“Rio Real is a great tourist reference”.
Luis Navarro, until a few months ago manager of the Aloha Golf Club (Marbella) has recently joined the management of the course and the Rio Real hotel in Marbella. Navarro has a long professional career in the world of golf: “I started in this many years ago”, he recalls, “mainly as a hobby, sharing the ownership of the Añoreta proshop”.
“I was already an agricultural engineer,” he says, “and then I had the opportunity to take a greenkeeper course with the Royal Andalusian Golf Federation. This gave me the opportunity to join for that job at Alicante Golf, where I later stayed as manager for five years. Later I went to El Bosque Golf Club, where I only stayed a few months because they called me from Aloha, where I stayed for eight years as manager”.
“Now,” he continues, “I am starting a very exciting stage at Rio Real, probably the best commercial course there is for visitors, with a fantastic hotel and superb facilities in an unbeatable location, five minutes from the center of Marbella, in the heart of the Costa del Sol.
-Will your incorporation to Rio Real imply changes in the club?
My work will be of continuity with that carried out by Juan Cantos. I am joining this company because there is a golf director, Juan, who has been working here for fifty years, giving his entire professional life and doing a fantastic job, who is retiring. Logically, the ownership has to think about the successor and that is why they have chosen me. I assume, therefore, the responsibility for all current and future operations of this club. I am not coming, as I said, to make changes, but to consolidate Rio Real as what it is: a great club, a great golf resort, with a very attractive hotel, and to make us continue to grow and consolidate. We intend this club to continue being what it is: a great tourist reference in one of the best areas of Spain, Marbella.
In any case, there are some immediate projects in the pipeline…
More than immediate, I would say for the near future. The idea is to build a first class beach club. And with that we would complete the offer as a resort: a boutique hotel with charm, a first class golf course, designed by Javier Arana, possibly the best Spanish designer, and this beach club.
The project is ready and the license has been requested. When we have it we will schedule the works and they will be carried out as soon as possible.
-Rio Rea will be fifty years old in 2015, how are you going to celebrate?
It is an important anniversary, as we are one of the few courses on the Costa del Sol that have reached that figure, along with Guadalmina, Sotogrande and El Parador and Sotogrande. Therefore we want to do many things to commemorate it, although we still do not have a full program of activities. We have all this year to prepare it, but we must do it very well.
-In the field, have you contemplated making any tweaks?
Not many, to be honest, because it is in magnificent condition. We have recently opened to play two greens that had been reformed, 5 and 13, which were given more movement to make it more interesting. On the other hand, we are adapting to irrigation with recycled water. We have already received the Acosol pipe for this purpose, and I believe that very soon we will be able to have reused water, which is what all the courses on the Costa del Sol are aiming for.
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