El Saler profile posted

[Ran Morrissett]

Heading to Spain, I reckoned that Javier Arana had the best body of work of any architect whose work I hadn't seen. That turned out to be true, especially based on the effortless appeal of El Saler. In a few ways, it reminded me of another favorite, Maidstone, which ducks on and off the shoreline in different environments. Elements of Harbour Town came to mind too - a few irregular shaped greens and mature pines that dictate play into a handful of greens.  Also, like Harbour Town, no matter what you think of the first sixteen, the last two holes are forever etched in one's mind.

El Saler isn't breathtakingly awesome like Shinnecock but emphatically is a course to play all the time, through all phases of life. That just so happens to be what I am focused on at the moment - courses that strike the right balance between fun and challenge. That's what is missing from too many dialogues - the emphasis needs to be on courses you would like to play 50 times a year and not those that keep their greens at 13 or are murderously difficult or famous because of their history. If you leave a place and aren't already scheming to return, you are a fish-eyed list chaser or something was missing. After my round at El Saler, I texted my wife back home indicating how much she would enjoy the place, sunshine, great food and wine, and Mediterranean vibe. The ground work has been laid!

Alfonso Erhardt produced a book entitled The Golf Courses of Javier Arana in 2013 that in terms of quality - words, graphics, and presentation - can only be deemed magnificent. Leave it to Alfonso to capture what Arana meant to golf in his home country, 'That Arana is relatively unknown is surprising, given the broad scope of his influence: he amassed an unbeatable list of trophies as an amateur player; he was an international rules official; and later a respected greenkeeper and successful course designer. His powerful personality won him a central position in Spanish golf. He was captain of the country's golf team for many years and participated in the founding of The Royal Spanish Golf Federation.'

Where you grow up certainly influences your thoughts and heroes in architecture. Over half the viewers of GolfClubAtlas.com are from North America, the land of Ross and Tillinghast on the east coast, MacKenzie and Thomas on the west and Thompson across the north; if you are reading this post in the UK, it might be Colt or Braid. In Europe, it might well be Colt or Simpson and guess what? They were the two that most influenced Arana.

When you think of the 1960s in architecture, only a couple of courses worldwide might sniff the appeal of El Saler, Harbour Town being one of them. Arana built El Saler to challenge the best but he plainly made it fun for the rest; he didn't go overboard on the championship thesis. Too few architects in the 1960s and 70s adhered to the lessons of the Golden Age; Arana was a most welcome exception. Click here and see if you agree:

http://golfclubatlas.com/campo-de-golf-del-parador-de-el-saler/

I had never been to Spain before so this trip filled a vacuum, not only for golf but culture. While in Madrid, I toured the Thyssen-Bornemisza museum and was extremely fortunate to find on exhibit one of Van der Neer's famous Kolf paintings on a frozen river in Holland. It was a great way to enjoy the history of the sport without hitting a bad shot. 

The El Saler course profile joins Alfonso Erhardt's book and his March 2014 Feature Interview in putting the spotlight squarely on a most deserving figure in architecture: Javier Arana.

Best,

[Ronald Montesano]

Glad you made it to "la madre patria." As a Spanish teacher, it's wonderful to take students to all the Hispanic countries of the world, but Spain is special for its history and its people. Oddly enough, I've never golfed there. Perhaps it's the 20 students in tow that keeps me from playing golf in Iberia.


Now, if you can just check your GCA inbox ...

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Glad you enjoyed it so much. Many years ago I got to play there on my own with hardly anybody else on the course, so I played two balls over two rounds. Bliss!

[Sean_A]

Ran

Many thanks for the tour.  The course does look good, how is the routing?  The only Arana course I played is CCVM...I remain impressed...especially by the superb routing.  Some of work between the two courses looks quite similar.

www.golfclubatlas.com/forum/index.php/topic,64563.msg1539186.html#msg1539186

Ciao

[Thomas Dai]

Very fine. The information about Arana etc makes a nice read even better. Thank you.
I know a few folks who have played ES and all have spoken highly of the course. They’ve spoken well of Valencia as well, apparently a fine city.
Atb

[David Davis]

Ran,


Thanks, nice review as always. I'm glad you had the chance to see El Saler and very happy you liked it. I have to say that a lot of the tree lined holes with their excellent bunkering on the front 9 made me think of courses in the Melbourne Sandbelt so I'm really surprised with your comparisons to Harbor Town. I can see the theme perhaps in the last two holes but no similarities in the architecture and also like both courses. I also had the feeling that the bunkering changed styles a bit from the tree lined to the links style holes.


I too think life could be quite nice there unless of course you don't like sunshine or Rioja. I'm guilty of finding some of the holes rather tight but I'll attest to the fact that I need to learn to hit the ball straight one day or at least stop drawing on fade holes and vice versa.

[Lloyd_Cole]

Glad you seem to have enjoyed as much as we did, Ran. We were there maybe 2 years ago and had the course to ourselves because there was a light drizzle (intermittent). I like the Maidstone comparison, and we loved eating and drinking in Valencia. Sadly we were there working, so there was less of this than we would have liked.

[Ran Morrissett]

Sean,

Yes, I am a definite fan of the routing but am also very appreciative of the opportunity. By that, I mean Arana was given enough coastal frontage to build seven holes (5-9, 17-18). Growing up, the courses I saw that were built in the 1960s and 1970s (including Harbour Town and others on Hilton Head) generally just gave the architect one brief moment of glory and nowhere near that much prime land. Hard to imagine any architect doing a better job than what Arana did with that stretch from 5-8 in particular.

El Saler's property (and soil) was infinitely easier to work with and better suited for golf than CCVM and I agree with you 100% re: Arana's routing at CCVM - the clubhouse's location high on a hill would have created all sorts of headaches for a lesser architect. As you so state, Arana's routing there when he remodeled the course after the Spanish Civil War highlights his ability to create really good golf across some awkward/severe land.

The guy was talented, no question!

Best,

[Sean_A]

Sean,

Yes, I am a definite fan of the routing but am also very appreciative of the opportunity. By that, I mean Arana was given enough coastal frontage to build seven holes (5-9, 17-18). Growing up, the courses I saw that were built in the 1960s and 1970s (including Harbour Town and others on Hilton Head) generally just gave the architect one brief moment of glory and nowhere near that much prime land. Hard to imagine any architect doing a better job than what Arana did with that stretch from 5-8 in particular.

El Saler's property (and soil) was infinitely easier to work with and better suited for golf than CCVM and I agree with you 100% re: Arana's routing at CCVM - the clubhouse's location high on a hill would have created all sorts of headaches for a lesser architect. As you so state, Arana's routing there when he remodeled the course after the Spanish Civil War highlights his ability to create really good golf across some awkward/severe land.

The guy was talented, no question!

Best,

Ran

Thanks.  You say that Arana was given an unbelievable amount of prime seaside land, but isn't the same happening now with the recent renaissance in architecture?  Sure, Valencia is just up the road, but I suspect when El Saler was built there was not much around or happening.

Ciao

[Niall C]

Sorry, wrong thread.

Niall