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.

The Master Course is a reasonably long par 72 at 6296 meters off the whites, 6148 meters off the yellows and 5429 meters off the reds. The way the course is played has been changed from the original set up as, at present, it is accessed from the AR Almerimar hotel. No doubt it will revert back to the original order of play once the old golf hotel is reopened (target date end 2009). Every hole on the course is a challenge with many hazards and undulating greens.

Clubhouse

This is one thing that lets the Almerimar course down. There is no clubhouse here at present. There are no changing facilities or showers, the only club storage facilities are in the corner of the AR Almerimar Hotel and the only bar is an outdoor bar on the course itself. This is not a big problem for hotel guests as they can use the facilities in the hotel. However, it is an issue for visitors and locals.

It looks like things will eventually change as work is about to recommence on the refurbishment of the old Golf Hotel and there appears to be an area allocated behind the pyramid for the building of a new clubhouse. We will provide information on this separately once the details are confirmed. However, I doubt whether any other facilities will be available until 2009 at the earliest.

Pro Shop

There is a small pro shop in the corner of the AR Resort Hotel. There is a reasonable selection of clothes, shoes and golf ‘odds and ends’ but there is not a great selection of clubs. Also, there are no facilities for fitting or altering clubs.

Practice Facilities

There is a large putting green between the first tees of the Master and Classic courses. There is a practice range but this is a par 5 walk away from the entrance of the course which is over the road from the AR Almerimar hotel. At the far end of the practice range (another par 4 walk away) there is another putting green. There are also a chipping green and a bunker practice green close to the near end of the range.

This will all change again when the original golf hotel and the new clubhouse open as these will be located much closer to the practice facilities.

Tees

The tees are in reasonable condition at present. A few of them are a little bare and as it is a resort course rather than a members course not many people seem to fill the divots that they make in the tees, even though there are containers of sand and seed on each of the tees.

Fairways

At present the fairways are in reasonable condition. A couple of them have some weeds and some of the old style grass from before the refurbishment growing back but this is not currently a major problem. The courses are seeded with grass that only grows in the summer. It goes dormant in the winter. To improve the look of the course the green-keeping staff have over-seeded with a different grass that grows in the winter. The fairways look fine from a distance but this has led to a criss-crossing pattern on them from close to. This is not a particular issue, and it helps me line up straight. All this will change in a month or two when the summer grass starts growing again.

Greens

One of the great successes of the recent refurbishment is the design of the greens. Every green on the course is challenging with lots of undulations, and consequently lots of opportunity to three or four putt if you are not careful. When they first reopened after the refurbishment they were leaving the greens quite long but they are now cutting them a little shorter so they have become much quicker.

A couple of greens still need time to mature so there is the odd bare patch around. Nevertheless in our view they are really good. One issue that is annoying is that people are not repairing pitch marks. So some of the greens are not quite as true as they could be. We think this is partly because it is a resort course and the visitors don´t worry too much about keeping the course in good condition. However, we think some of the locals could do more on this issue as well.

Rough

At the moment there is very little rough on the course. This is because the rough is made up of grass that goes dormant in the winter. It was cut in late autumn and hasn´t grown since. This is a particular problem on the current 8th hole (original 2nd) which has a big left to right slope on the fairway. The course has been designed so that the rough should stop good shots from falling into a bunker on the right of the fairway. However, since the rough is not growing at present virtually everyone finds the bunker. This shouldn´t be a problem in another month or two when then weather is warmer overnight and the summer grass starts to grow again.

Bunkers

One of the few poorer areas of the course. The quality of the sand in the bunkers is very variable. Some bunkers have a lot of stones in them and others are filled with too much sand. Late last year the bunker surrounds were not in very good condition. However, the green-keeping staff have done a good job of improving them recently and they appear to be being cut more often now. So the original grass is starting to grow through rather than having a lot of weeds around.

If the course ever wants to be presented as a fantastic course then this issue of quality of bunkers needs to be addressed.

Trees

During the recent refurbishment a number of the trees from the original layout have been trimmed. Also, a lot of the bushes underneath the trees have been cleared away. This has made it easier to find your ball and on most occasions gives people a chance to play the ball out. Even if you have to come out sideways or backwards.

At present the green-keeping staff are trying to level out the ground beneath the trees as in a number of areas there have been a lot of big wheeled vehicles on the course during the refurbishment.

Water features

During the recent refurbishment a number of new water features have been added to the course and water now comes into play on 7 holes. There are two par 3s over water and two holes with drives over water. There is a stream across the fairway on the 10th (original 4th), a big pond in the middle of the fairway on the 15th (original 9th) and 3 other greens where water comes into play.

All of the water features look very good. One minor point is that a couple of the bridges on the course look a little out of place being made out of metal with plastic floors. We would have preferred something a little more rustic.

Buggy Access

There are tarmac cart paths around the course and a 90 degree rule is enforced at all times.

Cost

The list price is 65 euros for most of the year but 45 euros from June to September for a round on the Master Course. There are discounts for people staying in the hotel and for members of the local Bahía San Miguel golf society.

Overall Summary

We loved the design of this course when we first played it a number of years ago. In our view the design has been improved rather than being spoilt by the refurbishment. The green-keeping staff seem to be putting in more effort maintaining the course so it is in better condition now than we have ever known.

The course is a good test of golf and we would recommend anyone to come and play the Master Course at Almerimar.

Links

Bahía San Miguel Golf Society - there is lots of information about the course on this site. Click on Almerimar Course on the menu on the right.

Almerimar Golf Course - the official site.

Refurbished course - a hole by hole review of the changes to the course from October 2007.

Views

A great review, and if anyone has further views of their own, we’d love your comments.

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

Almerimar is also one of the largest marinas in Spain with over 2,000 births and excellent boatyard facilities.