Good, well maintained course. Our experience was spoiled by having to play the course with many junior golfers, many as a young as 8-9 yrs, who were practicing for a large, international competition later in the week. They were accompanied by parents, coaches etc and were v slow, often not playing from main tees and hence disrupting players behind. Our tee time was double-booked and we were then paired with 2 young children, accompanied by parents in 3 buggies. We declined to play with them, partly because of the overbearing attitude of one of the parents as we stood on the first tee. The Caddy Master could see our concerns and managed to squeeze us into a tee off on the back 9, but we had to miss 2 of the holes in order to fit in amongst other pairings. We then had to complete the first 9 holes later in the day, after a 4 hour break, as one of the last tee off times. Luckily, by that time, most of the kids had finished, but we were rushing to finish before dusk. It would have been helpful if YGT had been aware of this junior competition at the time of our booking - we would not have played the course if we had known. and our experience spoiled our stay at Sotogrande, which was otherwise very good.
The Costa Del Sol is a haven for world-class golf courses and The Alto Club Golf & Academy (formerly Almenara) fits perfectly into this trend, located in the heart of Sotogrande, not too far away from Gibraltar Airport.
The golf club contains 18 stunning holes, Los Pinos and Los Lagos plus a 9 holes Par 3, Alcornoques and the new the Alto Academy. The layouts were designed by legendary golf course architect Dave Thomas, the man responsible for the creation of some of the world's most revered golf courses including The Brabazon at the Belfry. Recently The Alto Golf have been remodeled by legendary Manuel Piñero.
The course winds its way through the rolling hills of Sotogrande which is one of Spain's most upmarket areas and the quality of the design provides a great test of ability no matter what combination you play it in. When on a golf holiday in this area of the Costa Del Sol a visit to The Alto Club Academy and Golf is an unmissable opportunity.
