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Howya from Spain
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Welcome to THP!
Comescrashing
Member
Welcome
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jazzgolf
New member
Bienvenue ! À THP
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Great story and good job getting down to a 4!
Six4three5
Tour Star...Layin' Up!
Welcome!!
Psychonana99
Member
- Thread starter
- #37
Great story and good job getting down to a 4!
I'm back to 5.2 now... Getting there and staying there are 2 different things I am learning!
Psychonana99
Member
- Thread starter
- #38
Fortunately their standards have dropped a lot since then, so yes on playing there but no on the size of my car!
I was out there for a meeting yesterday, and the course looks un real... they really take good care of it. Was very hard to be there and not play! That said, it just makes my top 3 courses in Catalonia. I think I would put PGA Stadium and Montanyà before it. Have you got to Montanyá? What a gem, in the mountains, stunning and tricky.I played El Prat in October. The weather was pretty bad the days before, but if I'd had to rate the course conditions, I'd give it an 13 out of 10. Clubhouse was great as well, but I understand why it's still regarded as a posh, old money-club.Fortunately their standards have dropped a lot since then, so yes on playing there but no on the size of my car!
PGA Stadium is by far my favorite course as well. Played it 3 times now, and can't wait to get back there! Always enjoy the Tour Course as well, less spectacular, but still a lot of fun.
Haven't played Montanya yet, it's on my wish list. On the Friday before we went to El Prat we had the choose between Montanya and Lumine (Hills) , and Lumine won by a split decision. No regrets, as was a really fun course to play, but I'm still curious about Montanya.
Where do you mostly play?
Psychonana99
Member
- Thread starter
- #40
El Prat does have an interesting history, they had to move to make room for the new BCN Airport runway and used the opportunity to change their operating model much more to the resort course look and feel, and they went from 18 to 45 holes! A very costly undertaking which many of the members didn't want. They left in droves. This was a major dig to their business plan which I'm not sure they ever recovered from, I'd be surprised if they are not big time in the red. Then they lost 2,000 trees in a winter storm about 2 years ago which changed the dynamic of the course considerably. The only benefit is that it has made them a lot more humble and a bit more welcoming to guests. The other thing that they suffer from is lack of playing members in July and August... I guess the wealth tend to go away for the summer, so the place is unusually empty. They run a great deal there for these times where you can play as many holes as you want for €70 flat fee! Although they have this incredible rule that you are not allowed play more than 5 times there as a guest! Ha!
Montanyà - Lumine doesn't even have a look in, in my books... make a point of it next time, you won't regret it.
Where I play is purely based on economics, as golf is still an elitist sport here unfortunately. I live in Barcelona so I'm well positioned to play all and any of the courses up or down the coast. Most are within an hours drive. I don't have a membership in any one course, as membership fees are steep, and in any case I prefer to play all courses. I practice on 2 or 3 courses close to BCN that have reasonable weekend green fees but competitively I play the various circuits and federation tournaments to take advantage of the lower play fees. Most tournaments are €55-65, include refreshments on the 9th as opposed to paying green fees of at least €75-150. (Exceptionally, El Prat is €230 I believe, so you can imagine how attractive a €65 tournament is on that course)
Let me know when you are here next time and maybe we can plan a game. Maybe at Montanyà!
We notice the lack of playing members as well. The clubhouse was pretty packed, but the course was nearly empty. Average age seemed a bit on the high side of healthy for such a club as well. The fact they probably need the income became pretty evident when they offered to let us play on for the Monday rate (about € 70,-) on prime time on a Friday (€ 114,-) and Saturday (€ 228) when I first called them to inquire. We played 36 and 27 holes on those days, so it was the best value-for-money-golf we've ever played.El Prat does have an interesting history, they had to move to make room for the new BCN Airport runway and used the opportunity to change their operating model much more to the resort course look and feel, and they went from 18 to 45 holes! A very costly undertaking which many of the members didn't want. They left in droves. This was a major dig to their business plan which I'm not sure they ever recovered from, I'd be surprised if they are not big time in the red. Then they lost 2,000 trees in a winter storm about 2 years ago which changed the dynamic of the course considerably. The only benefit is that it has made them a lot more humble and a bit more welcoming to guests. The other thing that they suffer from is lack of playing members in July and August... I guess the wealth tend to go away for the summer, so the place is unusually empty. They run a great deal there for these times where you can play as many holes as you want for €70 flat fee! Although they have this incredible rule that you are not allowed play more than 5 times there as a guest! Ha!
Montanyà - Lumine doesn't even have a look in, in my books... make a point of it next time, you won't regret it.
Where I play is purely based on economics, as golf is still an elitist sport here unfortunately. I live in Barcelona so I'm well positioned to play all and any of the courses up or down the coast. Most are within an hours drive. I don't have a membership in any one course, as membership fees are steep, and in any case I prefer to play all courses. I practice on 2 or 3 courses close to BCN that have reasonable weekend green fees but competitively I play the various circuits and federation tournaments to take advantage of the lower play fees. Most tournaments are €55-65, include refreshments on the 9th as opposed to paying green fees of at least €75-150. (Exceptionally, El Prat is €230 I believe, so you can imagine how attractive a €65 tournament is on that course)
Let me know when you are here next time and maybe we can plan a game. Maybe at Montanyà!
In my mind El Prat was pretty tree-lined, so we were a bit surprised when we first saw the course. I was talking to one of the greenkeepers about that storm, who later showed me some pictures as well. They did an amazing job restoring it, but I'd love to have played when the trees were still up, even though I would probably not have broken 100, as my drives were all over the place, haha!
Next trip is headed for the Alicante-region in a month, but I hope to go to Barcelona again at the end of the summer. Will definitely shoot you a message when we've picked a date, would be great to play a round!