tools and services which allow the new entrepreneurs to improve resilience and competitiveness of European startups with an innovative approach of collaboration and incubation. The project is financed under the Erasmus+ Programme.

During the mobility phase (October-November 2016), Golfers’ Match is not only carrying out its activities in the CoWorking space of the Business Incubator but it is also making use of a personalized program of Polo Navacchio consultants who help the company enter the market and gain the right visibility.