In these times of crisis, it is comforting to see how some companies are not lacking work… And we are not talking about those dedicated to the collection of delinquent accounts. As in any other sector, in the golf industry, those companies in which professionalism, experience and things well done are the most important, stay afloat and prosper. Jerigolf (Jerez Integral Golf, S.L.) is one of them.
Its manager and alma mater, José Antonio García del Salto Morales, is one of the golf course construction and renovation professionals with the longest and most successful track record in Spain. In his 35 years of professional experience he has participated in the construction of more than fifty courses.
-Jerigolf is one of the few companies dedicated to the construction, renovation and maintenance of golf courses that continue to work very well in Spain… What is the formula for this success?
-We have been able to adapt to the country’s situation and we are currently devoting ourselves more to renovations, because there was a vacuum in terms of specialized companies dedicated to it. The golf companies, like us, were dedicated to the construction of golf courses and left a little aside the reforms. To make a good reform must have a lot of experience in the sector because it requires a lot of technical knowledge and know what is the best solution for each problem that arises, find the best option is our job, offering the best solution for each problem. We have been very successful so far.
On the other hand, we have a very well sized staff that can be adjusted to each specific job in which we participate. With a magnificent technical department and very professional managers, to which we add a specific machinery, which we have adapted for this type of work on golf courses, prepared to not damage the turf.
-How many courses have you built since you started working in golf?
-Counting the ones I did with my previous company, there are more than fifty complete, from start to finish. Apart from that, I have participated in the construction of others, with earthworks, irrigation and drainage designs or other specific works.
-What are the most outstanding jobs Jerigolf has done during the last year?
“To make a good reform in a golf course you have to have a lot of experience in the sector.”
-The most important reform has been that of the Real Club de Golf de Sevilla, where we have reformed the second nine greens, which have been completely emptied and have been built according to USGA regulations from bottom to top. Also built in record time, two and a half months, and maintaining the original design with a margin of error that does not exceed one centimeter. In June of this year we will begin the second phase.
In Valderrama we have finished the total remodeling of the pumping system after carrying out a study of the necessary flow rates by modifying the old networks and enlarging the diameters, which have been adapted for irrigation in less time, with a lower loss of load and with a possibility of 135 liters per second, which implies a saving in the electricity bill.
In Vista Hermosa we have remodeled and waterproofed the irrigation pond and renovated the pumping station. In addition, we have done many minor drainage, pumping, road repair and irrigation network works in several golf courses: Valle Romano, Montecastillo, Vista Hermosa, etc.
We have just finished a reform in Las Brisas (Marbella), finishing the final construction of the bunkers, under the design of Kyle Phillips, and some fairway drainage. It has been a quite complicated work because of the dates in which it has been done, due to the rainfall, but the final result has been perfect.
We are currently working in Montecastillo, where the previous year we had reformed the bunkers of 6 streets and seen the result, now we are doing a complete reform of the same, including drainage and molding of the base of these, as well as the installation of our drainage system, acting on a total of 14,000 square meters remaining.
-Jerigolf has its own system for bunker renovation…
-It is a system that we started to use in 1995 in La Ballena (Cádiz) because we had a problem of clay with a lot of silt and when it rained, the sand mixed with the mud. Then we had to waterproof it completely with plastic and then look for a permeable fabric to allow the water to pass through but avoiding the plastic to break and mix with the gravel of the drains. We have continued to maintain this system in many courses and we are also introducing it in others, such as Finca Cortesín, where it is having spectacular results in the bunkers, as has already been demonstrated with the last rains.
-Aren’t you afraid that this system will be copied?
-It is not only the system, as we have perfected it, with a different installation technique than the first ones, as experience has allowed us to perfect it. Besides, each bunker has a different problem and the decision has to be made on the spot.
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