Can we play golf?

One of the main considerations in our move to Spain was the ability to play golf in better weather than we currently do. Having just experienced a season of golf through an immensely wet summer and a cold winter, we are both looking forward to being able to play all year round in dry, warm conditions. OK, there will be the odd rainy day when we won’t play but they will be well compensated for with all the good days. So, we needed to find a course where we could play.

We had played a few courses on our weekend breaks to Spain and were aware that the course fees were more expensive than back home. But these are all the well promoted golf courses for tourists, the Polaris World courses for example, surely there were ordinary golf courses where the ordinary Spanish people play and where they pay ordinary prices. Certainly the idea of paying €60-80 for a game of golf (multiplied by 2) meant we would be looking for work if we wanted to play more than a couple of times a month.

So, I set about looking at our options. We were told that another couple from our golf club had moved to Spain in retirement with the intention of playing golf, and had stopped playing because it was too expensive. When we had stayed near La Manga on a previous trip to Spain we had made friends with a group of men who played as a Society, and looking at various forums, this seemed to be the way it worked in Spain unless you bought a property on a golf course, which we had considered but decided against.

The other issue was that the new golf course being built at S. J. de los Terreros doesn’t look as if it is going to be ready for another 12 months, so although it’s right on the doorstep, we needed something in the meantime. Neither Neil nor I were keen to play as a society so there was some major research required.

On previous visits, as we had driven into San Juan from the hills we had passed some home made signs that said ‘Golf’ and we had been told on a couple of occasions that there was a new 9 hole course being built in the hills. So, when we were over in February we decided to seek this out and have a look.

What we found was a little gem, it now had proper signs, it was complete, a full 18 holes and looked spectacular. As we drove along the new roads we could inspect several fairways, greens and the hazards that were there to give it difficulty. The new club house was complete and we could see the furniture inside was still wrapped, it wasn’t open yet, but it wouldn’t be long before it was.

There was some property building going on for the new villas and apartments and we had passed the sales office on the way in so we decided to go back and see if we could get any information about the course. Of course, it was Sunday and late afternoon, the office was closed so we made a note of the website address Santa Cristina and decided we would have a look on the internet when we got home.

If only things were that simple!