The rise and rise of Cabell Robinson

I first met Cabell in 1987, when Julie and I opened an office rental business in Fuengirola. Cabell was our first tenant, when he resigned as Robert Trent Jones’s European director to branch out on his own. Having already been heavily involved in many of the Trent Jones designed courses on the Costa del Sol, his first solo effort in Spain was the La Cala Golf Resort. I remember accompanying Cabell on his first visit to the site as we viewed what appeared to be a lunar landscape and I couldn’t see any way that a decent golf course could be constructed there. Cabell, however, could envisage three 18 hole courses, which he duly achieved, making La Cala Andalucia’s biggest golf resort.  Since then, Cabell has been acknowledged as Europe’s best golf architect, following the successful opening of Finca Cortesin and more recently, Valle Romano, two courses of the highest quality.  Although  Cabell has earned kudos for his ability to create such gems on difficult terrain, he was chosen to design the Santana course a few years ago enjoying the opportunity to work with what was probably the last piece of relatively flat land on the coast.
But for all his prowess, Julie and I remember Cabell best for his help and understanding when his office and our business was left completely submerged for several weeks during the notorious floods in 1989, when the Fuengirola river burst its banks, devastating many businesses and taking the lives of several people. Long may his success continue.

Tags: Cabell Robinson, Costa del Sol