Don Cayo Golf: The Altea Golfcourse

Lots of people that rent an Altea holiday villa or an Altea holiday apartment do so because of the privaleged golfcourse of Don Cayo.

The Don Cayo Golf Club was founded in 1974 by Luis Campomanes Asumendi within the “El Aramo” Urban Development Project on the skirts of the Sierra de Altea mountains. The course sits within the municipal area of Altea, a Mediterranean town standing out for the beauty of its historic town centre and its special sunny atmosphere. This has made it one of the favourite Mediterranean hideaways for artists, who come to work and live here from many parts of the world. Thanks to its special charm, Altea was chosen as the site for the Fine Arts Campus of the Miguel Hernandez University of Alicante, and it has a new Fine Arts Palace and a UNESCO Music venue as well.

A privileged enclave

The course nestles between the Sierra Bernia and the Mediterranean Sea - an idyllic spot in which to enjoy the beauties of nature. But apart from picturesque surroundings, it boasts an incredibly attractive design, making it a superb place for a great game of golf.
The course is owned by the Don Cayo Golf Club and its members, set up as a non-profit sports association. The Club is therefore semiprivate, and its members share the fai¬rways and facilities with fee-paying golfers who come to visit.

Course improvements

Over the last two years, the club has become one of finest in the province, thanks to improvements in maintenance, upkeep and even course design. Special attention has been paid to the fairways, the slopes, the surrounding pine trees and landscaping, and new marble sand bunkers have been introduced along the course.
These initiatives were completed by a remodelling of the itineraries, so the course opened last spring with 18 new tee-offs, packing two completely different rounds into one 9-hole course. The two options are marked in different colours on the course cards and the greens.

With its revamped design, Don Cayo now enjoys a new lease on life. Players never have to repeat a single hole, making the game much more fun. Among the most significant no¬velties are par changes at 4 holes, hole 5 was reduced by 100 metres, the fairway at hole 1 has been modified with 4 new bunkers flanking its right side, making the dog-ieg more challenging despite the removal of a bunker formerly located right on the fairway.

Future reforms

All these improvements have been made under the new management team, with Alexis Garcia-Valdes as manager and Rosa Sastre as greenkeeper, giving golfers the best they could possibly devise. And another new stage will be completed over the next 3 years, with the renovation of the irrigation system and the future installation of a new water purifier that will enable a large lake to be created within the layout.

Once all this work has been carried out, there are also plans to renovate some of the greens.

TECHNICAL DESCRIPTION

Opened:1974
Number of holes: 9
Number of routes: 2
Par: 72
Layout of 1st round: yellow and red bars
Metres 1st round: yellow: 2638m | red: 2406m
Layout 2nd round: white and blue bars
Metres 2nd round: white: 2824m I blue: 2535m
New course value: Gents: 69.6 j Ladies: 72,6 New slope: Gents: 126 | Ladies: 126 Metres: Gents: 5462 I Ladies: 4938
Designer: Gregorio Sanz and Pedro Barber (1974), and
Alexis Ga~Valdes (2006)
Fees: 18 holes: €50.00 I 9 holes: €35.00
Services:
Practice Green j School | Club hire | Buggies | Restaurant
Putting Green j Store | Changing Rooms j Bridge
Information:
Sierra de Altea Golf s/n
Urb. El Aramo, Ctra. de Callosa Km 1
Altea la Vieja. 03590 Alicante
Tel.: (+34) 965 848 046
Fax: (+34) 965 846 519
Email.: doncayo@ctv.es