Long Stay Golf Vacation in the Murcia Region of Spain

This blog details our month long stay at La Torre and our golfing experience at La Torre Golf, El Valle Golf, Hacienda Riquelme Golf, and Alhama Signature courses.

For the first month of our two month long stay golf trip to Spain we decided to explore the Murcia region. The area has over 300 days of sunshine per year, very nice fall temperatures - mid to high 20’s most days during our stay (mid Oct. thru mid Nov.) and offers excellent value in golf, accommodation and daily living expenses. There is also, of course, no shortage of great cities and historic sites nearby to explore as well! That time of year things are much quieter without the summer crowds on the beaches, in the towns and at historical sites.

This post will likely be enjoyed by our golfer friends a bit more than non-golfers but there is some interesting information for all.

Our Review our 4 Week Long Stay with Golf (ratings our of 5 stars)

Overall Experience ****

Accommodation ***1/2

Golf Courses ***

Location ***** (close to numerous historic sites, activities, major cities - lots to see and do)

Value ***1/2

What is a Long Stay Golf Package and What Does it Cost?

The are several avenues to book “long stay” golf packages in Spain. Long stay is usually defined as a month or more. Staying a month or more dramatically lowers your daily cost - in many cases staying a month can actually be cheaper then the same location on a two week vacation.

Most long stays provide “self catered” accommodation with full kitchen and all the usual comforts of home - furnishings, tv, wifi, linens, and all the kitchen accessories you would require. Many also include in-unit laundry. Utilities are commonly included in the price as well but be sure to confirm prior to booking. Essentially you are renting a fully furnished and equipped flat for your stay. Some limited cleaning/laundry service may also be provided but you are responsible for what you would be at home - cooking, cleaning, laundry, etc. Keep in mind, long stays are not hotels, you will need to bring or purchase many of your daily essentials like laundry detergent, shampoo, dish detergent, coffee filters, etc. They often provide a small starter kit of essentials that will last your first couple of days.

Golf included in the package is usually a set number of rounds per month or unlimited depending on the package. There may be a small per round fee at some locations but this is not typical.

We are by no means experts in the vast array of agencies that facilitate long term rental and golf packages but here is who we have used for our first two years of bookings: www.golfatm.com and we have had a good experience dealing with them.

For the first month of our golf trip we selected the "Stay 4 weeks & Golf membership in 4 GNK courses" package from golfatm which includes:

28 nights stay in The Residences La Torre, 2 bedroom apartment (shared by 2 persons)
“Golf membership” is included at 4 courses, you can play every day if you wish
“Member´s Green fee” is not included: Pay 9 € per person each round, to be paid directly in each Pro-shop, depending on how much you want to play.
Golf courses in the package: El Valle Golf, Hacienda Riquelme Golf, La Torre, Alhama Signature.
WI-FI internet, electricity & water included
Exterior car park included
Arrival & departure cleaning + once a week cleaning with bedlinen change included
Prices vary depending of the season (low, mid or high season) from 1050 € / person

For our stay mid Oct. to mid Nov. the cost came in at 1330 €/person including all taxes and fees. So for the two of us it was 2660 € ( $3680 CDN / $2770 USD). The only additional fees are the per golf round member fee of 9€ per person in this particular location (not all locations have a member charge). In our case we played 4 rounds per week (exploring on our days off) so an extra 576€ (4 days x 4 weeks x 9€ x 2 people) or roughly $800 CDN / $600 USD for both of us.

Another option for booking is to contact GNK directly who manage the golf courses courses as they also offer long stay and play packages.

Golfing obviously adds a large portion to the overall expense. Having a look at accommodation only pricing (excluding golf), long term rentals in the area can be had for 1000-1500 € per month perhaps cheaper if privately sourced. There are also many luxury modern houses/villas available if you have a higher budget. If you are staying for 2-3 months there are golf memberships available through GNK at very reasonable pricing.

