Los Naranjos Golf Club — Local services in Marbella

I've never had such a bad experience on a golf course in my life.

Lets start with the positives- It's a beautiful course that's well maintained and presented. Some tough holes, and not too dry even though it was mid summer when we played. That's where the positives end.

It first started when we were unable to get hold of a taxi company to take us to the property- most companies didn't answer the phone and the one that did hung up on me while trying to explain where we were staying. So I called the pro shop and requested they send us a taxi or club car to pick us up. I was told by whoever I spoke to, and I quote 'If you can't get in contact with a taxi company what makes you think we can?' Luckily for them we had already paid our green fee otherwise at that point I would have told them where to shove it. So after trying for more taxis we gave up and WALKED 40 minutes (mainly up hill) with our gear to the club.

We arrived half an hour before our tee time and were requested (pretty much told) to tee off early as some groups were running late. So we had no time to warm up. We had paid 70 Euros each, all this gave you was playing rights and a buggy. NO balls, not even a single tee, all payable separately. And the buggy has one small bottle of water per player. Not really ideal for August in Southern Spain.

Twice in the first hour we were told to speed up, even though there was no other golfer in sight. We were playing slowly because one of our group was a high handicapper, but we were on holiday, if no one is waiting so what?! I can completely understand being harassed if we were holding up others, but for no reason is pathetic.

One buggy broke down 3 times, on the third time we had to call up the club house to request another one sent out. The guy on the phone asked without even being told, if it was number 22 that had broken down? Cleary they knew it was a faulty buggy- so why give it to us? While we were sat waiting for the replacement a marshall came up to us to ask very rudely why we were sat there, again, not holding anyone up. We had to calmly explain that their buggy had broken down so we're waiting for a new one, at which point he drove off, huffing, with no apology.

The icing on the cake however, about 3 hours into our round, we were standing on the tee box of a par 3, I took one practice swing and I heard a shout 'HURRY UP!' I looked up thinking one of my playing mates was having a laugh, only to see, shockingly, the same marshall as before parked by the green, actually SHOUTING across the course to us to hurry up!!!! He then waved his arms like a frustrated child and drove off. Admittedly one 2 ball had caught up to us on the hole before where they waited maybe 30 seconds for the last in our group to play his shot, but still, completely unacceptable behaviour. I honestly don't know if this guy was having a bad day or he's always just a miserable sod, but he would be better placed as a prison guard then a golf marshal.

I will never return and I will make sure I do all I can to post this review all over social media to discourage as many people as possible. A complaint to the club will follow....

Los Naranjos On a positive note my wife and I had a friendly welcome by both proshop and the starter. The course was in pretty good condition considering heavy overnight rain and the greens still quick. Bunkers in excellent condition. Overall it's a nice course with fairly generous fairways. Modern buggies with hole GPS is nice to have.

Club house staff were friendly and excellent service, food very good quality at reasonable prices. Nice to chill with a drink after the round from a lovely terrace over looking the course.

The negative was golf's curse of slow play. We were to be paired up with two people who had already checked in but didn't appear at 1st for our tee-off time. Starter suggested the 3 ball behind go first and he'd look for the missing couple. Having waited 20mins we went out as a two ball. Very selfish people not bothering to tell anyone if didn't want to play.

The 3 ball were very slow and although got through at 11th after complaining to the Marshall we were then stuck behind even slower mixed 2 ball! Waited for every shot. They used scopes then hit ball 100yds, ambled to buggy, took ages lining up putts and finished out from 1 foot - couple must have been playing for big money!! At buggy return they sounded eastern European.

Unfortunately the slow pace of play spoilt my day and Marshalls need to be more assertive in pushing groups along. Apparently to avoid slow play need 8:00 /8:30am tee-off time!

If lucky enough not to be held up, it would be a golfers...

I recently played at Los Naranjos Golf Club in Marbella. While the course is technical and fun to play, the overall experience was severely impacted by the poor condition of the course.

The greens were in a very poor state, with uneven speeds, numerous holes, and extensive repair zones ( some parts were blackened). This made putting extremely frustrating and detracted from the enjoyment of the round. The fairways were yellowish and appeared burnt, which indicates they were either suffering from severe drought or inadequate maintenance. Playing from these burnt fairways made it difficult to get a clean shot and affected the quality of play significantly. Additionally, some parts of the rough were so poorly maintained that I was hitting from bare dirt, further complicating the game.

On the positive side, the midway house was excellent, with a wide variety of choices and very friendly staff. The service at the pro shop, restaurant, and from the starters was also great, and the golf carts were well-maintained.

Despite these positives, the lack of transparency about the course’s poor condition and the inadequate practice facilities were major disappointments. For a €100 green fee, I expected much better maintenance and overall quality. I hope the club addresses these issues soon to better reflect the quality of its layout and provide a more...