I know there are a lot of golfers here in Almerimar that read the blog and I am sure that they were all as impressed as me that Tiger Woods won the Open on Monday. It was clear that he was in pain, but only now is it apparent how much pain he must have been in. If you check out his web site you will see that not only does he have a double stress fracture of the tibia, but he requires ACL surgery (which I had 7 years ago). That should make the doubters like that idiot Goosen eat their words!!! So no more Tiger this year!

I came across this video review from Alan Hill on ireport.com which I thought you may enjoy.

It was taken about a month ago and he gives the hotel good coverage. I think it is a very good hotel, with a very nice foyer, restaurant and bar, but the rooms are not the best that I have stayed in for hotels of a comparable rating.

Read this story in a Tabloid on the way back from Dubai. Is sad and in a way funny at the same time ….. “A Golf cart toppled into a bunker and broke the neck of a player ….. aged 92 One-eyed (I am not making this up!) Ralph Woodward fell in the sandtrap as he got out of the buggy. His friend, in his late 80’s, suffered broken ribs” Sounds like amazing bad luck, but how many one-eyed 92 year old golfers have you come across?

I have played absolutely no golf this year, in fact I can’t remember exactly when I last played, probably 2006 when I last had some vouchers. I seem to have been busy doing other stuff, and with the ever changing voucher schemes becoming increasingly more expensive, I think you need to be more of an enthusiast than I currently am to play regularly. When golf was cheaper here in Almerimar it seemed ok to stop after a few holes if I wasn’t enjoying my round, but now I think I would feel I had to keep going for the full 4-5 hours.

John and Jacqui recently played in in the El Corte Inglés Golf Competition, Playa Serena and here share there experiences with us:

Jacqui´s view

Hmm, a VERY early alarm call at 6.30am, thanks John! Not that I actually got out of bed till 7.10am. I can’t say I was feeling that bad this morning after the afternoon post treasure hunt meeting yesterday, but then again the girls were pacing themselves more so than the men. The early start is my excuse for the poor golf today. I must have found every bunker today. I obviously did not drink enough yesterday!!

This is the second of a series of reviews of golf courses in Almeria that Jacqui and I will produce when we visit the various courses in the area.

Layout

Playa Serena is an 18 hole, par 72 golf course with the standard layout of 4 par 3s and 4 par 5s. It is quite long at 6226 metres off the whites, 5985 off the yellows and 5314 off the reds.

Here John explains the Friday Friendly Golf Competitions in Almerimar, and provides a recording of the recent prize giving:

During the autumn, winter and spring there are friendly golf competitions here in Almerimar every Tuesday and Friday. Our friends, Sune and Marianne organise Tuesdays and Jacqui and I organise Fridays. Things are a little less planned in the summer as there tend to be less locals around, but we are aiming for at least one competition each week.

As it is again not very sunny day, I thought I’d cheer us all up with a great picture of the golf course sent by one of our readers, Jane Cope.

About Almerimar

Almerimar is located in the region of Andalucia, Spain. The nearest airport is 30km away in Almeria. Other airports that are within 3 hours include Malaga, Murcia, Granada, and Alicanti. Other holiday resorts in the region include Mojacar , Aguadulce and Roquetas de Mar

This is the first of a series of reviews of golf courses in Almeria that John and Jacqui Woodhead will be doing as they visit the various courses in the area.

The first is a review of our home course here in Almerimar.

Course Layout

Since December 2007 Almerimar has returned to being a 27 hole golf resort. The 27 holes have now been split into an 18 hole Master Course and a 9 hole Classic Course.

Jacqui and I have written two short articles giving our opinions of the Bahía San Miguel Golf Competition that took place in Almerimar on Sunday 24 February 2008.

Jacqui´s view

After today, I have decided having an early night and minimal alcohol, plus torrential rain and strong winds during the early hours does not make for a good night’s sleep prior to a golf competition.

Thanks to Jacqui for this ……………

It was a sunny morning, a little before 8.00am, on the first hole of a busy course, and I was beginning my pre-shot routine, visualizing my upcoming shot with a few practise swings when a piercing voice came over the club house loud speaker, “Would the gentleman on the woman’s tee back up to the men’s tee please!”

I could feel every eye on the course looking at me.

The Bahía San Miguel golf society here in Almerimar has created a new opportunity for businesses to advertise on their site and support the society.

Any advertising revenue raised will be split between paying for the cost of maintaining the site and providing additional money to the society funds to pay for other costs (prizes, dinners, membership fees for the societies membership of the Spanish Federation etc.). Check here for details and click on the Advertisers and Supporters link on any of the pages for more details.

We have posted a lot about golf recently, with the new prices, the course opening and of course the Tarleton Travel Golf Event, so we thought that we would write a ’special’ to pull it all together in one place. In this article you will find a video on the Tarleton Travel Awards Evening, a podcast with interviews with the golfers, links to photographs of the Tarleton Travel event and lots more information on golf here in Almerimar.

John and Jacqui are taking part in the Tarleton golf event here in Almerimar this week and are going to give us regular updates throughout the week

The week started last night (Thursday evening) at 7.30pm with drinks at a welcome meeting in the AR Hotel in Almerimar.

In my last post ‘Golf In Almerimar 2′ I clarified the latest voucher deals for members of the San Miguel golf society, but for new members or golfers completely new to the area, I thought it may be a good idea to say something about the friendly golf matches.