Mayakoba, Quintana Roo, May 23, 2025.- When you look at a golf course, you rarely think about the work that goes into keeping the turf in perfect condition. El Camaleón is one of the most challenging courses for golfers, but also one of the highest quality, as far as its surface is concerned.
David López, director of El Camaleón, emphasized that course maintenance is something that requires effort, time, money and knowledge.
Caring for the field involves 365 days of work, because at the end of the day it is a living being that cannot be abandoned, says López. “Here we don’t stop even during the Covid season, at the end of the day the field is a living being, you can’t leave it.
The El Camaleón course, designed by Greg Norman, is recognized worldwide. For 16 years it hosted the PGA’s World Wide Technology. It also hosted two editions of LIV Golf and will be the home of the MEXICO Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba for the next five years.
Its conditions are ideal, because behind it there is a titanic work. “The work is entirely Lorenzo Echeverría’s and his team’s. He is our superintendent. He is our superintendent and has been here for 20 years. Having the field like this is a day-to-day sacrifice and thanks to his staff the field is as it is,” explained the manager.
The work of the staff, made up of some 30 people, takes many hours, arriving at 5 in the morning and leaving at 5:00 pm, although when there is a tournament the schedules are modified and they have to be on the course at 3:00 am.
“There are many hours of work, but we also have to invest in machinery, investment in products, investment in sand, fertilizers, accessories. In other words, it is quite a complex issue. But to host this type of event you have to do it,” he added.
López admits that maintenance is costly, requiring a significant investment. “To maintain the course like this, you need good, healthy budgets, but it’s an investment you make and people come, they enjoy the course in these conditions. They come back, they tell their friends. Because people like to play on courses like this. But it is a matter of effort, time, money, knowledge”.
A knowledge that includes from knowing what kind of fertilizer and sand to use, to having the machinery used for the greens and fairways in optimal conditions. The grass on the 18-hole course is paspalum.
In rainy seasons, the maintenance mission becomes more complicated. “Actually, in those seasons it is much more difficult to have the field as it is today. It is not possible, in fact, because it is humid, it is wet. You need the sun to have a field as healthy and firm and playing as it is playing right now,” he concluded.
