February 21, 2014 – Last month I asked permission to translate into Spanish and reproduce an article published by the prestigious www.top100golfcourses.co.uk website (operating since 2004), entitled “2014-2015 Top 100 Golf Courses of Spain”, so that it would reach more Spanish players and professionals of our golf industry. And to my surprise it has become the most read post of MyGolfWay.com since January 2014.

After this, another website with similar characteristics, www.leadingcourses.com (since 2007), has also permitted MyGolfWay.com to post its first ranking with the 50 best courses in Spain, under the title “Valderrama, the best golf club valued of Spain”, and from here we invite you to discover other sites such as www.golfboo.com (since 2013), which offers a sophisticated interaction between courses and players.

Well, the interest raised by these rankings has transcended to the social networks (Facebook and Twitter) and forums (GalaxiaGolf.com), and with good reason because the lists are food for thought. In them you can check how many of the best golf courses you’ve played, they can give you an idea of ​​which ones you still have to play, and, of course, you’ll find yourself more or less in favour depending on the presence and/or absence of your favourites courses.

The first thing that stands out is the difference between the leaders of the tables. Among the Top 100 Golf Courses of the World, considered the most informed golf course rankings website and with a strong Saxon character: 1st) PGA Catalunya, 2nd) Valderrama, 3rd) Sotogrande… 5th) Finca Cortesín. The list of Leading Courses, with a more European profile: 1st) Valderrama, 2nd) Finca Cortesín, 3rd) La Galiana Golf… 7th) PGA Catalunya. The innovative team of GolfBOO: 1st) Finca Cortesín, 2nd) La Galiana Golf, 3rd) Valderrama… 5th) PGA Catalunya. And then we have La Manga Club, as the best golf resort in Spain by Today’s Golfer Awards…

No one disputes the quality of the facilities or services of these leaders, regardless of the place awarded. That said, the marketing strategies also play a role here as they allow courses to use these rankings to declare themselves as the ‘Nº1 Golf Course in Spain’. This is something that Valderrama was doing with clear superiority for a long time, thanks to the Top 100 Golf Courses of the World, until three years ago when it was relieved of this honour by the PGA Catalunya. Nevertheless, Valderrama has not waived the label of the highest-rated golf course in Spain that it is still awarded by Leading Courses. And it is striking to see how both golf clubs claim to have apparently the same leadership on their own websites.

Well, I think all rivalry is good if golfers benefit from it. If you have the chance to live the experience of playing on both golf courses you will have your own personal and non-transferable criteria to judge which one is better, and if you wish, you can share your opinion with the websites of rankings. Meanwhile, a brief look at the other Spanish golf courses in the list throws up a host of questions! Some are missing, others are overestimated… Indeed, the rankings are the result of collecting the reviews of thousands of players, mainly from the community of golf tourists registered in these sites, over time, and should be considered a reference rather than an ‘Olympic classification’.

An amateur player of any nationality who is preparing a golf break will be helped to take decisions and discover the best golf courses to play, based on the reviews of other similar golfers. This will also provide the manager of the clubs with valuable information as to how the course is perceived by its clients. Not everyone, of course, only those who have taken the trouble to share their opinions by sending comments to these online compilers of reviews.

“Have these rankings been manipulated?” is a recurring question in the forums. Well, probably not. Every year numerous rankings circulate, announcing the best golf courses in a specific country.  The best sites are committed enough to ensure that they are up-to-date, transparent and independent from within their own management teams, and they have different systems in place designed to avoid any manipulation of their ratings through questionable conduct by users. Also, there is a minimum of reviews required for a golf course to be included in each country, continent or world list. And the golfers who have reviewed multiple golf clubs receive a higher status, adding value to their scores.

And what can the golf clubs do if they are not included, they are not satisfied with their rank, or they seek to jump to a higher position? Well I think if they have a good product, they certainly can influence a ranking of this kind. Obviously the clubs who already have a good strategy and digital marketing plan are ahead of the others, but it is important to take a few steps to be at the forefront. In order to climb positions and/or consolidate places, these clubs should encourage, motivate and stimulate their players directly, whether local or foreign clients, and also through the tour operators, to get them to express their best impressions and relay them to the different sites.

Formulas are many and varied… new ways to work with tour operators, inviting the expert testers of the sites to certify first hand the validation of the feedback received, to set the homepage of your website with buttons for an easy access to write the review on these rank sites (as La Galiana Golf has done), or placing some videos in Facebook or YouTube with comments from their clients…

Go for it!

Por REDACCIÓN