The management of Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, home of the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía 2023, show day by day their full commitment to environmental conservation and the responsible use of natural resources, especially water. This focus can be seen in all maintenance work, seeking excellence in the state of the grass through sustainable and respectful practices so the golf course can offer its impeccable presentation to players and spectators in this DP World Tour event to be held from October 19-22.
The recent course restoration, carried out between 2015 and 2018, laid the foundations for a much more efficient and sustainable maintenance management.
“We used certified 419 Bermuda on tees, fairways and rough, a warm-weather variety that needs less water, and reduced the turf area by 1.9 percent (10,150 m2). In addition, we installed 37 kilometers of drains that channel water to the lakes, making the most of rainwater. This drainage network, together with the 75 tons of silica sand used throughout the field, helps to keep the bermudagrass in good condition in winter, thus avoiding reseeding, which requires a lot of water,” explains Patrick Allende, golf course manager.
Efficient irrigation is another key element of maintenance. The course is irrigated with reclaimed water from the Sotogrande urbanization’s wastewater treatment plant, thus achieving complete water reuse and avoiding the disposal of such a precious resource into the sea.
“We have a modern irrigation system with 2,245 individually managed sprinklers and a state-of-the-art program that allows a very efficient water usage. We use daily humidity sensors and a weather station to determine the water needs of the course with great precision,” Allende adds.
The complex irrigation network is combined with a fertigation system that allows the field to be fertilized through water. “With this tool we achieve very high levels of optimization in the use of fertilizers,” says the golf course manager.
The environmental impact study carried out for the restoration of the golf course quantified a 20% saving in water consumption as a result of these measures. In addition, other parameters such as CO2 emissions, non-hazardous waste generation and noise emissions were reduced by 25 %.
Moreover, the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande is immersed in an ambitious program to install solar panels to produce energy and gradually replace the traditional machinery with electric machinery that can operate with the energy generated at the club.
The environmental commitment of Real Club de Golf Sotogrande is accredited with the GEO certification, the most prestigious and demanding certification in Europe specifically for golf courses. The GEO (Golf Environment Organization) guarantees that the maintenance works of the course and all the club’s facilities are carried out with environmental responsibility and the goal of improving the natural environment and guaranteeing its future development.
All these factors guarantee an exemplary maintenance, and the impeccable presentation of the golf course attests to the success of the measures implemented. Those visiting the club to enjoy the Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters will be able to check this out, and to do so they can already purchase tickets at the event website.
The Estrella Damm N.A. Andalucía Masters, an event in the DP World Tour’s Race to Dubai made possible by the essential contribution of the Real Club de Golf Sotogrande, is sponsored by Estrella Damm and the Consejería de Turismo, Regeneración, Justicia y Administración Local of the Junta de Andalucía, jointly funded by the EU and was declared Event of Exceptional Public Interest by the Government of Spain.
