Villa Padierna is one of the most spectacular golf resorts in southern Europe and the entire Mediterranean. Its three 18-hole golf courses, golf academy, racquet club, beach club, wellness center and its luxurious five-star hotel, where the former first lady of the United States Michelle Obama stayed, is certainly a rival difficult not only to beat, but even to match. The exquisite taste that oozes from the elegant hotel, decorated with countless works of art, blends perfectly with the evocative landscape of Tuscany that surrounds it.
One of the latest additions to the resort’s management team, as Director of Operations at Villa Padierna Golf Club, is Pedro Morán. Curiously, he began his professional career in the world of golf, ten years ago, in this same club, then spent two years at the golf course La Almarza, a 27-hole golf course in Ávila, and then worked for seven years at Green Mowers, distributor of the E-Z-GO and Jacobsen brands for all of Spain, among others.
-Has Villa Padierna Golf Club changed much since you first worked here a decade ago?
-Yes. There were two fields then and now there are three, and there are other new facilities. Although it is still a commercial club, now it has more members and more social atmosphere. I have found an exciting project and a spectacular resort. We are the only resort on the Costa del Sol with three golf courses, including the only executive golf course in the area, a five-star hotel and a beach club, apart from the golf academy and the racquet club, medical wellness and spa… And then we also have Las Termas de Carratraca in the province, which is another five-star hotel.
-Are there any new developments regarding the golf aspect of the resort this year?
-Recently, a very important pruning and cleaning work has been done around the holes around the Flamingos lake so that this great sheet of water is much more visible. On the other hand, we are giving more service to the client, more added value, providing water, fruit, tees, towels… we want him to notice that he is getting a great service and to repeat his visit, to make him loyal.
-How would you synthetically describe Villa Padierna’s golf courses?
-Our three courses are very different. Flamingos was inaugurated in 2001 by Antonio García Garrido, who is a famous designer on the Costa del Sol, and it could be described as a friendly course, a very commercial course, for all types of players.
Tramores is an 18-hole executive course that is a very good course for beginners and children. It is par 63 with one par 5, six par 4’s and the rest are par 3’s. It opened in 2003 as a 9-hole course and was later expanded to 18 holes. The designer is our greenkeeper, Cristobal Guerrero.
Alferini, also designed by Cristóbal Guerrero, opened in 2008 and is our flagship course, our top competition course. As the English say, it’s more challenging, tougher, more course.
We can say that, whoever comes to Villa Padierna, we have the course that adapts to your needs and where you will enjoy.
-What is the resort’s predominant clientele?
-In spring and autumn there is a predominance of foreigners who come to play golf, mainly British, during the summer there is a little more national clientele and in winter there is a mix of nationalities.
-Are there any projects on the horizon to host a professional competition at Villa Padierna?
We have in mind to have a high-level professional tournament at Alferini, but we can’t say anything yet. It is a high competition course and we intend to carry it out.
-The resort is also the site of many amateur tournaments in the summer….
-Yes, and we are going to continue in the same line. There are our traditional tournaments, such as the Condesa de Villapadierna, which this year celebrates its fifteenth edition, or the Andalucía Golf Challenge, and then we have a very special tournament for us, which is the Cuadrangular, a championship where members from Neguri, Puerta de Hierro, La Moraleja and Villa Padierna compete. At the time it started as a Ryder Cup between La Moraleja and Puerta de Hierro, in which I was lucky enough to participate, and then it became the current Quadrangular, which this year celebrates its tenth edition. We will also have some more surprises for this summer, but I can’t say anything about it yet.
KEY FIGURE
Morán considers it important to highlight the work of the club’s greenkeeper, Cristóbal Guerrero, “because he has been working at the club practically all his life and is the person who knows our courses best. Apart from being the designer of Alferini and Tramores, he has built the three golf courses. I believe that few clubs have a person who has such a deep knowledge of their courses and knows how to combine them so well with their surroundings”.
Regarding Villa Padierna Golf Club’s future plans, the resort’s director of operations says that “the idea in the medium and long term is to generate more members and, as far as possible, to be a more mixed club, where we combine members with green fee visitors”. To this end, social life and events will be promoted with the aim of “making Villa Padierna more of a social club”. Members have access to all the resort’s facilities, the three golf courses, racquet and beach club, discounts at the spa… “We really offer a range of products and services that I believe no other golf club on the Costa del Sol offers”, concludes Morán.
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