Saturday 15 March 2008

Fury over Muro Golf Plans

First published in the Majorca Daily Bulletin, Friday 14th March 2008.

The Mayor of Muro, Jaume Perello, called a storm yesterday by giving the green light to the construction of golf course at Son Bosc. Environmentalists have long campaigned against the project and yesterday there were stormy scenes during the council meeting. Socialist councillors on the council left the town hall in protest and environmentalists demonstrated outside.

Son Quint - Fully opened, 13th March 2008

Son Quint is the third golf course of Arabella Golf & Spa Resort Mallorca, which together with Son Vida & Son Muntaner completes the groups' golf collection on the island.

Intense nature as far as the eye can see, a golf course for beginners and experienced players alike: The architect of the Son Quint project, Ramón Espinosa, designed 18 spectacular sporting and varied holes which cover over 6,200m of magnificent Majorcan countryside. Due to its´location, Son Quint has some fantastic views over the city and bay of Palma.

You will encounter many interesting hazards: two large lakes in addition to the traditional and strategically placed bunkers which will challenge even the die-hard golfer.

After an exceptionally enjoyable round at Son Quint, the clubhouse awaits with an excellent restaurant and function rooms.

Carlo Knauss, ex German national coach and renowned television commentator comments, "Son Quint will dazzle players who are looking for sporting variety with a special touch, for example the 17th holes, which is found at the highest point of the course requires a drive directly towards Palma Cathedral".

Monday 10 March 2008

A Question of Quality, and Service.

This week a major UK travel company announced that thy were going to start offering pre-paid green fees and reserved tee-times at courses in Mallorca. Any initiative that promotes golf on the island is good in our view. However as a customer are you better off booking through a big specialist golf tour operator, or a smaller local based company?

When you're organising a golf tour to Majorca a lot of responsibility is upon your shoulders. You need to bring the tour in below budget, whilst ensuring that your party receives excellent value for money - Service is important too, as you need to be able to discuss your tour with someone who is responsive and who really knows and understands what you want. They need to have the authority to make effective and timely decisions when you have to make changes to your itinerary. So are you going to book with a general tour operator that deals with every destination, or a small specialist such as www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com or www.Golf-Majorca.co.uk?

Let me ask you another question? Would you buy an expensive pair of golf shoes without trying then on first.

Well that's what many people do when they choose a golf holiday. It may feel comfortable, for 5 minutes, to book with a non-specialist tour operator when you're holding their thick glossy travel brochure, but this is probably the worst decision you could make. Generally non-specialist tour operators don't know the courses that well. They haven't played or walked the courses you are going to spend your money hard earned cash upon, and they are not up to date with the latest news or issues about the course. For example, when one golf course brought forward their hollow coring schedule by 1 week, which company phoned all of their clients and arranged different courses for them - www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com. It is precisely this kind of service that the larger companies either cannot or will not offer.

Can you remember the last time that you met the person who booked your golf tour? Well at www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com this is a regular occurrence.

Last weekend they surprised over 100 of their clients as they arrived at Palma Airport. Each guest of www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com was personally welcomed to the island, and given a free gift - Now imagine the big boys doing that!

Cost is always an issue, and there was a time when the larger operators always got the best deals. This is no longer the case. Small local operators drive increasingly large volumes and are quite frequently given the best deals. Hotels and golf courses are also likely to be more flexible or offer their local agents better deals or better tee-times when personal relationships are in place. Which would you rather help a friend that you knew and saw regularly, or faceless voice on the phone? It's those kind of relationships that will enable your group to get booked onto a course when everyone else is telling you that it is full.

So think carefully the next time you place your tour booking. The specialists are exactly that, specialists, confident in their product, helping you to achieve the best value for money for your group.

Friday 7 March 2008

Mallorca's Top 10 Golf Courses

During 2007, our colleagues at www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com surveyed their clients to find out which were their favourite courses. The following results are based on their clients 'overall enjoyment' of the course which obviously takes into consideration many different factors:-
The marks given indicate the percentage of clients who played that course and who rated their overall experience as either good or excellent.

The results are not surprising. However looking forward to 2008, the big question is which courses will make next years top 10, and which will drop from the current list.

A course which will almost certainly be included is Son Quint - As part of the Arabella Golf Complex this course arrives with a superb pedigree.

Another course which should make the top 10 is Son Gual - undoubtedly an award winning course. It's barrier to entry into our top 10 will only be the green fee price, currently 150€ per person as the statistics above are only valid once a certain number of players have left their feedback. We doubt that Son Gual will reach this 'critical' number of responses in 2008.

Poniente, Andratx and Bendinat as the bottom 3 courses are in danger of relegation. In truth none of these courses should exit the top 10. Poniente has the best layout on the island, but lacks investment in keys areas. The clubhouse needs refurbishment, the car park needs tarmac, and the course condition is not always as good as you would expect. Andratx is a long and challenging course, which some people find frustrating to play, and therefore scores low for 'overall enjoyment'. The fact that this course appeals mainly to Germans can sometimes leave British guests feeling ostracised. Finally Bendinat. This is undoubtedly a superb course, and one of the most popular on the island, however if you are not accurate off the tee you will find it frustrating.

In order to provide more specific feedback our colleagues at www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com are asking their clients 3 questions this year. In summary, overall enjoyment, course quality, and value for money. As soon as they have received a reasonable number of responses we will publish the results here.

