Spain Magazine - The UK's best guide to living in Spain

property

Getting into the Swing of Things

Golf properties are big business these days, but how do you sort the bogeys from the holes-in-one?

What’s the one image that typifies Spain – the one thing that springs to mind when someone talks about this visually and culturally diverse country?
Sandy beaches, maybe. Or flamenco? Tapas, bullfighting, sherry, Rioja wines? Barcelona’s riotous Gaudi or Catalunya’s Dali connection, or maybe Picasso’s Cubist art?
For an increasing number of foreign visitors and residents, Spain’s main attraction can be conjured up in one small word: golf. The game may have its roots in misty, moist Scotland but its relatively recent marriage with sun-kissed Spain has been a remarkable one, which (even allowing for property scaremongering) shows little sign of slowing down.
The beauty of golf in Spain is that you can play any kind of course in wildly different climates. From the Costa Brava, with lush hilly courses and cool winters to the desert courses of Murcia, where only mad dogs and Englishmen might tee off in the heat of a summer’s day, there really is something for everyone.
By and large, the long coastline from Spain’s north-eastern corner to its south-western tip is where most of the golfing action takes place. There are inland courses, and those within striking distance of one or other of the costas prove particularly popular with foreign players.

Spoilt for Choice

The Costa Blanca’s highly developed infrastructure, healthy climate and plentiful golf facilities continue to attract a large number of foreign residents, both to its new inland developments and its pretty coastal villages.

The Costa Blanca takes in the long strip of white coast that extends from Denia in the north to El Mahon in the south, as well as the inland reaches of the Alicante region. It remains one of the most popular areas of Spain with UK buyers, with large numbers of British and Europeans now living and working there. They appreciate the highly developed infrastructure of hotels, restaurants, road and rail systems, golf courses, supermarkets and schools. However, the region still manages to retain a Spanish feel, especially in the smaller coastal villages and inland towns and villages.