With extensive expansion of the golfing facilities underway, including two further 18 hole courses which will give the Estate a total of 117 holes, Sotogrande is destined to become “the Pinehurst of Europe”
The new £10 million, 150 bedroom Almenara Hotel is a major part of a £28 million development at Sotogrande which started last year. It is due to open on 1st September 1999. The Almenara Golf Course has been designed by Dave Thomas. Eighteen holes have been completed and a further 9 holes will be added in 2000 together with a driving range for up to 100 players and a golf academy with video swing analysis equipment and three full size practice holes.
New premises for the existing International School at Sotogrande with 350 places for children aged 4 to 18 years are to be built nearby. This will include 40 boarding places. It is anticipated that Sotogrande S.A. will offer two golfing scholarships for boarding places at the school. Longer term plans may include extending the school into a university, rivalling similar opportunities available in the USA for those entering the golf industry, both on a playing and management level.
La Caà±ada, a public course with the first nine holes designed by Robert Trent Jones, is currently being extended to 18 holes, the second nine holes having been designed by Dave Thomas. The club house at the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande is in the process of being totally renovated.
Within a 64 km radius of Sotogrande there are a further 28 golf courses including San Roque next door. “We have been fortunate in negotiating tee times for our visitors and residents on all four Sotogrande courses at special green fee rates,” says Sotogrande managing director Nigel Smith. “These vary from £20 at La Caà±ada, £36 at Almenara and £64 at Real Club de Golf Sotogrande to £112 at Valderrama.”