Aloha Golf Club to rebuild all 18 greens
By Alistair
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Aloha Golf Club in Marbella, Spain, the last course designed by architect Javier Arana, is to undergo a major greens rebuilding project. Construction work starts this month and is scheduled to finish in July, with a staged reopening of the course expected during August and September. All 18 greens will be rebuilt in a single phase of work with bentgrass laid – the turf has already been grown in an offsite nursery.
Arana produced only ten courses during his 30-year career as a golf architect. He was hired to build the Aloha course in 1972, at the age of 67, and construction started that year. He last visited the course in May 1974, at which point seeding of the greens had not yet started, because of a shortage of water to grow them in. Arana died in January 1975 and never saw the course completed; it opened that October.
The Aloha club is very proud of its heritage but the course’s greens have been a challenge for some years: half of them slope at more than five percent, an untenable level of pitch at modern heights of cut. Agronomist Luis Cornejo says that when the course opened, the greens were typically cut at 5.5mm and stimped at six and a half feet.
“The club has prepared carefully for this major project over the past few years and we have a world class team in place,” said Rod Spinks, chairman of the course.
Club president Rafael Fontán Zubizarreta said: “This will be the largest course project undertaken by the club in our history, and is an important part of the preparations for our 50th anniversary in 2025.”
By Alistair
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