Golf in southern Gran Canaria
Maspalomas Golf before redevelopment: major plans, uncertain dates
The long-established course is to be reorganised and its surroundings modernised. The direction is becoming clearer. When this will lead to visible construction work remains uncertain.
Maspalomas Golf is not a course defined by dramatic changes in elevation. Its fairways extend across flat terrain between palm trees, holiday developments and the protected dune landscape. This sense of openness is one of the course’s defining characteristics – and it also means that any major alteration to the site will be clearly visible.
An important planning procedure has now moved one step further. The municipal environmental commission has issued a positive assessment of the strategic environmental report for the proposed Programa de Actuación de Mejora Urbana, known as the PAMU. This allows the planned reorganisation to continue through the approval process. It does not, however, provide a final construction timetable.
More than a refurbishment of the course
The project concerns more than tees, greens or irrigation. It proposes a broader reorganisation of the entire site. Plans include new paths and pavements, modern street lighting and additional landscaped and public areas.
Earlier planning documents also include a hotel and 19 single-storey villas. The golf course itself is to be organised more efficiently within its existing area. This means that the proposals would change not only the course, but also its wider surroundings.
According to the current planning status
- Reorganisation and modernisation of the golf-course area
- Renewal of paths, lighting and infrastructure
- Creation of a public urban park
- A hotel project on a separate plot
- Plans for 19 single-storey villas
What the positive environmental assessment means
The decision initially confirms that, in the opinion of the responsible commission, the plan is not expected to cause significant environmental effects. This is an important prerequisite for the process to continue, but it is not a building permit.
Some technical questions also remain unresolved. Because the area is affected by aviation-related protection zones, cranes, masts and new buildings may require separate approval. Urban-planning objections will also continue to be considered outside the environmental procedure.
No reliable construction date
For golfers planning a holiday, this distinction is crucial. A positive environmental report shows that the project is progressing. It does not indicate when construction work will begin, which areas would be affected first or whether play might be temporarily restricted.
Until specific construction phases are published, claims about closed holes, shortened rounds or construction noise would be speculation. Travellers planning a holiday around a round at Maspalomas Golf should therefore check the current operating situation immediately before booking.
A flat course in a remarkable location
Maspalomas Golf is defined less by dramatic tee shots than by its setting. The dunes are close, Atlantic winds reach the open fairways, and the course has formed part of the familiar landscape of the resort for decades.
This is precisely why the proposed redevelopment is sensitive. Modernisation may improve the infrastructure and playing conditions, but it should not remove the sense of openness that distinguishes Maspalomas Golf from the more heavily sculpted courses in southern Gran Canaria.
No excavators are moving across the fairways yet. But the framework for a far-reaching transformation is now in place. At Maspalomas Golf, the redevelopment is beginning on paper.
