Tierra del Sol’s 18-hole Championship Golf Course Renovation Update
Tierra del Sol Resort & Golf is Aruba’s largest master-planned, gated community featuring 600 acres of gorgeous landscapes fetchingly arranged around an 18-hole championship golf-course basking in the Caribbean sun.
The 30-year-old property went through some ups and some downs until an announcement last year stated that Tierra del Sol, Real Estate NV, and TDS Golf Course NV., were purchased by The Iberostar Group, and they in turn bring, and I quote, “a deep commitment to Aruba, backed up by an unparallel track record in the industry.”
The press release went on to explain that Iberostar Group is a leading tourism company that is committed to developing a responsible, tourism model, focused on caring for both people and the environment. The company already runs more than one-hundred, 4- and 5-star properties in the most popular vacation destinations in Europe, Africa, and the Americas.
Recently, TDS invited a modest group of media and tourism personalities for a tour to show us that indeed, they are true to their promise. They are!
The tour was hosted by marketing manager, Ghislaine de Windt; executive assistant manager JOIA Aruba by Iberostar, Dominique Meyer; general manager JOIA Aruba by Iberostar, Arnauld de Launchon; director of operations TDS, Ashiko Martinus; sustainability alliances manager, Garret Vermeulen; and food & beverage manager, Emilio Geerman. (JOIA is the new resort under construction on Eagle Beach.)
I am happy to report that the Iberostar Group is pouring resources into TDS, aka money, and it will show once the makeover, or serious reconstruction, is complete. In February 2024 TDS closed one set of holes, then in May, the other. The original Trent Jones Jr golf course designers were called in to help modernize the design with the mission of making everything more efficient and sustainable.
Upon arrival at TDS, we hopped on brand new golf carts, practicing our driving skills on the rolling course, which is great fun, to checked out the old/new features, the artificial shoco burrows, the irrigation network, the sub-surface water drainage channels, and the newly designed bunkers.
According to Ashiko, work on the golf course is done in phases, with course layout and infrastructure upgrades first – they are happening right now. Then the old turf will be removed, irrigation installed, tee boxes and greens designed and contoured, fairways and bunkers renovated, and a new water pump installed with hundreds of sunken rotary sprinkler heads that pop up to deliver the correct volume of water at set times.
The water will come from AWSS, the new Bubali wastewater treatment plant. The course is replacing the 30-year-old pipes with quality, high-density polyethylene piping, guaranteed for another 30 years. If all goes well, we will be invited for the reopening in December.
The course will run two beverage carts to keep players hydrated, and when the reconstruction completes, work on the restaurant and the spa will begin, though new pool and restaurant furniture is already ordered and on the way.
Garret introduced us to the shoco sanctuary. When renovations began in February, 58 owls were seen in residence, which is about 10% of the total mating shoco pairs on the island. Two of them welcomed us and posed for pictures, as we kept our distance from their artificial burrows off the greens and fairways, which would protect them from golf traffic. The shoco sanctuary is a project in collaboration with Aruba Birdlife Conservation, and Aruba Conservation Foundation.
Besides efforts to make the shocos as comfortable as possible at TDS, a greening campaign is underway, and the course is planning to apply for a sustainability award, as it meets all its sustainability goals.
Meanwhile the restaurant is open daily from 11am to 9pm, locals get a discount, under the direction of executive chef Reginald Brete, and the spa is pleased to welcome locals and visitors with attractive spa packages.