“Moving abroad was always something I wanted to do”

After working at a golf club in Berkshire, Callum Burgess applied for a job at a major Portuguese golf resort 11 years ago, and is still there today, now as the head professional. He talks about the growth of the business specifically and the Quinta do Lago facility in general, and recruiting more professionals from overseas.

Since opening more than half a century ago, Quinta do Lago has built a reputation as one of Europe’s most iconic golf resorts. With three 18-hole championship courses – South, North and Laranjal – the Algarve’s premier venue has become a firm favourite for travelling golfers.

As well as continuous investment in the courses, off-course upgrades and evolution has created an all-encompassing destination that is home to 14 bars and restaurants that cater for every taste and the state-of-the-art Campus sport facility. The end of last year also saw substantial investment at the Quinta do Lago Golf Academy, home to both the Quinta do Lago Performance Centre in partnership with TaylorMade and the state-of-the-art Paul McGinley Golf Academy.

Led by head professional Callum Burgess – a man who has seen a plethora of changes since joining Quinta do Lago in 2014 – the site has received one of its most significant upgrades since opening.
We recently sat down with Callum, 35, to discuss his career, his journey at Quinta do Lago and his aim to inspire the next generation of PGA professionals through an ever-growing internship programme.

You’ve been at Quinta do Lago for 11 years. Would you be able to talk us through your career to this point?

I arrived at Quinta do Lago in 2014 having previously worked for four years at Bearwood Lakes Golf Club. I left school and got a part-time job on the driving range, working weekends while I was still in sixth form. When I left as a low handicapper, I decided the PGA route was the way to go.

Everyone wants to do their PGA training for different reasons. Some people do it as a backup to playing, I really liked golf operations.

The guys at Bearwood were very supportive. Jon Dry, in particular, was a great mentor for me. He’d had previous experience at Queenwood, so he really helped me through my PGA.

I worked there for four years, completed my PGA qualification, and then I saw a job advert for an assistant professional at Quinta do Lago and decided to go through with that.

I had an opportunity to come here and genuinely thought I’d do it for a couple of seasons. Now I’m going into my 11th year. It’s been a bit of a journey, but it’s been a great one.

What inspired your move to Quinta do Lago?

Paul McGinley was coming up to being Ryder Cup captain. As a kid, for me he was one of the icons of the European Tour. When I was growing up, going to Wentworth and watching him, Darren Clarke, Miguel Angel Jiménez, that was my era of golf. I thought I’ve got to have a go at this and see how it pans out!

I was so fortunate. Brian Evans, who was the director of golf up until last year at Quinta do Lago, and his family were members at Bearwood. I had a little bit of a connection there, so I got a little bit lucky with that!

Moving abroad was always something I wanted to do. I thought it might be short term but decided to get it on the CV and see how it goes. It’s now coming up to almost 12 years so I guess it was the right move!

When I joined as an assistant there was just one other team member, Jose Ferreira, who was the head professional. We brought on two other pros in the coming years and that pushed me to a more senior role. Jose left in 2022, and that created room for me to grow within the academy. I’ve been the head pro since then and now we’re a team of five.

We’ve grown from two to five in a relatively short space of time, and that shows you the demand of where golf at the resort has grown to. We’ve gone from one studio to three and, away from the golf academy, there’s been an array of improvements across the facilities. The Campus is amazing; they’ve redone two of the golf courses in my time as well. The investment that the O’Briens have shown is incredible.

You mentioned the academy upgrade being one of more recent major developments. How has that facility helped you and your team deliver coaching, as well as the ongoing support from TaylorMade?

I think what helps is having a bigger undercover facility. We are a resort-based academy but also cater for people that come over for golf schools and trips. When the weather isn’t playing ball, we can still do those lessons indoors. You push forward to August when it’s 35 degrees and we also have the option to teach inside.

From a basic level to what we have as coaches, everything has massively improved. The quality of lessons you can give in our studio is brilliant, but equally having the option to do three fittings alongside each other is something that we really wanted to have with TaylorMade. It’s not only the coaching side, but also fittings have increased hugely.

We’ve had fantastic support from TaylorMade, having that connection with McGinley. From college all the way through to now, he’s never left TaylorMade.

Have you noticed shifts in demand for using the new academy?

Absolutely. Having that world-class facility has helped massively – we’re out the door with fittings.

I think this year’s TaylorMade product is fantastic equipment and that has helped massively. They have branded and marketed it so well. You’ve got the top three players in the world using it right now, which maybe wasn’t the same last year. The noise around that helps, but the new facilities and buzz around them have also played a part.

A real passion of yours is helping the next generation of PGA professionals, including establishing an internship programme. Tell us a little bit about that and your hopes for that growing.

The last couple of years we’ve really tried to encourage a lot of interns to come over. In the summer, we have two girls and two boys heading over from The Belfry’s PGA course. This is something I’m trying to do, and work and build towards.

We’ve had some people involved over recent years that have gone to do really great things all over the world. Coming here and seeing how a large resort is run, how a fitting centre is run, and having Quinta do Lago on their CV from a young age opens up a lot of doors moving forward.

It’s something that I really want to build and down the line I want to have up to ten PGA interns for the summer. In Europe, it’s not being really pushed like in the States, and I want to give the chance to young boys and girls doing the PGA to come over to Portugal and see and experience what a resort Quinta do Lago is.

We’ve spoken a little bit about other investments. What are some of the most significant changes in your time at Quinta do Lago?

When anyone thinks about Quinta do Lago, I would say that they now think of a family resort as well as a golf international resort.
But with golf, the North Course being redesigned back in 2014 was a big investment. McGinley was a key part of that, helping redesign it with Beau Welling. You fast forward to 2021, and the South was also invested in.

To redesign two golf courses in that time is crazy, and the investment in The Campus has also been massive, not only for golfers but for sports teams. That’s almost become a bit more of the heart of Quinta. You’ve got the fitness, you’ve got the swimming side of it, you’ve got the wellness side of it. Well-known international rugby and football teams come down to the Algarve to use it. The tennis and padel facilities there are also incredibly popular.

The improvement to the restaurants, most recently KOKO, has been incredible. It’s not just one thing. I think what the O’Briens do so well is just continually invest and make things better.
Overall investment is exciting for any worker here. To see the development, it’s inspiring and it makes you want to get up and go to work. It’s become a real family run resort which is exciting to see.

In your view, what is it that makes Quinta do Lago such a special place?

I think it’s the warm welcome. I keep using the word family, I think maybe just because I have a family and I see on my days off what we can do. I can go to these places and be so fortunate and lucky.
Everyone is just so welcoming here – the staff are brilliant. It’s becoming more of an international resort thanks in part to the Portuguese being such great hosts.

Whether you are coming over in a group, as a family, as couples, or just by yourself, it doesn’t matter. You can come to Portugal, you can come to this area and feel like there’s something there for you.