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Above All, Golf: The Future of Golf Courses in Andalucia
Above All, Golf: The Future of Golf Courses in Andalucia
Above All, Golf: The Future of Golf Courses in Andalucia
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comentary
by Jacobo Cestino
Every estate is different, and any type of over-regulation ab initio with respect to technical aspects of the design or construction of courses may cause the opposite effect to that intended by the decree, namely, that top-level projects may not be carried out as they would not comply with these irrational technical prescriptions. If we are to compete with the best resorts in the world, we have to build the best courses, the best hotels and the best urbanisations, and this 30% maximum on land transformation will clearly limit the efforts of the worlds best architects and designers of golf courses, and will obviously not attract private capital from Spanish or foreign investors for top-level projects in Andalusia. A great golf course such as the Golf National in Paris, which was constructed upon an old wheat plantation, could never have existed if in that region of France there had been a similar decree. 1.6 million cubic metres of soil were used on 139 hectares of land to model the greens, and 600,000 cubic metres were excavated to create hazards and lakes.There are so many other examples that I cannot name them all, although I cannot refrain from mentioning the marvellous course of Whistling Straits,Wisconsin, USA. Another aspect that the decree regulates - and that is surprising for its vagueness - is that relating to the safety of golf courses. In my opinion, the references to vulnerable external points, and the required distances of 70 metres for the fairways and 30 metres for the greens, are completely insufficient. The definitive solution to the safety problems that would also resolve the proximity of houses to golf courses, would be to make it obligatory for all new and existing installations to have safety certificates.These safety certificates, which would be compulsory in order to authorise the opening of the installations, should be issued by a semi-public or private organisation and incorporate the design and safety criteria established in The Urban Land Institutes 1994 publication on golf course design, or those set by the golf course designer Gerold Hauser. The decree also stipulates that the areas that do not constitute playing areas (roughs and outroughs) should be reforested with native species. This ruling would prevent the construction of golf courses that are attractive from the players point of view and environmentally sustainable, with rough and out rough areas made of compacted sand, (of the waste bunker type), or planted with caespitose species like sheep fescue or blue fescue, which, apart from their reduced water consumption, provide a most attractive aesthetic appearance to the exterior zones of the course. To finish, let us look at some of the technical requirements set by this law for Andalusian golf courses to be classified as Golf Courses of Touristic Interest, such as: A minimum area of 70 hectares, plus 30 hectares for every additional 9 holes, and a total length for 18 holes of at least 6,000 metres. A minimum distance between the centre of each fairway and its closest neighbour of at least 60 metres. A minimum distance from the centre of each fairway and from all parts of the greens, including any practice greens, of at least 90 metres from the nearest building. Twenty per cent of the surface area used for planting autonomous trees or bushes with a low water consumption. Some of the best and most attractive golf courses in the world, from both a touristic and a golfing point of view (which are the same thing) would not obtain this classification from the Andalusian Regional Government. This is not the law that is needed to interest Spanish or international private investors in top-level projects that will create employment and financial activity, and be capable of sustaining themselves without requiring public support. So we should not be surprised that other regions of Spain and of other Mediterranean countries are attracting the most important private investments in golf, hotel and housing developments. If Harry S. Colt, Alister MacKenzie, Donald Ross or A.W.Tillinghast raised their heads, they would simply not believe all this. Jacobo Cestino is Projects Director at La Zagaleta, was graduated in Law at the University of Malaga and was awarded the Malaga Prize in Economics in 1998.
Golf National (Pars, FRANCE) Designed by Hubert Chesneau and Von Hagge Golf National (Pars, FRANCIA) Diseado por Hubert Chesneau y Von Hagge
Whistling Straits (Wisconsin, USA) Designed by Pete Dye Whistling Straits (Wisconsin, USA) Diseado por Pete Dye
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Pine Valley (New Jersey, USA) Diseado por George Crump y Harry Colt Pine Valley (New Jersey, USA) Designed by George Crump and Harry Colt
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