We will cover off daily expenses like food, alcohol, restaurants, entertainment, car rental, etc. in another post about living in Spain but suffice it is very reasonable, in many cases 30 to 40% cheaper then North America.

An Honest Review of our Accommodations

Our apartment was in the La Torre Golf community which is what they call an Urbanización. These are essentially large planned living communities similar to a resort where many foreign residents live. They will often have some restaurants, a grocery store and some other services. For better selection and pricing, and to get a true Spanish experience we prefer to go into nearby towns to shop for groceries, go out for dinner, and explore. These Urbanizacións are very nice places to reside though, typically with good facilities - pools, tennis courts, playgrounds, and a variety of modern accommodation options from small apartments to luxury homes available to rent or purchase. They also have full time security and monitored gate entry and exit so security is typically very good as well.

Condition of La Torre Community

Generally speaking La Torre is very well kept - grounds are nicely mowed, roads, buildings and overall property kept to a high standard. It is quite a nice environment. Unfortunately due to a flood a few years back and COVID course closures in Spain some buildings associated with golf and some of the restaurants at La Torre are permanently closed and some are lacking in up keep likely due to financial issues from these events. These problems are on commercial side at La Torre only, the residential areas are quite nice and we very much enjoyed living there for a month.

Our Apartment

The apartments and houses that are rented out by the agencies that manage these long term packages are privately owned units that are put in the rental pool by individual owners so decor, furnishings, etc. will vary from unit to unit. The unit we received was quite nice on the second floor with a very large balcony. It had a full kitchen, in-unit laundry, lovely living room with great HD TV, a very comfortable bed, and a modern bathroom. Electrical, AC, and plumbing presented no problems and the WIFI was absolutely excellent - Streaming HD programs via our personal devices was no problem whatsoever. Decor was basic but nice - think IKEA but everything we needed. It was surprisingly large which was lovely.

Here are some pics of our monthly rental:

The Real Low Down on the Courses Included in the Package

The courses included in the package we selected were La Torre Golf, El Valle Golf, Hacienda Riquelme Golf, and Alhama Signature - all managed by GNK Golf.

COVID Hit Golf Courses Hard in Spain

A quick note about the golf conditions in this course package, and as we understand, throughout many areas of Spain currently. Courses were forced to close for significant periods of time (months) during COVID by government regulation and as a result only minimal maintenance was done on many of them including watering. Compounding the problem has been several years of dry conditions (draught in some areas). Some courses focused only on maintaining greens and tees, others that were in better financial positions tried their best to maintain the full course. Needless to say some of the courses have not yet fully recovered in terms of conditioning as of Oct/Nov. 2022.

About the GNK Golf Courses

The four courses that GNK golf manages are all designed by Nicklaus Golf, with Alhama being a “Signature Nicklaus Course” which means Jack Nicklaus directly worked on the design. Anyone who has played a Nicklaus course knows he loves bunkers. Bunkers are literally everywhere and very, very well placed. All four courses are well designed, fun to play, a good test of golf, fair but challenging, and without gimmicks. If you don’t like bunkers you may not like these courses (or any other Nicklaus course for that matter). Playing the four we found quite enjoyable with each quite distinctive. The region is desert like so each of the courses has a desert feel and appearance to them (think Arizona) which is quite beautiful.

La Torre Golf- Par 68

Yardage: White - 5910 yards, Yellow - 5448 yards, Blue 4929 yards, Red, 4248 yards

Rating out of 5 stars:

Condition ****

Greens ****

Tees ****

Fairways ***

Bunkers ***

Design ***1/2

Overall Golf Experience ***1/2

La Torre is a fun track to play. It has 6 par 3's with a par of 68. It is nicely designed, relatively flat, fair, has well placed bunkers, and has excellent greens - most of which are elevated requiring you know your carry yardages well. Tees were also in nice shape.

Over all conditioning is good but not quite up to pre covid levels as yet based on conversations we had with long time residents.

