Parador Golf gets ready

The Royal Málaga Golf Club, better known to locals simply as the Parador, is gradually being prepared for another tour event in 2008.

Having already successfully hosted two "Turespaña Masters" (1991 & 1999), The Royal Málaga Golf Club, better known to locals simply as the Parador, is gradually being prepared for another tour event in 2008.

Details are not yet available, but a reasonable guess is that it will be a third Turespaña Masters. The previous events were won by Vijay Singh and Miguel Angel Jimenez respectively, the latter playing in his "own" tournament at the Aloha Golf Club this very weekend (10th.-13th. May).

This is great news for visitors to the club, as the improvements being made for the event are already apparent. New water hazards have been in place for some time now, the small lake in front of the third green converting a plain and uninteresting hole into one demanding planning and precision, as it offers some potentially dangerous pin positions. However, more importantly, the greens and fairways are now in the best condition they have been since the last European Tour event, which is excellent news for club members and visitors alike. The course allegedly measures 6,792 yards from the back tees, although many who have played there reckon it to be a few hundred yards longer than that. It has been claimed by one elderly gentleman who was around when the course was constructed in 1925, that it was paced out by Mr. Simpson, the designer, who had very long legs. Notwithstanding, we all know that a few hundred yards extra is neither here nor there to the modern professionals, many of whose drives now average 300 yards or more.

The Parador course is something of an enigma at a time when new courses are invariably designed along American PGA lines, while traditional Scottish type links courses, with huge dunes and pot bunkers offer the opposite kind of challenge. The Parador course fits neither category, despite its beach-side location, owing more to the traditional English parkland genre. It has the advantage of being walkable (golf can be played without a buggy); in fact, a recent Golf Leisure Breaks stableford competition was completed in 3 hours, 20 minutes by each 4 ball, a time unheard of when buggies are involved. Poor shots are penalised by the need to play out from trees, rather than losing balls in the jungles which prevail a few yards wide of the fairways on many of our courses. The Royal Málaga Golf Club is well worth a visit.


COMING SOON

The popular executive 9 hole par three course at Greenlife will be hosting an event on behalf of the "Save the Children" charity on Sunday, 20th. May. The green fee of only 33 euros includes a diploma for all entrants, winners' trophies in 2 categories (Ladies and Gentlemen), a raffle and cocktails. To enter, call Greenlife on 952 839 142.