On 9 June 2026, Golf del Sur received the award for Best Practice in Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energies at the 8th Edition of the Sustainable Tourism Practices Awards.
This recognition does not honour a single isolated action, but a long-term vision brought to life through the Master Plan 2024-2030 — the comprehensive transformation project that is redefining the concept of sustainable golf in Tenerife and that will set the course's roadmap for the years ahead.
The essence of this project stems from a simple yet ambitious idea: to stop fighting the landscape and start becoming a part of it.
For decades, many golf courses were designed to recreate landscapes foreign to their natural surroundings. Golf del Sur's new model takes the opposite approach: to reclaim the identity of southern Tenerife and turn it into the defining value of the playing experience.
A golf course embedded in Tenerife's volcanic landscape
The Master Plan 2024-2030 is gradually transforming Golf del Sur into a true Atlantic Desert Golf Course, inspired by principles of landscape integration, water efficiency and natural conservation.
The project progressively moves away from high-consumption ornamental elements in favour of a more natural image, where the terrain, geology and native vegetation take centre stage.
Volcanoes, lava flows, cardones, tabaibas, ravines, natural rock and open ocean views form part of a course that aims to offer something increasingly rare in the world of golf: a layout impossible to replicate anywhere else.
Because Golf del Sur can only exist in Tenerife.
The integration of native species adapted to the island's climate significantly reduces water needs, lowers maintenance costs and improves resilience to climate change, while reinforcing the unique character of the course.
Sustainability begins with design
The Master Plan's most important contribution is not a specific facility or technology.
The real innovation lies in designing a course that, by its very configuration, needs fewer resources to operate.
Reducing intensively irrigated areas, expanding naturalised zones, using species adapted to the environment and optimising the playing areas allow a significant reduction in water consumption without compromising the quality of the player's experience.
This new model makes sustainability an inherent feature of the course's design itself, rather than merely an after-the-fact management measure.
A refuge for biodiversity
The new landscape generated by the Master Plan is favouring the creation of ecological corridors and refuge areas for many species.
The redevelopment of the water storage reservoir, the creation of new wetlands and the recovery of naturalised areas have increased the presence of migratory birds that use Golf del Sur as a resting area on their journeys between continents.
In this way, the course is no longer just a sports facility, but also a space of environmental and educational value.
Renewable energy and the circular economy
The rest of the sustainable initiatives developed by Golf del Sur are built upon this new territorial foundation.
The installation of a large photovoltaic plant, energy storage systems, the gradual electrification of the vehicle and machinery fleet, charging points for customers and the introduction of around one hundred electric buggies represent one of the pillars of this transformation.
Likewise, reusing plant waste through shredding and conversion into mulch allows the resources generated by the course itself to be reintroduced into its ecosystem, reducing waste and promoting the circular economy.
Added to this is the elimination of approximately 60,000 plastic bottles per year thanks to the implementation of water dispensing systems for customers and staff.
The start of a much bigger transformation
The Master Plan 2024-2030 should not, however, be understood as a finished project, but as the starting point of a continuous improvement strategy.
The actions carried out so far are only the first phase of a much deeper transformation that will continue to incorporate new measures related to energy efficiency, water management, sustainable mobility, biodiversity, the circular economy and the social integration of sport.
In this sense, the project has become the foundation on which all of Golf del Sur's future environmental initiatives will be built.
Achieving international certifications such as GEO Certified®, Biosphere or new sustainability standards, expanding natural areas, continuously improving operational efficiency and developing new sports infrastructure are all part of that long-term vision.
A shared commitment
This award recognises the commitment of the entire Golf del Sur team, its collaborators and the owners, the Galindo González family, who have firmly embraced a different model of tourism and sports development.
A model that understands that the future of golf lies in integrating with the landscape, respecting natural resources and creating value for the territory that hosts it.
The Master Plan 2024-2030 shows that it is possible to offer a world-class golf experience while reducing the environmental footprint of the activity and enhancing the natural identity of Tenerife.
That is the path Golf del Sur has chosen to follow.
And this recognition is an important boost to keep moving forward along it.
