He just wanted to play golf. He had sold his publishing business in England and moved to the Costa del Sol – like so many of his compatriots – to enjoy his favorite sport and the good weather. But his entrepreneurial spirit led him to get involved in a new business venture and he bought a farm to build a golf course.
After many vicissitudes and more headaches, in 1990 his dream -sometimes nightmare- became reality and Estepona Golf was inaugurated. That man was David Leader. One of his sons, Rory, lived, suffered and enjoyed with him the birth and development of the golfing creature. Now, on the 25th anniversary of the course, Rory, in his daily work at the head of Estepona Golf, continues to keep his father, who died ten years ago, very much in mind. “I remember him a lot and I often feel his presence here,” his son recalls with emotion. “I continue to work as I think he would have liked, we have improved the course a lot and the efforts we are all making are being noticed,” he adds.
In the hardest moments, when problems of all kinds were piling up, Rory thought about closing or selling the course, but in the end his social conscience outweighed his social conscience and he decided to go ahead despite the difficulties. “The truth is that I never seriously thought about it because there are many families here who depend on Estepona Golf. On the contrary, I realized that I had to work much harder to ensure jobs and the future of the course. We had to offer a good product so that people would come and leave happy and want to come back, and that’s what we did.”
Occupancy and business figures in his field are up dramatically this year, so Rory is convinced that the crisis is finally being overcome. “I’m totally convinced. There is talk of new projects, real estate sales are growing, more tourists are coming…. And now they are spending a lot more money, and that is one of the clearest signs of recovery. When we analyze the spending of the people who visit us here, we see that the figures have grown by more than 40 percent. The difference is that now people are spending their money in the store, in the bar, in the restaurant…. The crisis is over.
Estepona Golf’s success is due above all, its president believes, to the excellent value for money it offers. “If we talk about the English, for example, playing golf in England does not cost a lot of money, there is a lot of supply and very reasonable prices for good courses. So in our course they find a good product at a very reasonable price, and that’s why they leave happy, because their expectations are fulfilled.
When defining his course, he uses the adjective “fantastic” and says that the design, the work of José Luis López, “is a jewel” that everyone likes. Rory likes competition and that spirit of self-improvement is also applied to the course. “It’s like a tournament, I’m not satisfied with doing things half right: I have to do them as well as possible. We want to do something special here, and that’s why we all work hard to make sure the pitch is in the best possible condition. We take great care of it, and in the end that’s what the people who come to play see.
The emblematic hole of Estepona Golf is the 10th, a beautiful par 4 of 267 meters with the green surrounded by water. Rory also highlights the hole 3, par 4 of 380 meters with a drop of 70 meters to the green and sea views.
Rory, whose hobbies include flying helicopters (the one he had was sold to renew the golf course maintenance machinery) and airplanes, is married to his compatriot Amanda, who manages the club. Their three precious children are still too young to have been inoculated by their parents with the ‘poison’ of golf. But it will come.
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