GMé
ugolf iberia
FRESH CHALLENGE Eduardo Ruiz in Ugolf attire
BUILDING BRIDGES Hacienda del Alamo
Ruiz raises the bar with Ugolf in Murcia Following successful spells at Valderrama and La Manga Club, Eduardo Ruiz has joined Ugolf Iberia to manage and improve their golf offering at three clubs in the Murcia region. Article by Scott MacCallum. A pedigree developed at some of Spain’s best golf venues has prepared Eduardo Ruiz for a wonderful new challenge – and he is truly relishing the opportunity. Ruiz has recently been appointed manager of Ugolf Iberia, the management company which operates 55 golf courses across France and Spain, and will be responsible for the success of three Murcia courses – Hacienda del Alamo, Saurines and Mar Menor. “The guys from Ugolf called me and said that they were going to make a huge investment in the three golf courses and made me a very good proposal,” explained Ruiz, of an offer which was good enough to entice him a way from the role of general manager at the La Manga Club. “They want to improve the quality of the golf courses and I thought that after four years at La Manga, it was a good time to move,” he added. Ruiz has already enjoyed a stellar career encompassing Valderrama, one of the finest golf clubs in the world, where he was operations manager. He actually joined the club, which was the first conti-
42 | GMé May 2019
nental European club to host the Ryder Cup in 1997, in the same month as Jaime Patiño, the owner of the golf club, passed away. He then went from offering high quality service to a small number of members to La Manga where he could be dealing with up to 700 golfers per day and managing a staff of 105. It was that experience and the ability to raise standards that saw Ugolf seek him out. “I will be the manager for the entire region and will be running everything in the business, with responsibility for our commercial success right through to human resources. I will be reporting directly to directors at the company’s headquarters in Bilbao.” Ugolf was founded 40 years ago and has grown into a network of 55 golf courses in France and Spain. With 700 employees and 1.5 million rounds a year it has built its success on appreciating the fact that when it comes to golf courses it certainly isn’t a case of ‘one size fitting all.’ Ugolf has identified three different types of golf course to ensure maximum
ALL SMILES Director of the Murcia region for Ugolf, Eduardo Ruiz