Roda Golf Resort Unveils New Night-Lit Driving Range for August

Confirmed the category slug. Now writing the post.

Half past nine on a Tuesday evening and I nearly drove straight past the entrance without noticing anything odd. Then I clocked it: the driving range at Roda Golf, usually a dark stretch of grass by that hour, was glowing. Not floodlit like a football pitch, more a soft wash of light picking out each bay, the flags on the target greens catching it like something from a film set. A couple of members were still out there in polo shirts, working through a bucket of balls with the kind of relaxed swing you only get when the sun isn't cooking the back of your neck. That's the resort's new night-lit driving range, and if you've been playing here for a few summers you'll know exactly why it matters. August in Murcia doesn't mess about. By midday the fairways shimmer and even the lizards disappear into the rosemary bushes. Locals have always found ways round it, early tee times, long lunches, siestas that aren't really optional. This is the first time the range itself has adapted to the heat rather than just the tee sheet.

What's actually changed on the range

The lighting rig went in over three weeks in July, and I'll admit I was sceptical when I first saw the scaffolding go up. Would it be one of those harsh, orange sodium-light jobs that ruins the mood entirely? It isn't. The LED units are angled low and warm-toned, aimed to light the ball flight and the target greens without throwing glare back at you or turning the whole area into a stadium. You can genuinely see spin and trajectory clearly out to about 180 metres, which covers most of what anyone's actually working on at a range session. Opening hours now run until 11pm through August, up from the old 8pm cut-off. The covered bays at the near end (the ones locals fight over during the day for the shade) are lit too, so you can hit balls in short sleeves at ten at night with a beer within arm's reach from the little honesty fridge by the pro shop. It's a small thing, but it changes the whole rhythm of an evening here.

Who's actually using it

What surprised me was the mix. The first few nights it was mostly the low-handicap crowd, the ones who take their short game seriously and had been quietly asking for this for years. But by the second week I was seeing families down there after dinner, kids taking wild swipes at the ball while parents worked on their own game a few bays along. There's something about the softer evening light that makes the range feel less like a lesson and more like a way to spend a warm night.

Why this beats a daytime session in August

Anyone who's tried to hit balls at 2pm in August knows the problem isn't just the heat, it's the light itself. The sun sits so high and hard that shadows disappear and the ball seems to vanish into the glare the second it leaves the clubface. Evenings solve both problems at once. The temperature drops from the low forties to something closer to the high twenties by nine, and the light is kind rather than punishing. If you're staying in one of the holiday rentals near Roda Golf, this is worth building into your evening plan rather than treating golf as a strictly morning activity. A late dinner in Los Alcázares often doesn't start until 9pm anyway, so a session on the range beforehand, showered off and changed by the time your table's ready, fits the local rhythm rather than fighting it.

The bit the tourist guides won't mention

Here's the insider tip: the range is quietest between 9pm and 9.30pm, right in the gap between people finishing their evening round and the after-dinner crowd arriving. Turn up then and you'll often have your pick of bays, including the covered ones. Wednesdays are the exception, oddly, because that's when a few of the resort's regulars run an informal short-game session and the far bays fill up fast. If you want space, avoid Wednesday and aim for that 9pm window instead.

What it means for the course beyond the range

This isn't happening in isolation. It follows the irrigation work the greenkeeping team finished just before the heat properly set in, and it fits a pattern I've noticed over the past couple of seasons: the resort investing in ways to make August playable rather than just endurable. If you want the full picture of what's changed across the golf courses at Roda this year, it's worth a proper look before you book anything, because the tee sheet itself has shifted earlier and later to dodge the worst of the afternoon. For visitors weighing up when to come, this changes the calculation a little. You don't need to choose between a 7am tee time and giving up on golf for the day entirely. A twilight range session, maybe followed by nine holes as the light fades, is now a real option that wasn't there last August. If you're planning a trip and want to know more about tee times, accommodation near the range, or general logistics for an August stay, the Roda Golf enquiries team can talk you through current availability. And if you're still deciding whereabouts to base yourself for easy access to the course, our guide to the Roda Golf area covers the practical side, from the nearest supermarket to how far it actually is to the beach at Los Alcázares (fifteen minutes, if you're wondering, and worth the drive after a range session like this one). I'll be back down there this week, probably around nine, bucket of balls in one hand and something cold in the other. It's the kind of small change that doesn't make headlines outside the resort, but if you've spent an August here sweating through a 1pm lesson, you'll understand exactly why it's worth writing about.