{"id":15007,"date":"2016-07-04T14:29:29","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/estepona-golf-turns-25\/"},"modified":"2016-07-04T14:29:29","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:29","slug":"estepona-golf-turns-25","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/estepona-golf-turns-25\/","title":{"rendered":"Estepona Golf turns 25"},"content":{"rendered":"

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He only wanted to play golf. He had sold his publishing company in England and moved to the Costa del Sol \u2013 the same as so many compatriots \u2013 to enjoy his favourite sport and the excellent climate. But his entrepreneurial spirit led him to become involved in a new business adventure and to buy a plot of land to build a golf course. <\/p>\n

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After many setbacks and headaches, in 1980 his dream \u2013 at times nightmare \u2013 became a reality and Estepona Golf opened. His name was David Leader. One of his sons, Rory, lived through, suffered and enjoyed with him the birth and development of this golfing offspring. Now, on the 25th anniversary of the course, Rory \u2013 as part of his day-to-run responsibility running Estepona Golf \u2013 still senses his father, who died 10 years ago, close at hand. \u201cI remember him a lot and often feel his presence here,\u201d he recalls emotionally. \u201cI still keep working as I believe he would like me to. We\u2019ve improved the course and people are noticing the efforts we are all making.\u201d <\/p>\n

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During the tougher moments, when problems of all kinds were adding up, Rory thought about closing or selling the course, but in the end his social conscience reigned and he decided to continue, in spite of the difficulties. \u201cActually, I never thought about that seriously because a lot of families here depend on Estepona Golf. On the contrary, I realised I had to work a lot more to guarantee their jobs and the future of the course. I had to offer a good product to encourage people to come here and leave happy and want to return, and that\u2019s what we did.\u201d <\/p>\n

The figures for number of rounds and revenue at the course are experiencing a spectacular increase this year, and Rory believe the crisis is finally being overcome. \u201cI\u2019m completely convinced. People are talking about new projects, real estate sales are on the rise, more tourists are visiting\u2026 And now they are spending much more money, and that\u2019s a clear sign of recovery. When we analyze the amount spent by people who visit us we can see that figures have risen more than 40 per cent. The difference is that now people spend money in the shop, in the bar, in the restaurant\u2026 The crisis has now passed.\u201d <\/p>\n

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Estepona Golf\u2019s success, according to its president, is due to the optimum relationship between quality and price the course offers. \u201cIf we talk about the English, for example, in England playing golf doesn\u2019t cost a lot of money, there are many options, and the prices are very reasonable for good courses. So at our course they find a good product for a reasonable price, and that\u2019s why they leave contented, because their expectations are fulfilled.\u201d <\/p>\n

When describing his course he uses the adjective \u201cfantastic\u201d, and says the design \u2013 the work of Jos\u00e9 Luis L\u00f3pez \u2013 \u201cis a jewel\u201d that everyone likes. Rory enjoys competition and he also applies this keen desire for improvement to the layout. \u201cIt\u2019s like a tournament. I\u2019m not just happy to do things half-well: I have to do the best possible. We want to do something special here, and that\u2019s why we work hard to ensure the course is presented in the best condition possible. We really look after it, and in the end people who come here to play can see that.\u201d <\/p>\n

The showpiece hole at Estepona Golf is the 10th, an attractive par-four of 267 meters with a green surrounded by water. Rory also highlights the third, a 380-metre par-four with a drop of 70 meters to the green and views to the sea. <\/p>\n

Rory, whose other hobbies include flying helicopters (he sold the one he had in order to upgrade the golf course\u2019s maintenance equipment) and airplanes, is married to Amanda (also English), who manages the club. Their three lovely children are still too young for their parents to have injected them with the golfing \u201cpoison\u201d. But everything has its time\u2026 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

He only wanted to play golf. He had sold his publishing company in England and moved to the Costa del Sol \u2013 the same as so many compatriots \u2013 to enjoy his favourite sport and the excellent climate. But his entrepreneurial spirit led him to become involved in a new business adventure and to buy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":3689,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15007","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destinations"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15007","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15007"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15007\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3689"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15007"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15007"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15007"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}