With more than thirty years’ experience, UGOLF is a leader in golf course management in Europe, running more than fifty golf courses across the continent. Its subsidiary, UGOLF Iberia, touched down in Murcia in 2019 when it took over the management of Mar Menor Golf Resort, Saurines de la Torre and Hacienda del Álamo Golf Resort.
Since then, the company has succeeded in positioning Saurines Golf as one of the best in Spain, increasing sales and, above all, the quality of the service, with a variety of refurbishment projects carried out on each of the courses.
2019 was a year of frantic activity for UGOLF Murcia with the new structure created by UGOLF Iberia to take over the management of Mar Menor Golf Resort, Saurines de la Torre and Hacienda del Álamo Golf Resort. The company had big plans for the three courses it was starting to manage, and so it formed a team to lead the project, bringing in Eduardo Ruíz as area director and later, Luke Murphy as sales director.
During this time, UGOLF Murcia has succeeded in positioning Saurines Golf as one of the best in Spain and increased sales and, above all, the quality of the service, undertaking various reforms on each of the courses.
Hacienda del Álamo Golf Resort, designed by Dave Thomas, has an 18-hole main course perfectly blended into the natural terrain, large greens and strategically placed hazards to make playing golf a lively challenge. The resort also has a hotel with 154 rooms and 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments offering superb accommodation options right on the course.
The course is considered one of the best in Murcia. Here UGOLF has altered the bunkers on the greens and worked on improving the clubhouse and the irrigation system. All this in order to increase efficiency and raise quality standards, channelling efforts towards being able to hold a professional event in the coming years.
Saurines de la Torre Golf is a Jack Nicklaus design with huge similarities to the desert courses of Las Vegas and Arizona designed by him, but with a concept of linked holes. It features undulating fairways through to sand dunes and greens with impressive contouring, few bunkers and a large central lake.
Since it opened, the Saurines Golf course has been a benchmark in the area, but it lacked a putting area and a well-equipped clubhouse, improvements which UGOLF have now made and which players have been able to enjoy since the start of 2020.
Mar Menor Golf Resort is a Dave Thomas and Jack Nicklaus signature course. Its first nine holes were designed by Thomas and the back nine by Nicklaus, with broad fairways and a wide range of designs. Its magnificent practice facilities, as well as having a driving range, putting green and chipping green, include a practice hole.
UGOLF has designed a new maintenance plan for this course to meet the standards required of a five-star resort. Its five-star Caleia Mar Menor Golf & Spa Resort, right next to the course, completes the circle of excellence with 64 rustic-Mediterranean-style rooms and The Residences apartments, another perfect accommodation option for a family holiday, a trip with friends or a golfing short break or long stay.
UGOLF was clear that the health crisis was not going to change the way it saw golf, putting quality and customer experience ahead of any cuts to the improvements being made on all aspects of its courses. Now it is time for golfers to start giving their reaction to this investment, with almost all restrictions on international movement imposed by the Covid-19 pandemic lifted. Consequently, visitors from the traditional tourism markets to travel to the Region of Murcia – British, German and Nordic – have been returning, keener than ever.
Luke Murphy, Director of Sales at UGOLF Iberia: “It has been a pleasure to see golfers travelling to our courses again after almost 18 months of restrictions. Since September we have had a huge number of golfers from several European countries and the numbers have surpassed our best months of 2019. We look forward to this continuing into 2022.”