Atalaya Park Golf and Coaching March 2020

Always great to start the week in the sun and such a different scene to the one we had left behind in the UK. To begin our Golf and Coaching we had a session on warming up pre round (and practice to be fair), then to some common denominating factors in players swings, good and bad.

We also looked at set up and things to look out for. This is an area which is so important and easy to practice off the course, so we acquire the feel there, then trust it when playing. Some ideas on the short game, with a chat on low and high technique. A good opening day and everyone was looking forward to our first game on the course on Monday.

A light feathering breeze greeted us to start our day on the range and we had a swing review and then looked at putting, as that is certainly challenging on these subtly undulating greens. Our first game was on the compact New Course, which certainly had some tricky approach shots, none more so than Ciara’s 7 iron to the uphill 3rd hole to a foot for our groups first birdie of the week. It inspired her team of Gerry, Ivan and Brenda to 80 points in our team comp.

Tuesday saw us looking at everyone’s favourite shot, bunkers! We looked at taking out the hand of sand and making the sand divot level, rather than digging down into it. After some swings on the range, we went to play the excellent Old Course. The greens in particular were in super shape. David, Brenda, Sarah and Maggie won the day, with Brenda in particular playing some excellent golf.

We all enjoyed our day off (mostly golf free!) and easy to enjoy the delights of this sunny region.

Thursday we were back on the New Course, with a new plan as to how to tackle it. Plenty of strategy, using the slopes and keeping putts below the hole were the order of the day. We had everyone’s favourite format, Men vs Ladies with 2 out of 4 scores to count. Suffice to say, the ladies after blitzing the front nine with 46 points ran out comfortable winners. A nice drink over looking the course was a perfect end to a grand days golf.

Last day we had a review on the range and went over the swing drills and practice ideas for the group. After a short break we played the old course for the last time. We had a team comp on the front 9 which ended in a tie and a pairs comp on the back 9. This was won comprehensively by Glenys and Ciara with an excellent 23 points. It was doubly satisfying as Glenys had not played a full 18 holes for 4 years, so she truly came back in style!

A final dinner and a drop or two of vino (tinto et blanco) ended a super week, blessed with excellent weather, golf and company. We look forward to coming to this area of Spain again as it has a great deal to offer.