Costa Del Sol - Around Benalmadena

The annual soujourn of a few from our club is taking in the delights of the Costa Del Sol this Sept/Oct. We are staying in Benalmadena ("urg" I hear some of you cry!) and playing Rio Real, Santana and Torrequebrada. I am familiar with Santana (2/3 laps) and Torrequebrada (6/7) albeit 4 or 5 years ago, but not Rio Real. Having not been there, I wondered if anyone out there has recent experience of Rio Real and can proffer any reviews/comments etc.

The group have transfers and the above golf booked for 3 of the 4 days and on the "day off" a few of us intend to play somewhere else. Anyone have any hot tips of reasonably priced, decent tracks to play (I appreciate that is very subjective!!!)? Close to Benal, say 20 - 30 mins in a taxi (at their pace!) would be better as we will probably have to taxi on the "day off". Group for the day off is likely to range from a couple at 4/6 h/cap, a couple 9/12, a couple 16/18 and a couple 22/24 so fair and fun preferable over tough and tight (but perhaps a bit longer than the crazy golf place on N340 through it!)

Any help gratefully accepted and apologies if the topic or area has been done to death recently.

Estepona. Very nice course. Got some sort of 'won't be beaten on price' deal these days too.

Atalaya Park 2 course real good value.let me know if anyone drops out

Don't think that you will be disappointed with Rio Real, I have played it a few times and always enjoyed it there. The La Cala resort is always worth a visit and there are three courses there to choose from and I also like the Marbella Golf and Country Club. Not sure about current green fees to play either of these, but I seem to recall they are both about half and hour from Benalmadena.

Anyway that's enough about the golf, if you are in Benalmadena don't forget the American Strip Joint near the Rui hotel!

Thanks thus far. Estepona is a little too far down I think but I have heard very good things on it and I will have a look for Atalaya as I haven't heard of that one.

Blue - The American Bar eh? - at least I can have a guess why the blue (and possibly cover) is in your username!

Have been in, and can honestly say I never sampled the wares (although have a mate that rather foolishly fell head over heels for one of the "staff" and spend about 5 grand on "holidays" for the next few months.

Have been on 2 of La Cala and enjoyed them, found Europa pretty tough though. If that's the Marbella (I think there's a couple with that in their name) with a massive shared green in front of the clubhouse? Really liked that, as each hole seemed to have it's own valley to be set in.

I travelled to that area of Spain last year, well flew into Malaga anyway and visited Ronda and the Granada region. Probably too far for a day trip but I guess you could book a b and b in either and stay the night. And maybe not all the way to Granada but one of the many spectacular villages in the national park on the road from Malaga to Granada.

No golf worth seeing that I know of, but it is a great way to get away from the tourist traps on the coast if you get sick of that sort of thing.

Would love to Mac, and certainly would do were it a real hollybobs but it's purely a splash n dash golf trip this time. 4 days, 4 laps and gone again.

It's hard enough getting 4 people organised to go anywhere, let alone a "hack" of 16 golfers (what is the collective noun for golfers?)

what is the collective noun for golfers?

I think the swear filter prevents me from answer that one.

Foolish mates RC?

We were in Puerto Banus a couple of years ago and a few of the boys decided to visit a bar that was, how should I say, 'strangely popular with middle aged golfers and young single eastern european women' One of the boys took a particular shine to one of the 'staff' and returned the next couple of nights to see her again.

He then announced to us that he would not be joining us for golf the next day as he was taking her out. For this decision he quite rightly received many derogatory comments and much stick from the rest of us. Sure enough the next day and evening he was nowhere to be seen.

The following morning we were on the coach on the way to that days golf course. His best mate started to loudly berate him "I can't believe you have been so bloody stupid as to shag a brass without using any protection"

"It's alright" came the reply "It was her day off"

Brilliant! The whole coach erupted in laughter. Oh and the username? Blue is the colour of the football team I support and Coverman is a reference to Insurance which is what I do for a living. Honestly nothing dodgy!

Yes that is the Marbella course. Agree with you about the Europa. We played it when it was blowing a hooley and 20 blokes where suffering after a particularly heavy night and not much sleep. 24 points was the winning score! Shocking!

Yes - foolish mates. Although anything I say at this point, despite being true, merely serves to imply the post was autobiographical. Which it wasn't. (See, you are now utterly convinced it was me).

I can't believe your mate missed a lap, that would have been the focus of the berating. Worst crime ever on a trip, as it leaves a 3 ball in the midst of a sea of 5 and a half hour 4 balls with no let through in sight.

