{"id":15031,"date":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/jose-antonio-lopez-casas-president-of-donana-golf-2\/"},"modified":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:28","slug":"jose-antonio-lopez-casas-president-of-donana-golf-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/jose-antonio-lopez-casas-president-of-donana-golf-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Jos\u00e9 Antonio L\u00f3pez Casas, president of Do\u00f1ana Golf"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/span>\u201cOUR OBJECTIVE IS TO REINVENT DO\u00d1ANA GOLF\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n

Very closely associated over the past two decades with Matalasca\u00f1as and, in general, with the whole Huelva province (he never misses the El Roc\u00edo pilgrimage), Do\u00f1ana Golf president Jos\u00e9 Antonio L\u00f3pez Casas gave consideration a few years ago to \u201cdoing something\u201d with the course. As he also had interests in another course in C\u00e1diz province, La Estancia (Sancti Petri), he thought about buying it. Finally, he opted to rent it for 20 years. <\/p>\n

Very closely associated over the past two decades with Matalasca\u00f1as and, in general, with the whole Huelva province (he never misses the El Roc\u00edo pilgrimage), Do\u00f1ana Golf president Jos\u00e9 Antonio L\u00f3pez Casas gave consideration a few years ago to \u201cdoing something\u201d with the course. As he also had interests in another course in C\u00e1diz province, La Estancia (Sancti Petri), he thought about buying it. Finally, he opted to rent it for 20 years. <\/p>\n

L\u00f3pez Casas has been a lawyer and businessman since the early 1970s. At one stage he also had political aspirations. He has been involved with several companies over the past 40 years, always in executive positions. \u201cNow my main job is to run a tollway franchise in Madrid. Although I am also a farmer,\u201d he adds with a touch of irony. \u201cI have an olive plantation that gives me a lot of satisfaction (and its share of disappointment). <\/p>\n

Your association with golf began at La Estancia in Sancti Petri?<\/p>\n

No, I\u2019ve been playing golf \u2013 badly \u2013 for 30 years.<\/p>\n

But as a golf entrepreneur you did start with this C\u00e1diz course\u2026<\/p>\n

Yes, that\u2019s true. I have interests in La Estancia, in Sancti Petri, with my brothers and other friends. <\/p>\n

What made you decide to take over Do\u00f1ana Golf?<\/p>\n

The idea of either buying or renting the course had arisen on various occasions over the past few years. Finally, in June 2012 we reached agreement with Exclusivas Do\u00f1ana, the owners of the course. They told us they were prepared to rent it because it was losing a lot of money and the town hall, which is who they represented \u2013 let\u2019s say their sponsor \u2013 was not willing to continue providing more funds. We looked at the figures, made an offer, won the tender and are now set to face the next 20 years, well aware that for the first five or six we will probably lose money. <\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

What prospects do you have for Do\u00f1ana Golf?<\/p>\n

We are working on two parallel paths. On the one hand, trying to reduce operating costs and optimize resources. Not that this prevents us from making a serious effort to transform the course into a magnificent playing state and maintenance, bit by bit. In fact, in a couple of years people will see that the course is in much better condition than it is today. Secondly, we are undertaking an intensive promotional campaign to position our club in the market, with the aim of increasing the number of players and green fee revenues. We want all golfers to know about our product, which is an excellent one. <\/p>\n

So your main objective is to re-launch Do\u00f1ana Golf\u2026<\/p>\n

Yes. This course had its time, when it was well positioned in the Spanish golf world. Now it isn\u2019t, for reasons that don\u2019t concern me to address now, and what we want to do is return it to the status it warrants. <\/p>\n

Because the product is good\u2026<\/p>\n

It can be improved, of course, but it\u2019s good, very good, and the right price.<\/p>\n

Can you describe the course a little for us\u2026<\/p>\n

It\u2019s comfortable to play, very easy to walk, and it\u2019s located in beautiful surroundings. This is a paradise, because we are on the edge of Do\u00f1ana Park, a biosphere nature reserve. It\u2019s a privileged setting, with few comparable places in the world. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

Featuring a magnificent design, the course is perfectly integrated and is, according to those who know these things, very precise and technical, with two distinctive layouts: Do\u00f1ana and Atl\u00e1ntico. Combining the two together creates 18 holes that are well worth checking out. <\/p>\n

The new management is already evident\u2026 the club\u2019s name, logo and image have been changed\u2026<\/p>\n

Yes. We\u2019ve made it more concise. We haven\u2019t linked it only to Dunas, but also highlighted \u2013 I would even say stressed \u2013 the Do\u00f1ana term, associating it with our objective, which is golf. Consequently, I believe that Do\u00f1ana Golf has a better resonance than the previous name. Also, it\u2019s simple, well-known\u2026 I believe it\u2019s a sound decision. <\/p>\n

What would attract a Spanish golfer, or someone from the rest of Europe, to come here and play golf?<\/p>\n

The course is attractive enough in itself but, as I believe that life isn\u2019t only about golf, we also have an impressive beach and natural environment, and first-class hotel, restaurant and bar amenities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have,\u201d concludes the Do\u00f1ana Golf president, \u201ccome here to provide professional management to a business that, like all others, works better the more professional it is. We want to create wealth for Matalasca\u00f1as, Almonte, Huelva and Andaluc\u00eda as well as, obviously, making the money we have in mind and have the right to make. <\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

What prospects do you have for Do\u00f1ana Golf? We are working on two parallel paths. On the one hand, trying to reduce operating costs and optimize resources. Not that this prevents us from making a serious effort to transform the course into a magnificent playing state and maintenance, bit by bit. In fact, in a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":2834,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15031","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\/15031","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=15031"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15031\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2834"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15031"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15031"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15031"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}