Mallorca’s top golf course can look back on staggering progress as it celebrates its second birthday this month.
The 7,240-yard, Thomas Himmel-designed course opened in 2007 and within 18 months was hosting its first professional tour event: the Son Gual Mallorca Senior Open, won by former Ryder Cup captain Mark James.
Another former Ryder Cup captain, Ian Woosnam, walked off the course and compared the greens with those at Augusta National. The 1991 Masters winner said: “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.”
Six months later Son Gual entered Golf World’s top 100 European courses list and the magazine described it as “…one of the more spectacular courses in the Mediterranean region.”
Son Gual’s managing director, Andreas Pamer, insists achieving a place in the top 100 is just the beginning for Son Gual and not the pinnacle. “It is good to be recognised as the best golf course in Mallorca,” he said. “But it is our aim to also be recognised as the best in Spain and one of the top 10 courses in Europe.
“That was always the intention. We realised it was not going to be something we could achieve overnight. We are taking things gradually but we have made a considerable impact on the market in two years and we will continue to provide a premium product for the discerning golfer.”
It is a premium product which is appreciated: its debenture launch earlier this year brought in €1m-worth of memberships in the first month. More than 30 per cent of the new members came from the UK, as Son Gual’s reputation spread among owners of villas and the cruisers moored in the marina at Palma. The debentures are valid for life, transferable and cover spouse and all children under 21 years of age.
Golf Son Gual www.son-gual.com