We opened on the Europa with a friendly AM AM medal and the (I think) stroke 1 with a hill left (needing an unknown, big carry) and a tight route round to the right left our 4 ball using a 7 and an 11 as the 2 best scores. We weren't the worst!

I remember it well, I holed a tricky five footer down the hill for a 7 to get a half in our money match!

Not quite the worst crime ever, that would be one of our group who met a girl on one of our trips a few years ago. For the next three years he would fly out with us and then spend the week with this girl, the next time we would see him was at the airport for the flight home. Eventually his Mrs found out when they started to meet up back in England. He is divorced and unhappy now!

I didn't mean to suggest that it was you by the way, just pointing out we have all got foolish mates!

I've played most if not all of the courses along that way and Rio Real is pretty good but not amazing. I remember it got pretty expensive at one point too.

Others I could suggest would be Los Naranjos which is a fair test and very pretty or Montemayor which is not a fair test but is jaw droppingly amazing. It is a bit of a trek up through the mountains though.

Depending on what the relative costs are these days (it's five or so years since I last went) Santa Clara is well worth playing too. Played in front of Jim "The Bald Eagle" Smith when we played.

The two Mijas courses are good for all levels as they are more open but still great to play. They aren't up in Mijas village in fact they may well be closer to Benalmadena than Mijas village.

Cheers Hibbz - I'll take "pretty good" for Rio Real as I have done quite a lot of them down there and insisted on a new one (to me) in the organised trip (and hopefully the day off too) to justify the cost of the trip!

In terms of the day off, I thought Mijas first off for those reasons. Can't remember which one I've done, but it was nice, fair and close.

Bizarrely, I found a stroke saver for Santa Clara in the car last night. That's the one with the load of Ferraris that park on the drive isn't it? That was a nice track. I had a terrible case of the golfing unmentionables on the practice range before we went out (something like 12 in a row).

I didn't get on with Los Naranjos (John Parrott was finishing when we arrived) it had the hardest greens in the world at the time (and hollowtined fairways which I'd never seen), couldn't get a ball to stay on from distance, and so felt a bit like a US open.

Would love to do Montemayor but it sounds a bit tough for some of us (OK me) for a "day off" (sounds like I'd need a couple of boxes of cross outs!).

Blue - No worries, I didn't take it as a suggestion it was me.

Hope your cash winning 7 got a massive high five and Kiawah Island levels of celebrations (in an ironic way of course). I think our 11 was treated to a great deal of sarcastic celebration (mostly by the 2 of us that hadn't bettered it!) and many wistful glances up the hill to Santa Maria which we knew was relatively simple

I remember being very disappointed that day to score only 22 points, my lowest ever, (I have since matched that total!) only to later discover that 24 points had won and I was 2nd!

If you don't mind a bit more of trek go for Montemayor just so you can take a look at it and say "Who the hell thought of building a golf course here?!"

I really enjoyed playing there. I sent my first drive into a ravine but made a 6 and then managed to hit it pretty straight for the rest of the round and never lost another ball. All the edge of the fairways are treated as lateral water hazards and red staked so you don't need to play stroke and distance or risk breaking your neck scrambling down the ravines.

Have a sweep before you start between yourselves on how many balls you all lose in aggregate, all adds to the fun! The prospect of guessing right and picking up a nice stack of euro's can soften the blow if you haven't scored too well!

Monte Mayor - only if you want to beat yourself up.
Some wonderful holes, but disaster lurks on every shot.
Some of the holes look like the came out of those fantasy golf calendars, that shows beatiful vistas, with a green & a tee stuck in the middle of it.

In order the ones I'd recommend on that area:

Torrequebrada
La Cala
Mijas Lagos
Mijas Olivos

going further south

Rio Real
Marbella

Going further down is a costly stay.

For the adventurous, try Club 92 just off the Benalmadena/Fungirola road.

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:Monte Mayor - only if you want to beat yourself up.
Some wonderful holes, but disaster lurks on every shot.
Some of the holes look like the came out of those fantasy golf calendars, that shows beatiful vistas, with a green & a tee stuck in the middle of it.

montemayor is actually closed at the moment due to financial troubles (or so i heard from a member last month).
a pity because i love the place. it is a bit like crazy golf at times but it is a great test. i played it every day for a week last summer. by the time id figured out how to play it i turned my 90s into low 70s.

Hendo

Did you just decide to putt all the way round ?

Its very much like crazy golf .....without the windmills.

I noticed last last year it was up for sale. It was built where it is, because the new road was supposed to give it a great link into the course, but then the road got moved & it was left very HIGH & dry.

