An event worthy of note, because a golf club celebrating its fiftieth anniversary is still not very frequent in Spain. On this occasion, the honor belongs to Atalaya Golf, a club located between the municipalities of Estepona and Benahavís, which has two 18-hole courses.
Es Atalaya Old is one of the great courses of the Costa del Sol. Built when the proliferation of urbanizations in tourist destination had not yet begun, the Old Course was designed by Bernhard von Limburger, German golf champion in 1925 and who would later become one of the most prestigious golf course architects in his country. He designed some 70 courses in Germany, France and Austria, and the Atalaya course was the only one he designed in Spain.
Its wide fairways and elevated greens make this championship course a challenge for both professionals and players of all levels. It has matured with elegance and with its spectacular views of the Sierra de la Concha it is the perfect oasis in the hustle and bustle of the Costa del Sol.
From the outside it looks like another perfectly flat golf course and affordable to the average player with its undulating fairways, its numerous marble bunkers, fast greens and the vegetation lining the fairways with olive trees, pines, cactus, and eucalyptus, but in reality it is a very difficult course that is a great challenge even for the professional player.
Although the course officially celebrates its golden anniversary this year, it was actually completed in 1967, although it was not inaugurated until a year later, “so that date is taken as a reference,” says Atalaya’s director, Andrés Sánchez. The course was inaugurated by one of the most famous actors of the time, the Scotsman Sean Connery, who had a house “very close by” at the time.
Sánchez describes the trajectory of this club as “very interesting, with different stages, with good and bad moments, with many green fees sold, many members who have been shareholders of the company, and a constant work of improvement during these fifty years”.
-Could you make an estimate of how many green fees have been sold at Atalaya in fifty years?
-We would have to crunch the numbers, because we didn’t have the second course until 1990, but I think we could have around three million green fees. There have been years with more than 80,000 tee times, and in 2001 we exceeded 83,000. We must bear in mind that the second course was inaugurated in 1990, the work of another German designer, Paul Krings.
-Who promoted the construction of the Old Course?
-The investors were a conglomerate of German companies that bought land to build hotels. They started with the Atalaya hotel and then they built the golf course.
-How many members does the club have and what are their predominant nationalities?
-The club currently has 420 shareholder members (it also has annual subscribers), with a total of 36 nationalities, predominantly Spaniards, Scandinavians and Germans.
It has always been a very international club. You have to take into account that the Atalaya Hotel has almost 500 rooms and to fill it, it needed an international clientele, from many countries. But it is true that in the 70s it focused a lot on the American market, and many Americans came to this area, which was totally unknown in the 70s.
With the second oil crisis, which began in 1979, the number of North American visitors to the Costa del Sol dropped considerably. Now they continue to arrive but in much smaller numbers, they have great purchasing power and usually play at Valderrama and other great courses in the area, including Atalaya Old.
-What renovations or upgrades have been made to the club over the years?
-In recent years we are putting the course with the standard distances to have tournaments here of quite a high category. Hole 1 of the Old Course has been completely renovated to make it more competitive, the kiosk has also been completely renovated, as well as the whole surrounding area, and little by little we are going to make more renovations on this course.
On the other hand, we are currently constructing a parking building with capacity for 130 vehicles for customers and partners, with one part covered and the other uncovered.
In the last three years, important works have been carried out at the club, such as the renovation of the men’s and women’s locker rooms and the construction of a gymnasium and new offices. In addition, the fleet of buggies has been renewed.
The director of Atalaya Golf is optimistic about the future of the club: “All economists predict that we will have at least ten good years before returning to a recession, so we have to take advantage of this growth to improve and invest a lot of money, as has been done in the last fifteen years.
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