Thursday 6 March 2008

Alcanada - Hollow coring

The superb Robert Trent Jones course, Club de Golf Alcanada have announced that they will be hollow coring their greens on 20 & 21 May, and also 26 & 27 August 2008.

Customers of www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com & www.golf-majorca.co.uk already receive a discount at this course, and when work is being undertaken they normally receive additional benefits from the friendly and helpful staff in the well-equipped Pro-shop.

Alcanada is without doubt the most scenic and photogenic course on the island. It is the only golf course on the island to be located right by the sea and was highly rated in comparison to Mallorca's other golf courses in the Peugeot Golf Guide for 2006 & 2008. Featuring in this publication official rates Alcanada as one of Europe's top 1000 golf courses.

It is definitely a favourite with British clients, achieving a 94% satisfaction in 2007. Don't let its northerly location put you off though, as with the opening of the new Palma / Alcudia motorway this course is still less than an hours journey time from Palma.

If you travelling to Mallorca for a golfing holiday, then this is undoubtedly one course you should include in your itinerary.

Wednesday 5 March 2008

Severe Weather - 05 March 2008

Winter returned to Mallorca today. Probably the best way to put this into context is that daytime temperatures have dropped by 15 degrees Centigrade in the space of two days. Monday felt like an early summers morning in the Caribbean, whilst today snow has been forecast at heights of over 700m. In actual fact most of the island seems to have seen a few flakes of snow at some point today. The biggest problem though has been the wind, and it will more than likely cause damage at some of the islands courses. The ones most at risk are likely to be Puntiro & Son Gual where newly planted trees are at risk, whilst at Poniente older trees have in the past taken the brunt of the damage. However it is difficult to forecast exactly where damage may occur.

Two courses (Son Muntaner & Capdepera) had to close their driving ranges today, and we will keep you updated if we hear of any more information over the next couple of days.

The good news is that tonight's forecast low of 2 degrees should see the end of this cold snap with the forecast turning warmer over the next few days. There is a possibility of some light showers at the weekend, but this shouldn't cause too much of a problem for those with advance tee-bookings through either www.golf-majorca.co.uk or www.simplymallorcagolf.com

Tuesday 4 March 2008

Vall d'Or - Work to the course...

Vall d'Or golf course, which is close to the family orientated resort of Cala d'Or on Mallorca's south-east coast, have announced a considerable program of work to the course.

From mid-January to present the course had been offering an 18 hole course with 9 normal greens and 9 temporary greens at a reduced price of 75€ a round.

However, after careful consideration they have now decided that it will be better to offer clients two full rounds of 9 holes, as opposed to the current offering. (There will however still be a temporary green on hole 2). The new plan will obviously enable the course to undertake the works with greater efficiency, and to bring forward the completion date to the beginning of May.

For anyone who knows Vall d'Or, this is great news. The front nine is definitely the more interesting part of the course, as it winds its way through the valley and hillside just north of the clubhouse. Hole 3 is quite possibly one of the most spectacular holes on the island. The reduced green fee price is also very acceptable.

For more information on this course, and to make tee-bookings at any golf course in Mallorca, please click on the link; www.SimplyMallorcaGolf.com

For more information on hotels in Cala d'Or visit our colleagues at www.AlphaRooms.com

Pula Golf - On the up?

Pula has had quite a rough ride over the last 2 - 3 years. Following the Mallorca Classic in 2005 the management of the course were advised to make a number of changes to the layout. This resulted in large parts of the course being closed for almost a year. The course re-opened briefly in the summer of 2006, only to be closed shortly afterwards as more work needed to be undertaken.

The 2006 Mallorca Classic at Pula produced some surprising results, with many of the players scoring badly. Was this because they didn't expect the course to have been altered as much, and therefore didn't put in as much practice as they should have done, or was the course too difficult?

The 2006 Classic failed to change peoples views about this course. It was an average course, a little over-priced and therefore probably not worth the gamble.

Throughout 2007 the course was again closed. There was a brief time when the course was in a good condition, and the management ran a special offer which included free snacks during the round, but on the whole it was a quite and uneventful year for the course.

The 2007 Mallorca Classic came and went, but in spite of 1 day being rained off the scores were better this year.

One of our friends (Glenn Turner - The World Record Golf Tour holder) played the course in 2006 and again in 2007 and couldn't believe that it had improved so much - his estimation by at least 200%.


The fact that the course has been closed for the main part of two years has meant that there has been quite a flow of staff through the course, but the current manager of the pro-shop, Michael, speaks at least three different languages (English, German & Spanish) and is very helpful.


It is true that the Pro-Shop is dark and un-interesting, and that one of our clients compared the shower facilities to the worst school shower block that he had ever experienced - we believe him, we don't need to check those things out...however the course itself appears to be improving.


We met a group of our clients about to play the course last week, and were asked what we thought of it. It was a good job we were truthful! The course scored a 55% satisfaction rating by our clients in 2007, and was one of the lowest ranked courses on the island. We described it as inconsistent but improving. They knew that already, so our expectations and theirs were on a par.


Since then the clients have returned to the UK, and one of them who is a regular visitor to Mallorca has just switched a forthcoming reservation from anouther course to Pula.


Additionally Pula are following an aggressive marketing campaign through selected agents. Contact either
www.simplymallorcagolf.com or www.golf-majorca.co.uk, and you will find that they have some of the biggest discounts available for this course, and many other golf courses in Majorca.

We're not confident enough to say that the course quality will be high for ever, but it is definitely worth the gamble of playing there now.