Manuel Piñero is one of Spain’s most outstanding professional golf players ever. With a lifetime dedicated to golf and now retired from top competition, he is ambassador of La Reserva Club Sotogrande, an activity he combines with his work as golf course designer at Target Ingenieros, a company he helped set up.
In his role as course designer, Manuel Piñero has redesign of the three loops at Almenara Golf. We talked to him about all the improvements made on the course and what a player is going to find at Almenara Golf from now on.
Almenara Golf is one of the best-known courses in the Sotogrande area. What prompted the decision to improve it?
There were several factors, but mainly the construction of the new SO/ Sotogrande hotel, a five-star Gran Lujo category hotel, which will give a big boost to the Sotogrande area. In my view, today’s tourist demands quality and excellent service and Almenara Golf ought to be a course that meets that need. Without a shadow of a doubt, it does so now.
The task of redesigning a golf course must need almost as much preparation as the actual work itself. What did you set out to achieve?
My aim was to make the course friendlier for the average player, the main profile of golfer who plays Almenara Golf. For me, Almenara was a complicated course, with very narrow fairways and a lot of bunkers in parts, where you had to rely on keeping the ball in the centre of the fairway, which made some holes overly hard to play.
Almenara Golf has three course loops, Los Pinos, Los Alcornoques and Los Lagos. Have you carried out improvements on all of them? What are these?
Yes, we have made changes to the three loops, taking out about 20 bunkers from the course, which has given it a wider feel, and we have done some major pruning, as Almenara is a course with a lot of trees and these had grown into the fairways, which are now cleared. All the areas around the greens have also been improved with new grass, which will have an impact on the quality of the course.
As for the changes to the holes, the first hole of Los Pinos used to have a very steep drop to the left from the centre of the fairway, we’ve filled in the slope there making it flatter. On the 4th hole, the tee has been modified, and on the 5th, the two bunkers to the right and left that made the fairway extremely narrow and difficult to play no longer exist, so we have gained all that space for the fairway and rough.
On Los Alcornoques, the 4th and 7th have been changed to make play easier, eliminating the water hazards.
On Los Lagos, we have redesigned the green on the 5th – it is in the same position, but with some changes that make it easier to get onto now.
Perhaps the most striking change is what Target Ingenieros have carried out on the 1st and 9th holes of Los Pinos, where the former remains a par 5 while the latter becomes a par 3 on which to finish the round.
Sotogrande has some of the best golf courses in Spain and now a 5-star hotel and a practically new course at Almenara Golf as well. You know the area well; do you think it will have a big impact?
It will, of course. Sotogrande has the best golf courses in Spain within easy reach, Valderrama, RCG Sotogrande, San Roque, La Reserva Club and Almenara. We have to continue investing and improving the facilities and infrastructure to keep us competitive.