Santa Clara Golf in Otura came about not long before the 2008 economic crisis began, which together with the pandemic, have struck it a mortal blow.
As it used to be
Like all golf-course projects it came with a swarm of houses – many times this kind of project comes about so that a housing development can go up where normally it would not be allowed.
In the case of Santa Clara Golfthe project, included an urbanization of 1,500 new dwellings. When you take into account that Otura is small and only has 7.173 inhabitants, it meant a massive expansion.
Finally, after struggling on, the golf course was officially abandoned on the 1st of November, leaving the few members of the club and the people of Otura in general far from happy.
The general consensus appears to be that the company that managed the golf course for Global Golfjust let it die. Reportedly, the company is close to bankruptcy itself.
The golf course during its existence has changed hands. Last July the owners (sareb) sold it together with 23 real-estate packages destined for tourism use. The locals are calling upon the present owners to save the golf course. In fact, many locals have formed a platform, Pro-Dialogue Groupto help sort out the problems, but it seems to no avail.
As it is today
The company that manages the golf course has fallen down on the job, many people in Otura consider, because they took on a golf course in good working order, maintenance wise, and let it run it down, leaving the greens unwatered and dying.
They also ran up a huge electricity bill with a utility provider, which ended up cutting off the electricity supply: no electricity; no pumps to run the irrigation system, leaving the grass to die during the prolonged summer. Then there are the rabbits which have left the abandoned greens with many more holes than the original 18.
Golf players stopped coming and the restaurant finally closed down many months ago. The general opinion was that the managing company had milked all the businesses for all they could, running them into the ground, considers Pro-Dialogue Group.
In the meantime the said entity or Urban Conservation Commission, together with the Otura Town Hall, had managed to unblock the housing construction side of it so that work was once again going ahead to begin new constructions or finish off half-built dwellings, but this effort now seems pointless. The original development company behind the housing had gone, bust leaving many unfinished.
(News: Otura, Vega Alta, Granada, Andalucia)