{"id":21345,"date":"2017-01-25T12:54:53","date_gmt":"2017-01-25T12:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/almerimar-an-oasis-on-the-almeria-coast\/"},"modified":"2017-01-25T12:54:53","modified_gmt":"2017-01-25T12:54:53","slug":"almerimar-an-oasis-on-the-almeria-coast","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/almerimar-an-oasis-on-the-almeria-coast\/","title":{"rendered":"Almerimar: An Oasis on the Almer\u00eda Coast"},"content":{"rendered":"

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Located in an exceptional setting in Almer\u00eda province, the sunniest part of Europe (with 3,000 hours of sun a year and average temperatures that never fall below 20 degrees), Almerimar is one of Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s premier tourist resorts. A true oasis, close to El Ejido, it includes a 27-hole golf course, a four-star hotel near the sea (AR Almerimar), another five-star establishment adjacent to the golf course (AR Golf Almerimar) and one of the Mediterranean area\u2019s most important marinas. <\/p>\n

The Almerimar urbanisation was developed in the late 1960s with the idea of creating a major tourist focal point in this coastal area that could compete against Puerto Ban\u00fas, Sotogrande and other similar high-end resorts. One key advantage for achieving this objective was that the land earmarked for the future urbanisation was owned by the same owner, Agust\u00edn Gonz\u00e1lez Mozo, which facilitated the development of a uniform project with a single and pre-planned objective. <\/p>\n

To that end, they commissioned a renowned architect, Julian Laguna, to oversee the resort\u2019s development. Laguna was responsible for the original design of the complex, which has essentially remained the same since then. <\/p>\n

\u201cWithin the complex,\u201d says golf club manager Juan Francisco Escobosa Medina, \u201cin order to position it at least at the same level as similar resorts in Spain and other Mediterranean areas, a marina with 1,100 berths was developed, the highest number in Europe for many years, as well as an 18-hole golf course.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThe resort was initially called Marismas del Sur and the golf course El Oasis, and everything was located on Almer\u00eda\u2019s Costa del Sol. I would, in fact, reclaim that name because this is where it actually originated, even if fortunes were made on the back of it elsewhere. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe small hotel built at the time only had 38 rooms and 17 apartments. That establishment and the three famous unfinished towers that were demolished later were basically Almerimar.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2013 In what year was the course built?<\/p>\n

\u2013 The project dates to 1973 but it was inaugurated in 1976. It was designed by two legendary figures in the world of golf: Ron Kirby and Gary Player. <\/p>\n

\u201cLike nearly all golf courses that are slightly on the margins of the main golfing centres in Spain, we had limited accommodation, which prevented us from maintaining high occupation levels\u2026 until 1989 and 1990, when the hotel was renovated and we then had 148 rooms. From that moment, and especially from 1995, we started to take off at an unstoppable pace. <\/p>\n

\u201cSince then the course has become well established, not relying on any real estate development. At the same time, the resort has continued to grow: with the opening of the beach hotel and the development of the urbanisation. <\/p>\n

\u201cIn 2003, it was decided to expand the golf course by nine holes, to the current total of 27, and two years later, in 2005, a complete renovation of the first 18 holes was undertaken. This was the same year we closed the hotel to carry out a major revamp. It reopened in 2012 as a five-star hotel with 114 rooms. <\/p>\n

\u2013 How would you describe the course?<\/p>\n

\u2013 I would say that it is essentially a flat course, with wide fairways, no blind shots and generously sized greens. In short, a relatively gentle course with a certain degree of difficulty and a spectacular design by two renowned global golfing figures. <\/p>\n

Water enters into play on seven of the holes, which provides an additional challenge. The 8th and the 12th are possibly the most distinctive holes on the course, with their island greens. The nine holes that were built more recently are slightly easier, due to the size and shape of the plot. Having said that, however, the aim was to follow the same criteria as for the initial design to ensure the fairways weren\u2019t too narrow, etc. The main difference with the first 18 holes is the vegetation, because one is 30 years old and the other 10. <\/p>\n

\u2013 So you would consider it one of Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s top-level courses?<\/p>\n

\u2013 As I noted before, the design is excellent. There is no other one like this in Almer\u00eda province. And that\u2019s not just a personal opinion: it\u2019s a general view shared by all the players who visit us. It\u2019s not a boring course \u2013 that is, heading out and back, with 10 holes there and eight holes here, almost identical. It\u2019s not like that. It\u2019s enjoyable and challenging. <\/p>\n

\u201cOne aspect that makes us especially proud,\u201d adds Juan Francisco Escobosa, \u201cis our golf academy and practice area. They are particularly well equipped and designed so that dozens of players can practice different shots without disturbing each other. We have a great putting green, an approach area and more than 30 driving tees. <\/p>\n

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\u2013 Your latest remodeling project, at least for the time being, involved transforming the club\u2019s shop into a much more spacious and attractive area\u2026<\/p>\n

\u2013 Yes, we\u2019ve changed it radically as part of an agreement with Holiday Golf, who made it all possible. They\u2019ve helped us in all aspects, from the enlargement to the d\u00e9cor, product display and sales techniques. \u00a0<\/p>\n

Previously, the whole surface area of the shop was 70 to 80 square meters, and now it\u2019s over 120. We\u2019ve added new brands and considerably improved our results. <\/p>\n

\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Located in an exceptional setting in Almer\u00eda province, the sunniest part of Europe (with 3,000 hours of sun a year and average temperatures that never fall below 20 degrees), Almerimar is one of Andaluc\u00eda\u2019s premier tourist resorts. A true oasis, close to El Ejido, it includes a 27-hole golf course, a four-star hotel near the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":6599,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21345","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-noticias-generales"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21345","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=21345"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21345\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21345"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21345"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/andaluciagolf.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21345"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}