The demise of a Lady?

IN last week’s golf page we reported on one local course – Los Arqueros – which was making a proactive effort to offer better value for money in these testing times. Unfortunately, for every success story, there are a couple of other local courses which seem to be suffering the effects of the crisis. Chief among these is Doña Julia near Manilva. Purported to be one of the new breed    of resort courses – encompassing a six star hotel and  ‘add on’ urbanistic developments – it is now a shadow of its former self.   The proposed plans for the hotel were shelved long ago and much of the building work on the apartments surrounding the course is unfinished. A pity for those who bought into the dream. During the recent bad weather a landslide on the Par 5 5th hole resulted in nine holes being closed. On a recent site inspection it was surprising to find the car park empty and a skeleton buggy fleet of only six. A buggy is, afterall, a must on this course. The member of staff present seemed unwilling to confirm or deny reports either way. In fact, communications had broken down long before as their landline has been replaced by a mobile phone; a company email address substituted for a hotmail account and tour operators, golf agencies and general public alike left in the dark. What seems clear is that the temporary club house (even this has been downsized) near the highway seems set to stay for the foreseeable future. As a result the quirky layout of the course remains; one has to play three successive Par 3′s around the turn. The new club house, resulting in a new scorecard, would have limited this to two. Although upon completion the course wasn’t to everybody’s liking with narrow fairways, especially on the front half, and wind playing an important factor as the course meandered upwards and inland towards the village of Casares. However, on the occasions I played there, the course was invariably in great condition. In fact, the greens were Valderrama standard and amongst the quickest and truest. The pricing policy wasn’t prohibitive either with some good buggy deals to be enjoyed. If anybody from the club – or ‘in the know’ – could shed some light on this matter we would be delighted to hear some positive news.

Tags: Lady Golf, Los Arqueros