Rioja Alta Golf Club

About the club

Rioja Alta Golf Club consists of an 18-hole par 72 course, a driving range, a putting green and an approach area on 71.16 hectares of land in the municipality of Cirueña (La Rioja), next to the Camino de Santiago, just 5 km from Santo Domingo de la Calzada, 12 km from the Ezcaray winter resort and 25 km from Haro. The topography of the estate presents a varied relief, being relatively uneven in the perimeter areas and in the ravine around which the protected oak grove is located and classified as singular vegetation. In the central area of the estate the topography is gentle, with a descending slope from west to east. The design and project of the golf course were aimed, among other basic objectives, at limiting the movement of the land to levels that would make the landscape adaptation of the estate compatible with its functionality from a golfing point of view, i.e., playability and visibility on the golf holes and ease and efficiency in the future maintenance of the course, all with a reduced impact on the environment. The design of the course, carried out by Enrique Saenger-Golf Projects, has focused on obtaining a golf course that is attractive and fun for very diverse groups of players, from expert players to beginners and, at the same time, that is suitable for holding all kinds of high-level official tournaments, both amateur and professional, and may occasionally host the celebration of a competition of the European Professional Tour. The 18-hole course of Rioja Alta Golf Club is made up of two halves of 9 holes outward and 9 backward, with very balanced characteristics, both in the distances of the holes and in their degree of difficulty. In each of them, two par3, five par4 and two par5 holes have been designed, with respective total lengths of 3207m and 3259m from white bars, 3014m and 3105m from yellow bars, 2738m and 2830m from blue bars, and 2599m and 2703m from red bars. There are also tee-offs for senior players, with distances in each half of 9 holes of 2847m and 2935m for senior men (orange bars) and 2425m and 2553m for senior ladies (pink bars). The par for each round is 36, making a total of 72 for the course.