The national golf team has a new head coach

Gonçalo Pinto has been appointed as the new head coach of the Estonian national golf teams. Last week, the Estonian Golf Association signed a head coach agreement with the 32 year old Portuguese coach. Pinto already had his first experience with the men’s national team at the Portuguese Open and is currently attending a national team training camp in Turkey to gain a better overview of players across different age groups. During his relatively short playing career, Pinto achieved notable success in Portuguese competitions across several age categories. His best result at the European Championships was a 4th place finish. In addition, he recorded more than 20 starts on the European Tour and Challenge Tour events.

Despite starting his coaching career at a fairly young age, Pinto has already guided players to four victories on the HotelPlanner Tour. Several of his players have also progressed to higher levels on the professional golf circuit under his guidance. His most well-known current player is Ricardo Gouveia, who competes on the DP World Tour. Gouveia has started the season strongly with three top-10 finishes and currently sits 25th in the season rankings.Over the past two years, Pinto has also worked with the Portuguese national teams as a technical coach.

Gonçalo Pinto’s comment after signing the agreement: ” I am truly honoured and proud to step into the role of National Team Head Coach for Estonia. I strongly believe in the power of long-term development, shared values, and strong environments. My goal is to help build clarity and connection across clubs and the national team, always placing the athlete’s growth, both as players and as people, at the centre of our work. Estonian golf has great potential, and I am excited to work alongside dedicated coaches and ambitious athletes to build something meaningful and sustainable for the future.”

According to Kristo Raudam, General secretary of the Estonian Golf Association, he is pleased that the search for a new head coach concluded relatively quickly and positively. As it is known, the previous national team head coach, David Da Silva, left the Estonian national teams at the end of last year to take up the position of technical coach for the Finnish national golf teams. “A new and energetic head coach, with whom we first made contact already at the end of last year, will bring fresh energy and knowledge to all national teams. His main role this summer will be to support the men’s national teams during an exceptionally important year, as Estonia will host both the European Amateur Team Championship and for the first time, a HotelPlanner Tour event, the Infortar Estonian Challenge, while several players are also beginning their professional careers. In addition, our longer-term goal is to achieve a qualitative step forward in coach education,” said Raudam.