Costa del Sol Golf News » dubai

A Trip down Memory Lane

Golf News — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 09:13:17 +0000

I’ve just had my first proper holiday on the Costa Del Sol for years and really enjoyed it.
Instead of worrying about the big picture of how the coastline is coping and whether the golf courses have found the right approach I just got on with being a holidaymaker and quickly rediscovered the fun of pottering around and playing a bit of golf.
It’s easy to be negative about the Costa Del Sol when things aren’t going so well and I’ve not been slow to complain about the boom and bust mentality we’ve seen since the 1980s. However, it’s good to be able to say that it’s still one of the best holiday destinations for northern Europeans, provided they’re not offended by the sight of unfinished apartment blocks and other visible signs of the recession. There’s no disguising how expensive everything seems to those of us who enjoyed the good old days of cheap food, drink and golf, but there’s not much anyone can do about the weakness of the Pound against the Euro except hope that it balances out soon.
Also, just when the golf business needed the best of winter weather it got the worst. John Wallace, the respected course superintendent at El Paraiso, explained the challenges for some courses who’d been closed for more than 50 per cent of the time for the first three months of the year.
There’s no doubt courses up and down the coast are putting a brave face on it and trying to weather the storm but balanced against that we shouldn’t lose sight of the fact that the choice and quality of golf available on the Costa del Sol is still outstanding.
For myself, not having played golf for a number of years, it was great fun revisiting old favourites like Mijas and enjoying the quality of more recent additions like Santana, where circumstances which prevented some of the more grandiose clubhouse plans may have been a blessing in disguise. The current clubhouse is perfectly adequate and resources have instead been channelled into a superb golf course.
The saddest part of the holiday was seeing the decline of great hotels like the Byblos and Los Monteros. The Byblos was still limping on but fading fast and Los Monteros looked like something from a war zone. The complexities of Spanish employment law are beyond me but from what I’m told that’s what’s prevented anyone buying up these businesses and rescuing them. By contrast, we went to one of our old haunts, the Sunset Beach Club at Benalmadena where they’ve always known their market and where they’ve always maintained a vibrancy and buzz even in such a huge hotel. It was no different this time with every room taken and everyone having a great time. We even managed to see our old friend Pearse Webb, still in fine voice after all these years entertaining on the coast.
All in all, anyone suffering from Costa Del Depression should remind themselves of some of the problems affecting Dubai and some communities in Florida as well as the sporadic political unrest in Thailand. One good summer and one warm winter may be enough to turn things around in Southern Spain.

October, South Wales…

Golf News — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:20:12 +0000

Four weeks prior to the Andalucian Masters, an altogether bigger worldwide audience will be watching the Ryder Cup at Celtic Manor.
Speculation continues to rage – and a certain amount of sniggering still goes on – about just how bad the weather might be and what effect it will have on golf’s greatest showpiece. Well, the gloom and doomers might be right and it could be cold and wet and foggy and it might take an extra day to see who’s victorious. So what? We’ve had fog delays in places like Dubai and we recently had play stopped because of wind and rain in the Arizona desert so a bit of rain and fog at Celtic Manor is hardly going to be something new. All I’ll say is that having been on the course filming on a peaceful winter’s day at the end of last year, I looked around the natural amphitheatre created by the valley and imagined the roars of the galleries on different holes and felt confident that Celtic Manor and its owner Sir Terry Matthews might just have the last laugh.

October, Southern Spain…

Golf News — Wed, 24 Mar 2010 21:18:25 +0000

Isn’t it great to see Valderrama back on the European Tour schedule?
It’s like seeing an old masterpiece restored to its rightful position on the walls of one of the famous art galleries.
Don’t expect all the top players to agree with that because some of them have never had the success at Valderrama that would allow them the luxury of admiring its natural beauty.
They can put that right in the Andalucian Masters which, with a three million euro prize fund and a prime position in the schedule in the final stages of the Race to Dubai, is sure to attract one of the season’s strongest fields.
As I’ve said before on this page, it’s important for Southern Spain to maintain its reputation for staging world-class golf events because the link between that and the tourist business is surely significant.
If the weather is kind that last week in October and plenty of fans turn out on the weekend, anyone watching on television in the UK and throughout the world will be reminded of what the Costa del Sol has to offer.