If you have played here before, you have played Almenara. In July 2025 the club was rebranded as The Alto Club, and unlike most name changes this one came with genuine reinvention behind it. The original Almenara opened in 1998 as a 27-hole complex laid out by the Welsh architect Dave Thomas, arranged as three nine-hole loops named Los Pinos, Los Lagos and Los Alcornoques after the pines, lakes and cork oaks that define them. Today the club runs as an 18-hole championship course, a brand new nine-hole par-three layout, and a golf academy built on the ground where the Alcornoques loop used to be.

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The course

The Alto Club sits at the very top of Sotogrande Alto, higher than anything else on the estate, and the elevation is the point. Views run out over the pines to the Mediterranean, and on a clear day across to Africa. Dave Thomas routed it through hilly, wooded ground with real changes in level, and the character has always been about strategy and positioning rather than raw length. Manuel Piñero, the Ryder Cup player who arrived as resident professional from La Quinta, remodelled the layout in 2021 with an eye to both playability and environmental care.

It plays to a par of 71 at around 5,907 metres from the back tees, which makes it the shortest of the estate’s four championship courses by a distance. That does not make it easy. The greens are large, quick and heavily contoured, the terrain is uneven, and wind at this elevation can turn a straightforward hole awkward. Regular visitors describe it as a course that rewards imagination and punishes anyone who simply tries to overpower it.

Water comes into play on several holes, a legacy of the old Lagos loop, and mature pine and cork oak frame most of the fairways. It is a genuinely enjoyable round rather than a brutal examination, which is precisely why it suits visiting golfers and mixed-ability groups better than its more celebrated neighbours.

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Course facts

• Opened: 1998 as Almenara, rebranded The Alto Club in July 2025
• Architects: Dave Thomas, with a 2021 remodel by Manuel Piñero
• Par: 71
• Length: approximately 5,907 metres from the back tees
• Also on site: a nine-hole par-three course designed by Manuel Piñero
• Handicap limits: 28 for men, 34 for ladies, applied Monday to Friday
• Status: open to the public, visitors welcome every day

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The Alto Club Golf Academy

The academy is the centrepiece of the new era and opened on 1 September 2025, billed as the first facility of its kind on the Costa del Sol. It occupies the lakeside ground of the former Alcornoques nine, and is aimed deliberately at every level of player, from complete beginners and juniors through to aspiring tour professionals.

Facilities include Toptracer driving range technology for shot tracking, both a natural grass tee line and a covered line with a VIP practice area, floodlighting for evening practice, a custom fitting centre and a professional coaching zone. Short game provision is extensive, with putting and chipping greens, three additional practice holes and the new nine-hole par-three course alongside.

Suzann Pettersen, the two-time major champion and winning Solheim Cup captain, joined as global ambassador and has shaped the academy’s coaching philosophy. It is a serious statement of intent, and it gives Sotogrande something it genuinely lacked: a modern, welcoming place to learn and improve rather than simply to play.

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Playing as a visitor

This is the easiest championship golf to arrange on the Sotogrande estate. The course is open to the public and visitors are welcome every day, with advance booking recommended rather than essential. A valid handicap certificate is required, with limits of 28 for men and 34 for ladies applied on weekdays.

Green fees are not published as a fixed rate and vary by season and by whether you are staying at the resort, so it is worth contacting the club or booking through a stay-and-play package. Historically Almenara offered value comparable to La Cañada rather than the premium of Valderrama, and the club has positioned The Alto Club as accessible rather than exclusive.

Most players walk, though buggies are available for hire and the terrain makes them worth considering. Soft spikes are required and denim is not permitted. Unlike its neighbours, mobile phones are allowed on the course, and dogs are permitted on a lead.

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The resort and clubhouse

The Alto Club shares its setting with SO/ Sotogrande Spa & Golf Resort, the five-star hotel that occupies the old Almenara hotel site, which makes this the natural choice for a stay-and-play trip. Guests have the course, the academy, an award-winning spa and the resort’s restaurants within a few minutes’ walk of each other.

The clubhouse was refurbished in 2023 and covers the essentials well, with a pro shop, changing rooms, lockers, club and buggy hire, and a restaurant. Practice facilities are now among the best in the region thanks to the academy.

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What golfers say

Reviews are consistently warm rather than reverent, which suits the club. Conditioning and maintenance are praised repeatedly, the panoramic views come up in nearly every review, and the value for money rates well against neighbouring courses. The most common note of caution is the wind, which several golfers mention as the thing that turned an enjoyable round into a hard one, and the hilly terrain, which is worth bearing in mind if you intend to walk.

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Getting there

Avenida Almenara, Sotogrande, 11310 San Roque, Cádiz. Leave the AP-7 at exit 130 or 131, follow signs for Sotogrande Alto and then Valderrama, through the security gate and on for around four kilometres. Valderrama is less than ten minutes away, La Cañada around thirteen, and Gibraltar airport roughly twenty-five minutes.