After having renovated Los Olivos some time ago, Mijas Golf has carried out during the last year a total remodeling of the other course of the Costa del Sol complex: Los Lagos.
The two courses that make up this club, designed by the legendary American architect Robert Trent Jones, were for decades a reference for golf tourism in Andalusia.
Now Mijas Golf is back in full splendor and ready to position itself once again as one of the most appreciated golf resorts in Europe.
“As everyone knows,” says Lorenzo Pérez Cortés, director of Mijas Golf, “Los Lagos is our flagship, and after 37 years the course needed a comprehensive reform, which is what we have done.”
“Our first priority with the renovation,” he explains, “was to restore the magnificent Robert Trent Jones design: we’ve gone back to being a par 72. And to do that we’ve converted the 15th hole from a par 3 to a par 5, as it was originally, and we’ve also modified the 16th, which now becomes a par 3 of 142 meters or so.”
“The course,” continues the director, “we have gained distance, from the yellow bars there are now 300 meters more, and the water comes into play much more. We have moved the greens much closer to the lakes and we have gone from an average of 7,000 square meters to 11,000. The ball flight calculations with the drive, which used to be between 200 and 220 meters, are now 250 meters…”.
Lorenzo Pérez Cortés indicates that “what we have decided is not to make rough in a few years in order to facilitate the game. the course still has that image of spaciousness that characterizes it. It is easily playable for any level, and walking”.
“We have tried,” continues the director of Mijas Golf, “to adapt the course to new trends. Above all, we have made maintenance easier and we can easily recover the days when the course is closed due to rain by making first class drainage systems. We have also finished the complete circuit of paths for buggies, etc.”.
-In addition, the entire lawn has been replaced….
-Yes, we raised the field completely, put in a new irrigation system and then planted.
Regarding irrigation, we are a totally Toro field (the American brand distributed in Spain by Riversa), and that convinced us to install their new control system Toro Lynx. We have been the first to install it in Spain, although it has been in the United States for more than a year. This system allows a great economy of water, so that no area of the field dries out or receives more water than it should. I think it is the best irrigation control there is.
As for the grass, advised by our new greenkeeper, Fran Tirado, we have chosen the new hybrid bermudagrass Princess 77, which is a grass that works very well in the heat and needs 40 percent less water. On the greens and greens we have sown agrosti stolonyfera variety 007. In the bunkers we tried marmolina, but in the end we opted for cream-colored natural quarry sand.
-With the two refurbished courses, Mijas Golf is once again positioned as one of the most important resorts on the Costa del Sol….
Historically, we have been a well-known resort in Europe. We were aware that, especially in Los Lagos, we needed to make a series of reforms. We have already done them and now I am convinced that Mijas Golf will once again occupy the position it deserves in European golf. We have made a great effort for that and we once again have a great product: two magnificent designs by Robert Trent Jones. By the way, at Los Olivos we are still working to improve it by changing the sand in the bunkers and carrying out other actions.
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