Hacienda del Alamo

Golf Resort hotel

will open in

September

By COLIN FARQUHARSON
Pictured is a model of the five-star hotel which is under construction behind the clubhouse at Hacienda del Alamo Golf Resort in Murcia, Spain.
And, below, is a picture taken of the work in progress during the 2nd Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Golf Festival.
The hotel, which will have spa and gymnasium facilities, is scheduled to open this September and should give future Festival competitors an option between renting villa accommodation or booking into the hotel which is styled on the San Roque Suites Hotel (where the Ryder Cup teams stayed for the match at Valderrama) on the Costa del Sol.

Let us know the February 2010 school holiday dates so that we can tell

you when next year's Hacienda del Alamo Festival will be held!

The 2nd Hacienda del Alamo Women's Winter Festival finished only last Tuesday but already we are receiving inquiries about the dates for the 3rd Festival in 2010.

We are determined to get the dates "right" for next year so that they synchronise with the mid-term school holiday dates in Scotland, England, Ireland and Wales if at all possible because we believe that if we can do that there will be a surge in entries for the Under-16 girls' events which were successfully introduced to this year's programme.

So, we would be grateful if and when you learn the dates of the February 2010 school break in your country, you could E-mail them to Colin Farquharson at Colin@scottishgolfview.com

Feedback from the competitors at the inaugural 2008 Festival helped to shape the changes for this year and we are looking for more of the same so that we can please more competitors in 2010.

Here are some of the suggestions we have taken on board for consideration for the 2010 Festival. If you have any to add, please E-mail them to the address above.

1 Make the second 36-hole event a three-rounder, Monday to Wednesday.

2 Add a couple of events, played over the six-hole Academy course, for children aged 10 years or under.

3 Raise the maximum ladies/girls' handicap for Festival entrants to 28 or 30.

4 Change the Costa Calida Foursomes format to a better-ball pairs event with the entry fee of 55 Euros covering the two players' participation.

5 Include Under-18 years competitors - and possibly seniors (over-50) within the lower 25 Euros entry fee structure for Under-16s.

6 Introduce a Festival competitors only prize section in the Saturday Scramble to avoid a repeat of the "locals" - villa owners - winning everything, as they did this year!

Please note that these are only suggestions that will be considered by the organising committee and should not be taken as changes which will be definitely implemented for the 2010 Festival.