About the Association

Built by people who love the game.

Established 24 July 2024 and registered with the Ministry of Sports, Fitness and Recreation, the MGA exists to grow golf in the Maldives — from first swings to international fields.

What we do

Tournaments, training, and a course of our own.

The Association organises competition — above all the annual Maldives Open — and runs training across skill levels, working with international golf bodies as the game grows here.

The long-term goals are concrete: develop the country's first 18-hole championship course, and establish the Maldives as a competitive golfing destination in its own right.

The founders

Three names on the charter.

Founder · President

Hussain Afeef

Pioneer of Maldivian tourism — present at the industry's first morning, and at the founding of its golf association half a century later.

Hussain "Champa" Afeef is one of the founding figures of Maldivian tourism. In February 1972 he was among the small group who received the country's very first tourists, and that October he helped open Kurumba Village — the Maldives' first resort — managing it through the earliest days, when the work meant everything from guiding guests to running the kitchen.

With his brother Mohamed "Uchchu" Moosa he built Champa Brothers into one of the largest tourism operators in the country, and in 2000 the partnership established Crown & Champa Resorts, whose portfolio today spans some ten resorts — among them Kuredu, Meeru, Veligandu, Komandoo, Hurawalhi, Kudadoo and Jawakara. He serves as Chairman of Crown Company, Vice Chairman of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, and a member of the President's Economic Advisory Council.

In October 2024 he and his brother became the first Maldivians honoured with SATA's "Face of South Asia" award. The golf courses at Kuredu, Meeru and Jawakara all grew under the group he chairs — and on 24 July 2024 he put his name first on the MGA's charter, becoming the Association's founding President.

1972 Kurumba — the first resort
2000 Crown & Champa Resorts
2024 SATA Face of South Asia
2024 Founding President, MGA

Milestones

1972Receives the Maldives' first tourists; Kurumba Village opens with Afeef as manager.
2000Crown & Champa Resorts established with his long-time Maldivian and Swedish partners.
2023Jawakara Islands opens with the Maldives' first 9-hole golf course.
2024Founds the Maldives Golf Association on 24 July; honoured with SATA's Face of South Asia at Meeru that October.
2025Presides over the inaugural Maldives Open at Victoria Golf Resort, Sri Lanka.

Founder · Vice President

Ahmed Nazeer

Founding partner of Crown Company and, for decades, the tourism industry's steady hand as Secretary General of MATI.

Born in Eydhafushi, Baa Atoll, Ahmed Nazeer began his career in government service before turning to enterprise. In 1983 he co-founded Crown Company with three partners, and the firm's first venture defined it: winning the bid to develop Veligandu Island Resort, opened in December 1984 with thirty-five rooms.

Crown Company grew into a cornerstone of the Crown & Champa Resorts partnership — it built Kuredu's first 150 bungalows in 1988 — and Nazeer into one of the industry's most trusted figures: long-serving Secretary General of the Maldives Association of Tourism Industry, a board member of Maldives Airports Company Limited, and a recipient of the Corporate Maldives Lifetime Achievement Award.

One of the named pioneers of Maldivian tourism, he co-founded the Maldives Golf Association on 24 July 2024 and serves as its first Vice President.

1983 Co-founds Crown Company
1984 Veligandu Island Resort
MATI Secretary General
2024 Founding Vice President, MGA

Milestones

1983Co-founds Crown Company as an import–export house with three partners.
1984Veligandu Island Resort opens in December — Crown's entry into tourism.
1988Crown Company builds the first 150 bungalows at Kuredu.
2024Founds the Maldives Golf Association on 24 July; serves as Vice President.
2025The first Maldives Open tees off at Victoria Golf Resort, Sri Lanka.

Founder

Lars Petre

The Swedish hotelier who brought golf to the Maldives — builder of the country's first course.

Lars Petre first reached the Maldives in 1985, by way of a cancelled ski holiday — a detour Forbes would later call a happy accident. Then working with a Scandinavian tour operator, he befriended Hussain Afeef and Mohamed Moosa, and together they opened the Scandinavian market to the Maldives.

In December 1988 he opened Kuredu Island Resort with his Maldivian partners — the seed of what became Crown & Champa Resorts, which he co-owns with his brother Mats. The portfolio that followed includes Komandoo (1998), Hurawalhi (2016), the fully solar-powered Kudadoo (2018) and Jawakara (2023). In 2019, Forbes profiled him as "The Man Who Made The Maldives A Luxury Mecca."

Golf is his signature. In 2003 he personally oversaw the creation of Kuredu Golf Club — the first golf course in the Maldives: "We love golf and wanted to create a golf facility in the resort where our clients could enjoy a game and also practice." Twenty years later Jawakara opened with the country's first 9-hole course, and on 24 July 2024 he co-founded the Maldives Golf Association.

1985 First visit to the Maldives
1988 Opens Kuredu
2003 The Maldives' first golf course
2024 Co-founds the MGA

Milestones

1985First visit to the Maldives — a cancelled ski trip becomes a life's work.
1988Kuredu Island Resort opens in December.
2003Builds Kuredu Golf Club — the first golf course in the Maldives.
2023Jawakara Islands opens with the country's first 9-hole course.
2024Co-founds the Maldives Golf Association on 24 July.

Executive committee

The decision-makers.

The EXCO is the Association's main decision-making body — seven members, including the President, Vice President and Treasurer, elected to four-year terms at the Annual General Meeting.