80 Latin America; this is his first foray into Europe (he got the job through a mutual contact with owner Illán from the Dominican Republic, where he has worked extensively). Although the architect would have preferred to do the renovation over two years, nine holes at a time, commercial imperatives meant that the bulk of the work was done in a four-month period during 2021 – with a target opening date of 1 July 2022 – and with Bowman on site for over 100 days during that period. The most striking thing about Alcaidesa Links is the piece of land it occupies. True seaside golf is very rare (indeed almost unknown) on the Costa del Sol; invariably, coastal land is reserved for hotels or other higher yielding forms of development, with golf relegated to inland sites. Even the Costa’s best courses, such as Valderrama or Sotogrande, do not really touch the sea. That is emphatically not the case at Alcaidesa. In fact, the course’s original clubhouse was situated down by the Mediterranean, though it was moved inland when the Heathland course was added. Now, from the fifth tee to the fourteenth green, the golf course occupies land that is right next to the sea, with nothing except a small amount of seaside vegetation between golf and beach. Although, in common with most of the golf sites on the Costa, it is quite severe – in places, perhaps a little too severe to be ideal golfing land – it is pretty much unique for the Costa del Sol. You would have to go two hours further west to Portugal’s Algarve, to find golf that has this sort of connection with the sea. Given the time and other constraints imposed on him, Bowman has not been able to do as comprehensive a renovation as he might have wished. The new hotel – planned, apparently, to be a five-star Fairmont property – has taken a certain amount of land that used to be occupied by golf, and in front of it the gap between hotel and beach is rather narrow; it is a choke point for sure. Because of the “ The course occupies land that is right next to the sea, with nothing except a small amount of seaside vegetation between golf and beach” HAC I ENDA ALCAIDESA The green of the par-four eleventh sits above the beach
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