The dream of the residents of Guadiaro, one of the districts of the municipality of San Roque, where the Sotogrande macro-urbanization is located, came true in 1987 when the first municipal golf course in Spain was opened in their territory. And it was not just any course, but one of enormous category, as it bore the signature of one of the most famous golf designers of all time: Robert Trent Jones. Thanks to the selfless work of Jaime Ortiz-Patiño, demiurge of Valderrama, the very creator of the neighboring and internationally acclaimed courses of RC Valderrama and RCG Sotogrande designed in an estate in the upper part of Guadiaro an extraordinary 9-hole layout. To this Robert Trent Jones course would be added in 1995 another 9 holes designed by another prestigious designer, the former Ryder Cup player Dave Thomas, and in 2002 the magnificent clubhouse was inaugurated.
The reason why Guadiaro longed for a course of its own was because there was a great love of the game due to the fact that many of its neighbors worked in the nearby golf clubs and a good number of them had learned to play as caddies. It was they who, in 1982, five years before having their own course, formed the La Cañada Golf Club.
The course is a par 71 of 5,841 meters from white bars whose first 9 holes correspond to Dave Thomas’ design and the second 9 to Robert Trent Jones’. The course presents a good balance between its two rounds, says the club’s managing director, Ignacio Sánchez Montes. The first round is “very complete, very entertaining, very friendly, but somewhat easier than the back nine, which are much wider, old-fashioned, with high greens, not very big…”.
“You play two courses in one round,” he continues, “and you are left with a great taste in your mouth because the back nine is a spectacle… the par 3 17th with a lake in front of it is very nice, but the finish on the 18th with the challenge of crossing the glen, which is what the club is named after, is fantastic.”
“And for the high turnover of players on the course,” he adds, “the truth is that the course is kept in very good condition.”
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70,000 departures per year
The club is made up of 1,000 members, 300 spouses and 400 children of members, with the possibility of annual membership (there are currently more than 300 members). With this volume of members and subscribers and the great demand for play that exists on the part of visitors, it is not surprising that La Cañada has some 70,000 tee times a year, making it one of the 18-hole courses with the most tee times per year. “Perhaps in the Peninsula we are the course with the highest number of tee times”, Sánchez Montes adds.
These high occupancy figures and the fact that it is a members’ club open to visitors make for a tough organizational task. “Sometimes it is difficult to find the balance between one and the other, but in the end it is achieved and the objectives are met,” explains the managing director. “There really is no low season here, it’s either high season or less high season, because we’re talking about 200 outings a day on average, and there are times in the summer when we can exceed 300 outings on numerous occasions”.
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Great professionals
Guadiaro has produced great professionals, many of whom have been educated or trained at La Cañada, where Juan Quirós is held in special esteem, among other things because he was one of the forerunners who gave impetus to the creation of the club. Álvaro Quirós, Mario Galiano and María Parra are other outstanding golf personalities who have forged their game in this Cadiz course.
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Exemplary school
La Cañada is a paradigm in the teaching of this sport, and its Municipal Golf School is a national reference in this regard. It currently has more than 270 children and there is a waiting list to join the children’s school. The club also has an adapted golf school, with more than a hundred students.
“It’s incredible the love that exists in this area: here the children learn to play golf before they learn to play soccer,” says Sánchez Montes, “and we are committed to them because they are the future of this sport.”
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Technification Center
The Technification Center is another of the outstanding peculiarities of La Cañada. The project dates back eight years, when it began under the impulse of the club’s president, Ángel Gutiérrez, and it has not been until the last quarter of 2018, coinciding with the incorporation of Sánchez Montes as managing director of the club, when the situation finally unravels and the funds to finally carry it out are specified, through an agreement for its financing signed between the City Council of San Roque and the Spanish and Andalusian Golf Federations.
There is only one similar center in Spain, located in Madrid, and it will be dedicated to improving the training of the students of the municipal golf school.
Work will begin shortly and is expected to be completed and operational later this year.
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Field of reference
Everyone feels at home here,” says the club’s director, “because in short, La Cañada is everyone’s club because in the end it brings together directors and managers of other clubs, who are members here, as well as workers or employees of other golf courses, who are members here, the local population and vacationers… We are the reference course in the area despite not enjoying the renown of some of our deep-rooted neighbors such as the Real Club de Sotogrande or Valderrama. The foreigner does not miss coming to this course, not only because of the economic aspect, since our price is much lower than the rest and we offer a great quality, and we are the course that everyone wants to know.
One advantage of the course, says its managing director, is that while courses in the area are forced to close when there are storms and very adverse weather conditions, La Cañada remains open “thanks to the way it was built”.
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