Back in the spring of 1997 the Costa Ballena Golf Club stopped being just an ambitious project to become a reality and it opened a course full of olive and palm trees just for local golf players. At the beginning, a marquee was put up to serve as the Pro-Shop, the office, the reception and the caddy master. These departments are now comfortably located in the Club House.
The building of the par 3 itinerary and holes 19 to 27 started. It was known as the “ficus” itinerary and back then, it was just a few drafts and drawings on plans. The Elba Hotel and the Barceló Costa Ballena Hotel which are now suppliers of national and international customers for the golf course had not started being built and a wooden beach bar was the basic eating facility for the first golf players of this golf course.
Two decades later the Costa Ballena Ocean Golf Club is renewing its greens with the intention of adapting to the original design by José María Olazabal who won the green jacket twice. Inexorably, these plans were gradually altered from the beginning, and due to internal and external factors there has been an imperceptible transformation over the years.
The first stage of this renewal has consisted on changing the greens of holes 1 to 18 completely, the Olive and Palm Tree itinerary, changing the grass type Stolonifera for Bermuda Mini Green which is dark green. This type of grass provides incredible rolling of the ball, keeps well in shady areas, with weeds, it is resistant to diseases, has deep roots and it is highly resistant to stamping and ball bouncing.
Other reasons given that confirm an improvement when changing this type of grass is that the Bermuda Mini Green does not need such constant irrigation. Also, it does not often need the use of phytosanitary products. Thus, it is a more sustainable and environmentally friendly type of grass.
Novogreen is the company responsible for implementing and producing these new types of grass. They are guaranteed by the ITGAP (The International Turf grass Genetic Assurance Program), an international reference organization in grass quality programs.
The second stage of this renewal will take place in the greens of holes 19 to 27, also known as the ficus area, and in 9 holes par 3. These tasks will be carried out in low attendance seasons and thus, as there are so many itineraries in this golf course, they can guarantee games in at least 18 holes. So far, this is only the beginning of an important and thorough renovation process that will include other significant changes such as the launching of an App available in Google Play and Apple Store and other important improvements coming soon in the driving range.