Progress on the Course
Summer work has seen the completion of a new men’s tee on the 5th hole. Previously those playing from the white and yellow blocks were unable to see the bottom of the flag, which was clearly not ideal on a par 3. The tee has not only been raised and renewed, but considerably enlarged. The sides have been clad in Casares stone (not sure if there’s any stone left in Casares now!) and the buggy path extended. What a difference it’s made and even though the green is in view from the back tees, it’s hard to credit it as being the easiest hole on the course!
For most of this year, we have been playing the 12th hole as a shortened par 4 whilst a completely new and re-designed green and surrounding area has been bedding in. It looks fantastic, as we have a much larger green with different bunkers, so it’s going to be a really super hole. Not only that, but it backs onto the 18th lake and the casares stone cladding has been extended – yep, casares stone again! Unfortunately the fairway was letting the hole down as the quality of grass had become poorer over the years. Fortunately, our Board gently pressurised by our Greens Chairman Tony Girling has allocated monies to cover the cost of a new fairway. Whoohoo. Unfortunately this means we cannot use the fairway at present, but fortunately with great foresight a good quality tee had already been constructed to the left of the existing fairway. The new green is now open and we have a temporary par 3 out of the way of the work on the rest of the fairway. And to make life easier, scorecards have been printed with the new distance. Wow, impressive or what. This par 3 is no pushover and even though it’s a large green to aim at, there’s plenty of room for very interesting pin positions that will test us all, so we can properly 3 putt! The par 4 will be ready for play in a few weeks – can’t wait.
There’s been plenty of titivating going on at the same time, because the last thing at El Paraiso we must ensure, is never to take our eyes off the ball by neglecting the day-to-day routine maintenance and good presentation of the course. First impressions are so important, from a warm welcome from the caddymaster and staff, to an even more warm welcome at the bar afterwards.