Out of the 4 courses in our package this was our second favourite to play. We enjoyed our rounds at La Torre - if you were hitting the ball well you will score well here. It does put an emphasis on good placement however, particularly on your approach shots. Driver is definitely not needed on several par 4s and 5s nor advisable as there are some very tight areas.

A couple of our pics of La Torre:

El Valle - Par 71

Yardage: White - 6950 yards, Yellow - 6162 yards, Blue 5883 yards, Red, 4884.08 yards

Rating out of 5 stars:

Condition ****

Greens ****

Tees ****

Fairways ****

Bunkers ****

Design ****

Overall Golf Experience ****

El Valle was our favourite course of the four in our package. Conditions were definitely the best of the four. Overall, the course was in good condition.

The desert like style of the course, elevation changes, and the mountain backdrop makes this course visually stunning. Another classic Nicklaus design. Challenging with lots of bunkers (115 to be exact), elevated greens, tight fairways and nice changes in elevation from hole to hole.

Like La Torre, it is essential to know your carry numbers. It is also not a course to just grip it and rip it…placement is important and several holes demand layups off the tee rather than driver. The course is intentionally designed to use every club in your bag, it requires more of a strategic, placement style of play.

Here are some pics of El Valle:

Hacienda Riquelme Golf - Par 72

Yardage: White - 6951 yards, Yellow - 6402 yards, Blue 60741 yards, Red, 5560 yards

Rating out of 5 stars:

Condition ***

Greens *** 1/2

Tees ***

Fairways ***

Bunkers ***

Design ****

Overall Golf Experience ***1/2

Hacienda Riquelme Golf is another fun layout and considerably different than the other 3 courses with wider, flatter fairways. This course also incorporates different varieties of grasses then the others including on the greens and expansive water features that come into play on many holes.

Conditioning of the course when we played was in transition. The first week we played it was a little rough, particularly the fairways, however, as time went on through the month it continued to improve dramatically and looked like it was on it was on its way back to good condition during our final round there.

This course is a nice layout change from the others. The grass variety differences from the other courses also added a nice change and challenge.

A few pics of Hacienda Riquelme Golf

Alhama Signature - Par 72

Yardage: White - 7529 yards, Yellow - 6626 yards, Blue 6279 yards, Red, 5505 yards

Rating out of 5 stars:

Condition **1/2

Greens *****

Tees *****

Fairways *

Bunkers ***

Design *****

Overall Golf Experience *** (Lower then it should be due to very poor fairway conditions)

Alhama Signature is definitely the best layout and test of golf of the four GNK courses. It is the one that Jack Nicklaus worked on directly. Unfortunately, as of Nov. 2021 the fairways were in terrible condition. A condition that we don’t believe will be easily recoverable without completely re conditioning the fairways - very likely requiring course closure to do it properly! Between the COVID closures, apparent lack of water, and less then ideal location (its the furtherest of the 4 golf courses in terms of drive time) it has undoubtably affected the finances of the course. We heard rumours that the course was for sale. On the bright side, the greens and tees are absolutely brilliant and in excellent condition - definitely the best greens of the 4 courses.

It is a shame the conditioning of the fairways were let go to the extent that they are as this is a real gem of a golf course, perhaps one of Nicklaus’s better layouts worldwide - an outstanding course design. The greens are simply amazing - nicely shaped with challenging contouring, the fairways are wide and undulating and in typical Nicklaus style it has 116 bunkers!

We are really hoping that someone does decide to inject some additional dollars, redo the fairways and bring it back to its former pre-covid glory.

Stay Tuned!

In an upcoming post, we will detail our second month of golfing in Spain at Mar de Pulpi in San Juan de los Terreros (Costa de Almería) area which has been fantastic so far.

For the non-golfers, stay tuned for future posts in the coming weeks. We will be putting our clubs away for the season as we head over for 3 months in South East Asia in early 2023!

Rod and Mel