The saying goes, that there’s no place like home. And for Juan Manuel Fuentes Perez, an affable Spaniard who now lives and works in the Kingdom of Bahrain, home is now firmly in the Middle East, despite growing up in the south of Spain.

Fuentes Perez learnt to play golf at La Cañada Golf Club on the Costa del Sol and was surrounded by the sport. His family, including his mother, father, and uncle, were all avid golfers, and he quickly developed a love for the game.

“I played golf since I can remember,” he says, “and my first job was as a Caddie at Valderrama. I was probably 15 and recall caddying for Colin Montgomerie at the Volvo Masters.”

Fuentes Perez first break in the industry came at San Roque when he started out in golf operations, but on the course – not off it – was where his focus was, as he harboured ambitions of making it on Tour.

“I really wanted to play golf, so I tried the qualifying school three times for the European Tour. I won lots of tournaments and I really wanted to be a European Tour player.”

Conscious of the high failure rate with young pros attempting to make a name for themselves on Tour, Fuentes Perez remains grateful to his parents for some wise words of advice.

“My father and mother always kept me in line,” he remarks fondly, suggesting that his parents always encouraged a Plan B just in-case their son never quite made the grade.

“My father used to say, that golf lies to you because one day you beat Álvaro Quirós and you shoot 65, and you think you’ve got it now, and this is the time I’m going to make it and be the next Seve Ballesteros,” he smiles, “and the next day, golf puts you in your place – it takes something very special to be a superstar in golf.”

It was around the age or 25 that Fuentes Perez finally gave up on a career on-course, to focus initially on coaching, although it was clear from the outset that his ambition was in management, and not teaching.

“I was studying for my PGA in Spain, and I remember from very early on telling the guys that I wanted to be a GM one day, and not a coach. I still have messages from 15 years ago with offers of coaching roles which I turned down as I knew that my career path would be in management.”

Fuentes Perez took roles working in the golf section in Decathlon, as well as running a retail outlet in Sotogrande called Golf US whilst searching for his first full-time role in golf management. But with positions on the Costa del Sol at a premium, and with his desire to broaden his experience by working internationally ahead of a potential return to Spain in the future, he thought that his career would be best served by looking east.

“Where I come from in Spain is a very special place – it’s not just a place, it’s like the place for golf. A lot of the good positions there are taken for life, so I wanted to explore ways in which I could make myself more valuable to the industry.

“I was lucky enough to meet Peter Holland [current director of golf at the Centurion Club] who offered me a job in Russia where I was going to be involved in golf operations and teaching.

“But then he called me and asked if I wanted to teach at Royal Golf Club in Bahrain, as it was an all-year round destination, whereas Russia was seasonal.”

The only downside was that the role in Bahrain was coaching, with no involvement in golf ops. However, Fuentes Perez took a gamble as he was certain that through his tenacity, an opening would present itself on the management side, a move which proved merited.

Soon after his move to Bahrain in March 2015, his duties, besides coaching, included sales, marketing and membership although he retained his passion for teaching.

“I love teaching – I just love helping golfers because I’m a golfer and I love playing golf. So, whenever I see somebody who I appreciate, it’s almost like a responsibility to share my knowledge.”

And that passion four years later led Fuentes Perez to a truly unique location… the idyllic Velaa Private Island in the Maldives, where he mixed it up with the rich and famous at this world-famous island, known for its short course designed by José María Olazábal.

He spent two years in the Maldives, living in the on-site hotel and learning about hospitality, which he admits, is a passion of his.

“Golf operations was in my blood, but I wanted to learn more about high-end management and working with owners directly,” he said. “So that is the exposure that the island gave me, and I really learnt a lot about F&B.”

However, hospitality has always been in his blood, as his grandfather and mother own a hotel back ‘home’ in Spain – plus cinemas and restaurants – so he already had a head start.

“From my mother’s side, I have been in the F&B industry forever. But then I wanted to see it from another angle, and being involved on the island gave me an insight to some of the best restaurants in the world.

“Plus, I got to meet some very influential people and got to play golf with the likes of Will Smith and his wife for a week. I was only planning on staying for one-year, but I ended up staying for two because I just loved it, and the owner was the best owner you can ever imagine.”

A pending marriage to his now wife, shifted focus, and in September 2021 he moved back ‘home’ to Spain where he was briefly involved with the transformation at La Hacienda near Gibraltar working with architect Kurtis Bowman.

But a little after a year in his role as director of golf, the opportunity to return to Bahrain, and his adopted home, was too great to pass up after seeing the GM role advertised on LinkedIn. Talking from his office at the Royal Golf Club in Bahrain, he said: “When I left here [in 2019] I told a few people that one day I would return as a GM, because I like the place and the country so much,” he said.

“And the way the Bahrainis and the Saudis adopted me here – and honestly, that is the word adopted – you cannot believe. To be frank, they made me feel more at home than in my own home. If they see that you are a good person, and have a good heart, they really make the effort to make you stay and make you feel appreciated.

“If I hadn’t worked here previously, I wouldn’t have applied as I was really happy in Spain, but I know the country and the vision that this club has moving forward.”

In February, Royal Golf Club hosted a DP World Tour event and together with a Formula 1 race, Bahrain is hoping to promote itself as a tourist destination. But with only one course in the country at present, Fuentes Perez is aware that one course does not make a golf destination and is hopeful that the quality of the Colin Montgomerie-designed layout, coupled with other cultural attractions in Bahrain will attract enough visitors.

And with the club ideally located just 20 minutes from the capital Manama and the same distance from the Bahrain-Saudi Causeway, the club could benefit from the golf boom in neighbouring Saudi Arabia.

As for Fuentes Perez, one gets the impression that having just become a father for the second time, his young family will reap the benefits of a life in their adopted home, rather than one back in Spain.

As the saying goes, home is where the heart is, and there certainly appears to be a lot of love for the ambitious and determined 38-year-old.