Twenty years in Algarve golf
Ruben was born in Portimão and spent two decades in the local golf industry before starting 18Store. He began by organising tee times across the Pestana Hotel Group’s courses. In 2007 he joined the newly opened Silves Golf Course as a ranger and starter, and later did the same job at Amendoeira Golf Resort, home to the Faldo and O’Connor Jnr. courses. After that he spent five years in the warehouse of a golf club rental business. That’s where he spotted the gap that became 18Store, which he launched at the start of 2019.
A rental service that comes to your door
Picture the usual arrival: a long flight, a queue for rental clubs at the airport, then a struggle to fit a golf bag into a small hire car. Ruben wanted to remove all of that. With 18Store you don’t pick anything up. Your clubs are delivered to your hotel, villa or apartment anywhere in the Algarve, and collected from the same place when your trip ends. Ruben described it to Destination Golf as “a concierge service direct to the customer.”
Our sets come from premium brands, including Callaway, TaylorMade, Cleveland, Srixon and Wilson. Delivery and collection are always included in the price. You can also add extras such as balls, gloves, tees and push or electric trolleys. See what golfers say about us on Trustpilot.
Launching just before a pandemic
18Store’s first year went well, and early 2020 was busier still. Then Covid-19 stopped travel in March 2020, and Ruben called what followed “a very tough 18 months.” As restrictions eased and vaccination programmes rolled out, golfers returned to the Algarve from mid-2021, with autumn the busiest time.
Who rents with us
Most of our customers come from the UK, Ireland, Belgium, Germany and the Netherlands, usually for anywhere from four days to a week. Scandinavian golfers often stay much longer and tend to bring their own clubs, but many of them rent electric trolleys from us. You can book directly on our website or by email: choose your brands and extras, tell us where you’re staying, and we take care of the rest. 18Store is a member of IAGTO, the global golf tourism association, and also supplies clubs to clients of several golf tour operators.
A golfer first
Ruben took up golf in his twenties and still plays a social round with friends every couple of weeks. It’s a break from running the business, and it’s also research. Testing new clubs and shafts himself means he knows exactly what he’s handing over to guests.
Hands-on from day one
When Destination Golf spoke to him, Ruben was doing every delivery and collection himself, around 20 sets of clubs a day from a single van. His partner Helena helped with cleaning the clubs and the back office. The plan was always to grow the fleet and the team once travel recovered, without losing the personal service that sets 18Store apart.
This article is based on “Meet the Algarve’s Man with a Plan – Ruben Martins” by Peter Ellegard, originally published by Destination Golf. 18Store is a recommended partner of Destination Golf.