Murcia's manufactured pearl - La Manga Club

Mention La Manga to most people and it might just spark a flame of recognition for a bunch of wannabee world conquerors. Not to be confused with La Manga del Mar Menor, La Manga Club is a residential urbanisation and world class sports centre famous for providing a Spanish bolthole for the English and Dutch national football teams and a winter training base for the Lawn Tennis Association.

Its rise to fame has been swift, and apart from a patch of financial weakness in the late 1970’s La Manga Club has been, and still is, an exemplary success story.

Timeline

1970 Gregory Peters, an American magnate involved in the development of the Mar Menor, recognises the potential in developing the first golf course in the region and purchases 500 acres of land in a valley 10 kilometres from La Manga

1971 The project escalates as the plans for a 9-hole golf course expand into two courses, a 15-court Tennis Centre and a residential complex

1973 The Spanish Open is hosted for the first time at La Manga Golf Course (as it was known then)

1981 The resort is bought by Dennington, the Spanish subsidiary of European Ferries and Seve Ballesteros is duly appointed as the Club’s Touring Professional

1982 The 47-room, four-star Hotel Las Mimosas opens

1985 British Davis Cup doubles legend David Lloyd is appointed director of the Tennis Centre

1987 P&O take over Dennington, providing a huge injection of capital and resources and the construction of the Las Lomas apartment complex begins

1990, the first football pitch is constructed as a training ground for several Spanish First Division football clubs

1991 The Tennis Centre hosts a Davis Cup qualifying round between Spain and Canada

1993, the Hyatt Regency La Manga hotel is inaugurated, built in the same location as the former Las Mimosas

1996 La Princesa, the third golf course opens

1997 The Professional Football Centre project begins with the building of five further pitches and the Norwegian Football Federation sign a contract to make La Manga Club the winter training base for many Norwegian teams. This is followed by similar arrangements with Swedish, Danish and Finnish football clubs

1998 La Manga Club Professional Football Centre officially opens and a licence is granted to open a casino next to the Hyatt hotel

2000 Three more football pitches are constructed

2001 Voted Europe’s Leading Golf Resort at the World Travel Awards

2003 Voted Europe’s Leading Golf Resort at the World Travel Awards

2004 MedGroup buy the resort from P&O

2004 Spa La Manga Club opens

2005 Voted Europe’s Leading Golf Resort at the World Travel Awards

2006 Voted Spain’s Leading Golf Resort at the World Travel Awards

2007 The Hotel Hyatt Regency La Manga is completely refurbished

Famous visitors

La Manga Club has had many a famous face grace its resort throughout its illustrious history, including the following; screen stars Juliet Binoche and John Malkovich; ballet legend Rudolph Nureyev; and musicians such as Gloria Estefan, Sir Cliff Richard, Robbie Williams, Jamiroquai and Deep Purple. However, those that have attracted the most media attention – for good or for bad - have been football teams such as Barcelona, Real Madrid and the Spanish and English national squads.

La Manga Club by numbers

Over 1,400 acres
28 tennis courts
Over 20 restaurants and bars managed by Hyatt
Over 10 kilometres of streets
8 international-standard football pitches
3 18-hole championship golf courses
3 churches
2 cricket pitches