With completely new greens and bunkers, the reopening of the Europa Course at La Cala Resort on September 6 marked the completion of a final phase of golf course improvements at the renowned golfing destination.
All 54 holes at La Cala have now been upgraded and improved for playability.
Despite the unprecedented nature of the last 18 months and its obvious challenges, La Cala has looked to the future and used the time advantageously to complete significant and impressive course improvements. The resort has finalised renovation works on the stunning Europa Course, as well as putting finishing touches to works on the beautiful Asia course.
The greens on the Europa course have been changed to Bermuda grass – the same process as was undertaken on the Asia course in 2019. La Cala was the first golf resort on the Costa del Sol to make the change by seeding rather than by sodding. The process on Europa was completed last August so the greens have had a full year to successfully mature and are now rolling beautifully.
One of the biggest benefits of this change of grass type is that it has made La Cala more environmentally sustainable by reducing the amount of water consumption, chemicals and fertilisers, as well as reducing the risk of grass diseases. Overall, it means better and more consistent putting surfaces all year-round.
In addition, new bunkering has been instated across the Europa Course this summer. All bunkers have been renovated or remodelled to be visually more appealing and the sand has been replaced to be consistent with that on the Asia and America courses. It’s of a far higher quality and much more pleasant and fair to play from. There have also been small design changes with some bunker sizes reduced and other unnecessary bunkers removed.
Not only do these alterations improve the aesthetics but there is also a positive environmental impact. The remodelled bunkers are more accessible for the raking machines and require less trimming. This means less machinery and fuel is required during maintenance.
“We are thrilled with the work that has been completed on the Europa Course and are excited to reopen to golfers,” says Director of La Cala Resort, Sean Corte-Real. “The last 18 months has, of course, been challenging for us as it has for so many, but we are delighted to have a positive story to tell. It has allowed us to complete a significant project and to offer a hugely enhanced golfing product. Every cloud has a silver lining.”
On top of the Europa changes, La Cala has also taken the opportunity to further improve playing surfaces on the Asia course. Refurbishments following Storm Filomena in January were completed, while rough and untidy grass areas have been replaced by wood chips and pine needles.
“It makes for a cleaner surface under the trees,” says Corte-Real. “It’s easier to find balls, but most importantly it gets rid of a lot of useless green areas that we now don´t have to mow and water. Imagine the water and fuel saved doing this! We are very conscious of sustainability at La Cala.”
La Cala was recently ranked by Golf World as the best 4 star resort in Spain, with the America and Europa layouts ranked in Spain’s top 30 courses.