Personally that's terribly sad news about Monte Mayor.

http://www.theolivepress.es/spain-news/2011/12/12/monte-mayor-golf-club-in-spain-closes-its-doors/

I thought of another couple I've played.

El Chaparral was a decent course and not massively expensive, Cabopino was cheap and a reasonable course and Miraflores which was also cheap but not a good course and rather aptly some of the holes ran alongside what appeared to be an open sewer!

Played El Chaparral a few years ago, hated it. The course had just re-opened & the greens were like glass. Not for those with a nervous disposition.

Capopino, played just after it opened. Didn't like it. May have been too young, maybe OK now.

Never played Miraflores.

Played Santa Maria, thats a nice track.

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:Hendo

Did you just decide to putt all the way round ?

Its very much like crazy golf .....without the windmills.

I noticed last last year it was up for sale. It was built where it is, because the new road was supposed to give it a great link into the course, but then the road got moved & it was left very HIGH & dry.

i hit irons off most tees. when you hit a par 5 (4th hole) in two shots by hitting 5 iron followed by 3 wood you know its not your typical course!
i think the only holes i pulled the driver was 15th (uphill par 4) and 16th (downhill par 5 dogleg).

Apparently the course is still being maintained to some degree so all hope isnt lost. i presume they are just cutting the greens twice a week kind of thing but this is better than nothing i suppose.

SetupDeterminesTheMotion wrote:Played El Chaparral a few years ago, hated it. The course had just re-opened & the greens were like glass. Not for those with a nervous disposition.

Capopino, played just after it opened. Didn't like it. May have been too young, maybe OK now.

Never played Miraflores.

Played Santa Maria, thats a nice track.

Yeah I like Santa Maria. We were once playing the 18th there when helicopters swooped in to collect water to put out a fire somewhere. It was a pretty amazing sight.

I've remembered another I didn't like (others did mind you) and that's Los Arqueros. Played it twice and was unimpressed both times.

Los Arqueros have done a lot of work last few years.Has to be said the land often used for golf in this part of the world is a bit of a challenge to the designer and then to maintain

I haven't been over for getting on for five years now Dyna but I always thought the majority if not all were fantastically maintained. Initially when we started going about they were all fantastic value as well and that only really changed as a result of the exchange rate.

I have a friend who is a member out there who has possibly one of the best jobs in the world.Financial advisor- office in Estapona she spends a lot of her week playing the courses in the area and helping the expats hang on to their cash.keeps e mailing me with the temperature!

Bringing the thread back totally unexpectedly. Apologies for it not dying the death it should have.

Our 16 travellers have been cut to 15 with a pull out at the 11th hour (pulled out tonight we go first thing tomorrow the 26th).

We have one straw to clutch at in the morning if the airline will let us change a traveller (and the potential replacement coughs up whatever they say!), otherwise we will be 15.

If anyone is in the costa del sol there might be a good deal for one player on Rio Real (27/09), Torrequebrada (28/09) and Santana (30/09) all about lunchtime. Ignore the forecast rain!

Problem is I won't be sure whether we have filled the spot until about 9 am 26th and I'm not sure when I can get online to check 606 back either, I guess the airport kiosk or a mate's phone. It is a genuine potential offer for a game though. PM if interested - but I don't expect any uptake and then it can die (until I post how badly I did next week).

Word of warning on name changes.
The----- at BMI hit me for £240 extra to change the name on a flight to majorca much more than the original flight cost.£40 each way plus the difference in cost of the new flight.I dont want a new flight I protested.Ah but sir now this is the last seat on the plane and very expensive.Racket and very well hidden in the terms and conditions.

Sorry to hijack the thread.

I too am heading on a 5-7 day break to Estepona/Duquesa in November and hoping to get in 3/4 rounds, any recommendations outwith the above?

Also, generally speaking are handicap certificates required to accompany green fee's in Spain/Costa Del Sol? Of our party of 4, all play fairly regularly but only 2 are members of a club/hold a handicap.

Gareth think you will find the green fee is the primary concern.Sure some of the guys will give you their advice base on experience but its probably about how much you want to spend on the golf.Los Arqueros is just 35 euro today.Atalaya courses are always good value.You will doubtless paying quite a bit more at some of the more exalted courses.La Cala is the one Ive heard most rave about

If you are going to Estepona your need to play Finca Cortesin. One of the most spectacular courses I've ever played... tremendous collection of risk / reward holes and great fun watching the Volvo Matchplay on the telly when you have played the course.

It's not cheap, about €100, but is worth it for the experience of being treated like royalty, especially when you consider that Valderrama costs you €300.