{"id":15059,"date":"2016-07-04T14:29:25","date_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/ricardo-andrades-almenara-golf-manager\/"},"modified":"2016-07-04T14:29:25","modified_gmt":"2016-07-04T14:29:25","slug":"ricardo-andrades-almenara-golf-manager","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/ricardo-andrades-almenara-golf-manager\/","title":{"rendered":"Ricardo Andrades, Almenara Golf manager"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\\Ricardo\"<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic about the next season.\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n

It was just over a year ago that Ricardo Andrades took over the management of Almenara Golf, the superb Sotogrande course comprising three nine-hole layouts.<\/p>\n

Designed by former Ryder Cup player Dave Thomas, the course was completed in 2001 with the final nine holes \u2013 a spectacular layout winding around huge lakes, with some of the most striking tees in Europe.<\/p>\n

The three layouts \u2013 Lagos, the most recently completed, Pinos and Alcornoques \u2013 offer the perfect balance for golfers and an excellent challenge taking into account the combination options. Almenara is part of NH Resorts, which operates a hotel next to the course \u2013 of the highest quality in every sense: service, amenities, architecture, etc. <\/p>\n

-This last year, since you took over as manager at Almenara, has not been good for tourism in general or golf in particular. What has been the situation here? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Thanks to the fact we have a hotel next to the course owned by the same group, we were able to enjoy good results during the low-season winter months, from December to mid-February. During the high season, November and March were good, as they were in general for the rest of the Costa del Sol. And, in summer, we have the enormous advantage of being located in Sotogrande, with a magnificent hotel. At this time of the year, the national (Spanish) market and residents take over from European golfers. In August, which is the low season for many golf courses, we sell nearly 4,000 rounds. It\u2019s the best month of the year for Almenara. <\/p>\n

-In short then you are able to say that the past season, which was poor for the market in general, was not so bad for Almenara? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Yes. We can say that we \u201csaved\u201d the year. We have not slipped back in comparison with the previous year. We have maintained the same figures, which means the crisis has not continued to push us down \u2013 we have not continued to experience a decrease. Now it\u2019s a case of things starting to improve. <\/p>\n

-Can this be explained by the fact you have a good product, a better one than others? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Definitely. We have a unique resort in southern Europe. In addition to the hotel we offer three magnificent nine-hole layouts, which can be combined with each other, thus creating a great variety of play and course features. Also of key importance is the surrounding environment, with beaches, marinas, etc., as well as nine other excellent golf courses within 10 minutes. Courses such as La Reserva, San Roque, Valderrama, etc., make this area a particularly special corner of the Costa del Sol. We have always taken great care of our product. To that end, throughout the year we have carried out intensive maintenance work, in particular improving the landscape and fine-tuning anything that needed fine-tuning, because a golf course is always a living element. This summer is quite busy for us. In August, for example, we have 12 tournaments, starting on the 4th with the Telva, and more than 200 women golfers, and concluding on the 20th with the NH Resorts event. In all, these events represent an average of 140 players each. <\/p>\n

-What prospects do you have for the next season? <\/strong><\/p>\n

-Apart from during summer, Almenara \u2013 like all the other courses \u2013 depends on the international market, and it seems as though the section of the market that is taking the longest to recover, the British, is emerging from the crisis. The pound is recovering and we can detect a certain \u201cupturn\u201d among visitors from that country. We have good forecasts for the Danish, Swedish and German markets. <\/p>\n

I don\u2019t want to make the mistake of being too optimistic, but I believe the next season \u2013 provided there is no unforeseen catastrophe \u2013 will be better than the recent ones.<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u201cI\u2019m optimistic about the next season.\u201d It was just over a year ago that Ricardo Andrades took over the management of Almenara Golf, the superb Sotogrande course comprising three nine-hole layouts. Designed by former Ryder Cup player Dave Thomas, the course was completed in 2001 with the final nine holes \u2013 a spectacular layout winding […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":1214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[124],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15059","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\/15059","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\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=15059"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15059\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=15059"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=15059"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=15059"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}