Going for Golf

Son Gual

The real jewel of Mallorca’s golf crown is, without a doubt, Son Gual. After watching the best senior pros in the business compete for the 2009 Mallorca Senior Open, we were lucky enough to play this course the following day in absolutely tip-top condition.

England’s Mark James eventually won the €300,000 event on the third play-off hole against former Ryder Cup colleague Eamonn Darcy, ahead of a very impressive field which included the former Ryder Cup skippers Ian Woosnam and Sam Torrance.

Even these guys, who have been around the world umpteen times and played the very best courses, could not help but be impressed. Woosnam, the 1991 US Masters champion, said: “I really liked the course. It’s a bit like Augusta.

“There are a lot of slopes on the greens. You’ve got to get the ball on the right side of the hole – if you don’t, you’ll be struggling. Miss it on the wrong side and you’re dead. You’ve got to know how far you’re hitting the ball to ensure you get in the right position.”

Located just off the main road from Palma to Manacor, Son Gual was completed in 2007 and opened to rave reviews from the golfing media. It was the brain-child of German businessman Adam Pamer who has a second home in Mallorca and decided he wanted a good place to play golf.

So a reported €45m later and with the help of German course designer and former amateur champion Thomas Himmel, they set about their master-plan.

It took three-and-a-half years to construct and quickly established itself in Europe’s top 100 courses – recently also gaining entry into Golf World’s prestigious top 100 (a similar placing in next year’s Peugeot Guide is nailed on). Beautifully set in 156 hectares of hilled landscape with views to the Tramuntana Mountains, the course flows in two long loops around the striking Grand Palacio building.

From the back tees it measures 6,941 yards and lies between large lakes with natural looking streams plus 66 bunkers waiting to trap anything wayward, one of which, on the par-four second, measures a whopping 240m by 80m. Dotted around the fairways are nearly 1,000 olive trees, wild flowers, waterfalls and, even, the course’s own vineyard.

Pamer’s dream is to leave as his legacy the best course on the island and in the top three in Spain. He has employed the expertise of 26 greenkeepers with the best possible equipment. The fleet of equipment alone is worth around €2m and is the largest in Europe for an 18-hole golf course.

Development plans are limited and membership packages look set to be restricted for the privileged few who can afford up to €50,000 to purchase lifetime membership and the right to call this gem in southern Mallorca their home golf club.

The development of Son Gual is a family project. Speaking from the terrace of the clubhouse overlooking the 18th green, Adam’s son and business successor, Andreas, summed up their golfing philosophy.

He said: “We only have a golf course here. We are not trying to sell villas and there is no hotel that we want to fill. The only thing that matters here is the golf.”

But as sports stars and celebrities around Europe make discreet membership enquiries – tennis superstar Rafael Nadal, Liverpool winger Albert Riera and Sky Sports’ Andy Gray, Charlie Nicholas and Alan McInally all played the course just a few weeks after we did – the golfing public can still sample this beauty for €150 per round.

Grab it while you can.