Golf in Murcia with Susanne & Kenny – our personal golf course favourites

 

Murcia offers sunshine, warmth and genuinely excellent golf courses – each with its own character and charm. For many of our guests visiting for the first time, the question often arises: which course is the best? The answer, of course, depends on who you ask – and a little on the day's form. We who are writing this, Susanne and Kenny, are your golf hosts on the ground. We've played every course many times and here we share our completely personal impressions and a few tips. It's not an official ranking, just our own experiences – rather like debating whether red wine is nicer than white. So, here's our guide to Murcia's courses – straight from us to you!

 

Mar Menor – the home course for most of our guests.

A pleasant course in good condition. The front nine is a bit tougher and longer, but then it changes character with some shorter par 4s before you reach the course's highlight: holes 13–15 which go around a large lake. If you get through these holes without dropping a shot, you should be pleased with yourself. The course is completely flat and easy to walk. A pleasant and well-maintained course that most people enjoy – and the course we ourselves play most often during the season. Afterwards, you'll often fancy something nice to drink at the golf restaurant before strolling home to your apartment, if you're among the lucky ones staying on the resort. After perhaps an hour by one of the resort's 13 pools, you can take a 10–15 minute walk to the restaurant strip with its excellent 15 different restaurants. If you'd like more choice, take the car 10 minutes to Los Alcázares, where there's also a 7 km sandy beach. You can surely see why we enjoy returning to Mar Menor.

 

La Torre – the course with six par 3s.

You might think that makes it easy, but don't be fooled – the course is a challenge for most. There's quite a bit of water, but also wide fairways, so if you have good control over your shots you should be able to play around without dropping a stroke. At La Torre there's a charming plaza with 7–8 restaurants. Our favourite is the Italian one, Acacia. We've enjoyed many excellent pasta dishes here after making sure we have a slightly later tee time – perfect to finish the 18th as the sun is setting around half past six and then enjoy good food and a glass of fine Italian wine. It works perfectly well to eat in your golf clothes even if many people dress a bit smarter.

 

El Valle – our most beautiful course, surrounded by fine mountains.

This is the time to get the camera out and show off a bit on Instagram with some stunning pictures. The course has hosted qualifying for the European Tour, so the quality of the holes is high, but if you simply choose the right tee (there are four to choose from) it becomes fun for all standards of player. Elevated greens mean that sometimes it's better to putt than to chip when you're near the green. At El Valle there's 'only' the golf restaurant to choose from after your round, but it has a large terrace with views over the final holes – and is there really anything better than sitting with a cold beer watching other players hit short approach shots and end up in the deep bunker just before the green.

 

Hacienda del Riquelme – a course in really fine condition.

It's slightly undulating and many of the greens are contoured, which means three-putts aren't uncommon. What most people remember after the round, though, are the many challenging bunkers. After a couple of rounds here your bunker play will have improved considerably – and you can impress your friends back home. After your round we often visit the restaurant El Cason which is located between the 18th hole and the golf shop. It's housed in an old colonial-style hacienda from the end of the 19th century, and here the food and drink taste just that bit more special.

 

Saurines – a spectacular desert-style course

You can almost believe you're in Arizona. On many of our other courses you have to contend with bunkers, but here it feels as though they hardly exist. Fairways are wide and level – it feels like walking on really dense carpet. Alongside the fairways are large waste areas, which means you always find your ball and often end up pleasantly surprised by how well you can hit from this surface. Saurines has by far the best selection of clothing in its golf shop – you always find something new.

 

La Serena – flatter than a pancake

La Serena lies between Mar Menor and Los Alcázares and is known for having water hazards on 16 of the holes. But don't be fooled – it's usually the bunkers that ruin a good score. The course is flatter than a pancake and very easy to walk. There's also a good range and practice areas here, so you can come on days when you don't have a tee time but still fancy getting your hands on a golf club.

 

We look forward to meeting you – and hopefully playing a few rounds of golf on our fine courses.

Susanne & Kenny