UGOLF Iberia is the Spanish subsidiary of the French group UGOLF SAS. A company belonging to the Duval Group, UGOLF SAS intervenes in the fields under different modalities: purchase, lease or management for both private and public owners.
With more than thirty years of experience, UGOLF is the leader in golf course management in Europe, managing more than fifty golf courses. Moreover, it is the first golf academy in France with more than one hundred professionals on its payroll and offers services in all areas of the golf industry: design, construction, maintenance, auditing, operation and management.
UGOLF Iberia has entered Murcia in 2019 with the management of the golf courses Mar Menor Golf Resort, Saurines de la Torre and Hacienda del Álamo Golf Resort.
In March 2019, UGOLF Iberia made a strategic move by signing Eduardo Ruiz, an experienced golf club manager, as UGOLF’s new area director. Ruiz, who boasts an impeccable track record that includes solid stints at prestigious clubs such as Finca Cortesín, La Quinta Golf & Country Club, Real Club Valderrama and La Manga Club, is committed to leading this ambitious project to manage several golf courses in the Region of Murcia.
“After four years at La Manga Club, first as golf director and later as general sports director, I wanted to continue my career with a new challenge… and UGOLF was a perfect fit for this profile. UGOLF Iberia took over the management of Mar Menor, Saurines and Hacienda del Álamo at the beginning of the year and now they trust me for my experience in large projects, my relationship with large tour operator accounts and my knowledge of the Murcia area as a golf destination,” says Eduardo Ruiz. “The main idea is to position the golf courses and resorts at the highest possible level in terms of quality and service, as well as to promote the practice of golf in the region from the ground up and to raise awareness of the courses we manage.
“Mar Menor is an eighteen-hole course designed by Nicklaus Design that generates more than fifty thousand tee times a year, an important figure. Saurines is a visual spectacle (it may be the best achieved ‘desert’ course in Spain) also designed by Nicklaus Design, with an extraordinary shaping. Hacienda del Álamo is the work of Dave/Paul Thomas, a championship course long and wide from the back markers with a large number of bunkers defending large greens. It has a first class practice academy, with six practice holes and a huge, modern clubhouse in keeping with the facilities,” describes Ruiz.
HACIENDA DEL ÁLAMO. Considered one of the best courses in Murcia, Hacienda del Álamo, a par 72 of 6,724 meters designed by Dave Thomas, has a main 18-hole course perfectly integrated into the natural terrain, large greens and strategically placed obstacles to make playing golf a fun challenge.
It is worth mentioning the existence of 6 short holes perfectly designed for all handicaps, a bunker area, chip area, a large putting green and a practice area with the possibility of hitting on mats and natural grass. The spacious and comfortable clubhouse is the perfect place to relax and refresh after a few hours of play, offering spectacular views over the course.
Open since August 2018, the 145-room Sheraton 4* Hotel and 1, 2 and 3-bedroom apartments offer superb accommodation options right on the course and close to all the region’s golf courses. The opening this year of Corvera airport, just 10 minutes from the course, will undoubtedly be a major boost to golf development at this resort.
SAURINES DE LA TORRE GOLF. The design of the Saurines Golf course has great similarities to the desert courses of Las Vegas and Arizona also designed by Jack Nicklaus, but with a philosophy of linked holes. This par 72 of 6,498 meters is characterized by undulating fairways between sand dunes and greens with impressive moldings, few bunkers and a large central lake. Since its inauguration in 2011 it has already become a benchmark in the area.
MAR MENOR GOLF RESORT. The first nine holes were designed by Dave Thomas, par 37, 3275 meters and the last nine holes were designed by Nicklaus Design, par 35, 2878 meters with wide fairways and with a great diversity of designs. In total, 72 of 6153 meters.
The magnificent practice facilities at Mar Menor Golf, in addition to driving range, putting green and chipping green, include a practice and practice hole. On the golf course, the 5* Hotel Caleia Mar Menor Golf & Spa Resort with 64 rooms and The Residences apartments with 1, 2 and 3 bedrooms offer a wide range of accommodation options for short and long stays.
LECLUB GOLF & AGWC
UGOLF Iberia also develops the LeClub Golf network in Spain and The Amateur Golf World Cup.
The LeClub Golf network, with more than nine hundred associated courses in the world (forty in Spain) is one of the first golf course networks in the world. Its vocation is to develop synergies for its partner courses in sales, purchasing and communication and to build a community of players thanks to its loyalty program.
The Amateur Golf World Cup (AGWC), one of the most important amateur golf circuits in the world, has just held its International Final at Hacienda del Álamo Golf Resort.
The celebration of this event for the first time in the Region of Murcia highlights the global appeal of the Costa Cálida as a golf destination and the commitment of Hacienda del Álamo Golf to be an international benchmark for this sport.
“A little more than two months ago the AGWC organization contacted us and offered us to host the final of its circuit since the attacks in Sri Lanka, where this event was initially going to be held and where it will possibly return in a couple of years. For us it was a great surprise that Hacienda del Álamo was the first choice for the organization, but we accepted without a moment’s hesitation. This type of event positions you at an international level and we could not miss this opportunity,” said Eduardo Ruiz, area director of UGOLF Iberia.
“Since we accepted to host the world final we have created a plan and a work team similar to the one used in the big events of the European circuit, not in vain our idea is to roll the team with big amateur events to try to sign a big professional event in the coming years. The team is made up of all the company’s head greenkeepers (who supervise and monitor all the processes and care we are giving to the course before and during the event), the head of operations of the Murcia area (responsible for coordinating all the teams involved), the head of sales and marketing of the group, F&B and Sheraton accommodation, and myself as Area Director of Ugolf Iberia,” Ruiz continues.
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