Golf Holidays in Spain
The golf enthusiast will find his paradise on the Costa del Sol where there are a score of first class golf courses within a few miles of each other, many with built-in luxury housing developments. New golf courses are being projected, planned and built all the time so the selection is very wide. You should contact the Andalucian Golf Federation if you would like the latest, most detailed information. Tel: 952 22 59 90.
Some of the latest news is that a Swedish company has bought Los Naranjos Golf Club and is improving the quality of the Robert Trent Jones course and building a new clubhouse. The Swedish Conata group has put up 50 per cent of the capital for the Waconsa group to build a new leisure facility comprising luxury housing and a golf course designed by Severiano Ballesteros and Jose Luis de Bernardo. It is called Los Arqueros and is 10 kms from Marbella. It is thought that it will become part of the Royal Spanish Golf Federation and that it may be the venue for important tournaments.
A new course called Domayo in Galicia is being opened. It is 8 kms from Vigo and 10 kms from Pontevedra and lies beside the River Vigo, commanding exceptional views. Veragolf is another new course designed by Seve Ballesteros. It is on the coast of Almeria and its opening was planned to coincide with the 500th anniversary of Columbus ' arrival in the Americas, in 1992. Again it includes a luxury housing development.
There are currently seven courses in Majorca and one each on Ibiza and Menorca, but four more are being built: Roca Viva, 71 kms from Palma de Mallorca at Capdepera, Son Termens, 12 kms from Palma de Mallorca on the Carretera de Bunyola, Santa Pinca, 18 kms from Palma de Mallorca on the Carretera de Andraix, Ibiza's new golf course, 8 kms from Elvissa on the Carretera de Sta Eulalia por Jesus.
The Balearic Golf Federation is helpful and will send information to foreign visitors and the Govern Balear will also have all the information about golf courses in the region. The Spanish themselves treat golf as something of a status symbol, making great play of using the English words, just like bottles of Scotch whisky and the pedigree dog with its British name. As Amando de Miguel writes in Los Espanoles, 'Leisure time has less to do with Nature than might be expected. It is true that everyone says that they like the countryside, the beach, the mountains; but the favourite pastimes of the Spanish are watching television, listening to the radio and using the car'.
In spite of this definition which is mainly true, golf is a booming sport together with yachting and all concerning leisure boating.
