If you put all Mallorca’s 23 golf courses together they would comprise 1,500 hectares – that’s 0.5% of the whole island.  Over the past five years, environmental groups have gained enormous support to put pressure on local government to prevent further licences being granted.  GOB (Grup Balear d'Ornitologia i Defensa de la Naturalesa) and Salvem Mallorca have been particularly active and their campaigning seems to have paid off.  Apart from high water use (each course needs 500,000 cubic metres annually) the groups are concerned for the increased use of land for accompanying hotels and holiday homes.

In 2000, Matthias Kuhn of Kuhn & Partner, a chain of estate agencies on the island, acquired Son Claret, a manor house together with 120 hectares outside the village of Capdella in the southwest.   Five years later he announced ambitious plans for a superior golf course and “six star hotel comparable to the Burj el-Arab”.  Permission had already been granted for recycled water supply from the Santa Ponsa/Paguera processing plant.  Since then, efforts to gain approval for the project have failed.  By May 2008, the hotel idea had been dropped, but revised plans incorporated an 18 hole course, 9 hole pitch-and-putt, a driving range, tennis court and clubhouse.  This would destroy the entire valley between Capdella village and Galilea, the mountain hamlet to the northwest, home to a species of wild tortoise which is only found in the southwest of the island.

Enraged local residents formed a protest group Salvem Es Capdella to gather signatures against the project.  Their argument?  There are already FIVE other courses within 15 minutes drive - Santa Ponsa I, II and III, Poniente and Golf de Andratx.  Kuhn reacted by sending his representatives door to door, promising local job creation, paths over the courses for public use, creation of a cemetery and money for the Capdella senior citizens’ club as well as for renovation of the local sports centre.  At the present time, ten new projects in Mallorca are waiting for licences in various town halls.  Only one has recently been approved – Sa Vinyola, opposite the yacht club in Sa Rapita (Campos) which should open its doors in 2011.