IN FULL BLOOM
The Torrequebrada Golf Club course, opened to the public in 1976, and rated as one of the best in Europe, is a design by José Gancedo, known as the “Picasso of Golf”, who in his time was the best amateur player in Spanish golf.
Gancedo made a design that requires thinking and rethinking every shot, and if you want to take a risk, it offers an interesting challenge to the players. Numerous lakes and bunkers, strategically placed, and several dog legs turn the course into a real test.
The course is located in Benalmádena, only twenty minutes from the airport of Málaga, Torremolinos or Fuengirola. In 1979 it hosted the Spanish Open.
“This,” says Francisco Ruiz, its director, “was the first course designed by Pepe Gancedo. It was a construction very close to the terrain, without any real estate or other kind of restrictions”.
“He,” he continues, “played his balls and saw where he had to put some obstacle, where to place bunkers, lakes, etc.”
“Every fairway, every green has its own personality, and they are all different. The greens are large, with movement and elevated. The fairways are wide and generous.”
“Pepe arranged the land as he pleased, not like today’s designers, who have to adapt to the gaps left by real estate developments. Back then there was hardly any construction here, and when it was built, it was done with the field already done. That’s the difference.
-Which holes would you highlight on the course?
-In general, all of them. The area of the 12th, 13th and 14th greens is spectacular, with the lake in the center, the view from the 18th tee towards the clubhouse and the mountain, the 7th tee, with a shot to the Mediterranean Sea….
The vegetation was also very careful: more than one hundred varieties of trees, pines, palms, etc. were planted.
-With the passage of time in the field, some small modifications have been made…
-Yes, because we had to adapt it to today’s golf. We made all the concrete paths and reforms in the clubhouse and locker rooms, but in general Gancedo’s design has not been changed, not even when we have reformed greens or bunkers, etc.
-Could it be said that this is one of the most attractive courses on the Costa del Sol?
-The evidence is clear: we have had high occupancy since the beginning of the season, always in the triple digits.
I am convinced that this success is due, in addition to the design of the course, to the spectacular and rigorous maintenance we do, to the work we constantly carry out on the course to improve it and seek excellence.
This year, for example, we have pruned the vegetation of pines, palms and other trees in seven lanes to make the views more spectacular and the game more agile.
“We are convinced,” adds Francisco Ruiz, “that we are not making a mistake with the policy we are following, because our clients, who are the ones who show us the way forward, are constantly increasing and without the need to enter into the price war of other fields on the Coast.”
This is one of the concerns of the director of Torrequebrada: “I believe,” he says, “that the type of client we want should be set by the fields and not that the clients should set the price they want to pay to the fields.
“We cannot accept that a client comes and puts on the table the money he wants to pay to play. We have to maintain the prices and not accept this kind of pressure. Everyone should pay the price of the field, not the price they want to pay that day.
“And if our customers visit us again and again, being this field more expensive than others, it is not because it is, it is because the product deserves it. Our quality/price ratio is unbeatable, and now, for the summer season we have very interesting offers.”
“Our motto,” concludes Francisco Ruiz, “is always quality, quality and quality, both on the field and in the clubhouse.
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