| | Golf Courses
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Monte Mayor G.C.
Getting to Monte Mayor is an golfing holiday in itself. The golf course
is located high up in the mountains of Benahavis on the Costa del Sol.
Turn off the coastal highway between San Pedro and Estepona at the Cancelada
exit, follow the signposts inland and upward for about seven kilometres.
Your patience will be well rewarded. Monte Mayor is a challenging yet
wonderfully scenic course. The tees at the long 4th hole are on a raised
platform and your drive must land on an isolated plateau. Your second
shot must be aimed at yet another plateau. Beside the green is a beautiful
cascading waterfall. At the 18th the tees are set on three levels from
which there are fabulous views across a shallow river to the green 140
metres away.
Length: 5,652 metres
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Parador G.C.
Designed by Scottish architect Tom Simpson, famous for his golfing layouts
at Turnberry and Muirfield, the Costa del Sol’s oldest course was
opened by the Spanish royal family in 1925. The course is part links
with seawater lagoons, and part parkland with the fairways forming avenues
between the trees, which are home to flocks of colourful parakeets. The
Parador Málaga de Golf hosted the Turespana Masters de Espana
in 1992 and 1999, won by Vijay Singh and Miguel Angel Jim?nez, respectively.
The course is suitable for players of all levels of ability, though some
holes present a real challenge. At the 12th for example, a perfect drive
is required in order to reach the green in two and avoid the eucalyptus
grove on the right.
Length: 6,204 metres Par: 72
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Rio Real G.C.
Rio Real, three kilometres east of Marbella on the Costa del Sol, was
designed by the foremost Spanish golf architect Javier Arana and opened
in 1965. A basically flat golf course sloping gradually down towards
the sea, it is very picturesque. Large trees offer plenty of shade and
the fairways make several crossings of the Real River after which this
club was named. Holes to look out for on your golf holiday are the par-three
6th , where your tee shot must be particularly accurate in order to avoid
the hillside on the right; the 8th , where the raised green is protected
by formidable bunkers; the dogleg par-four 10th ; the spectacular 11th
; and the new par-three 12th .
Par: 72
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Santa Clara G.C.
The long-awaited Santa Clara Golf Club opened for play in the early
summer of 2001. For months motorists had stared longingly at its green
expanses as they sped past on the N-340 just outside Marbella opposite
the Los Monteros hotel. Enrique Canales, the golf course designer, and
the Santa Clara owners are perfectionists. There was no hurry to open.
In the end Santa Clara had a full year to settle and when it did open
golfers were able to appreciate the attention to detail and, for a new
golf course, a surprisingly finished look. The clubhouse, a multi-storey
affair, is built with future members in mind but provides excellent service
for the holiday golfer, met in the car park with a buggy. The golf course
is mainly flat though the 8th rises steeply to the highest point – the
9th, a par-5 looking down to the Mediterranean. Santa Clara has large
greens and long par-3s. It is a fine addition to Marbella’s golfing
family.
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Santana G & C.C.
Santana Golf is a spectacular golf course, both for its design and its
location – in an old avocado farm that has retained all its former
“flavour”. Located in Mijas’s “Golf Valley”
on the Costa del Sol, and opened in 2003, the layout is flat, very well
formed, with wide fairways, expansive greens and strategically located
paths between avocado trees. Situated between two rivers, with a creek
passing through, the golf course provides the sensation of being in an
absolutely natural environment – just a few hundred metres from
the sea, main highway and hotels of Fuengirola and Mijas. The presence
of preserved avocado trees makes players feel they are on an established
course, with mature vegetation.
Length: 6,203 metres Par 72
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San Roque G.C. - Old Course
The San Roque Golf Club’s old course, with two distinct loops,
is regarded as one of the finest in Spain. The first nine holes set off
into the cork oaks and return to the clubhouse across a pond at the par-4
sixth, a long par-3 seventh, a demanding and endless par-4 eighth and
a fine par-5 ninth. On the second nine there is a lot more water. The
11th, 12th and 17th holes all have serious water hazards while the par-4
18th has a pond, a stream and another pond, all of which must be negotiated
before reaching the green.
Length: 6,494 metres Par: 72
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San Roque G.C. -New Course
This recently opened second 18-hole course at San Roque Golf Club, designed
by Pete Dye and Severiano Ballesteros, has all the hallmarks to be immediately
included in the elite of Europe’s golf facilities – for its
high quality and its impeccable finish and landscaping. It is, without
doubt, far superior to many courses built in Spain – and indeed,
in Europe.
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Santa Maria G & C.C.
Santa Maria on the Costa del Sol, winds through a valley, before climbing
up the mountain. The 7th, a par-three, 200-metre monster, is reached
from
raised tees and is followed by a dogleg right par-five with water on
the right. The 11th starts from yet another raised tee, skirts a lake
and
ends at a green with a waterfall on the right. Ideal for golf holidays,
the variable terrain means that the first nine holes are shorter and
more
complicated, and the second nine longer and more relaxing. Careful attention
to the golf course and its features is a characteristic of
Santa Maria golf.
Length: 5,586 metres Par: 70
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Sotogrande G.C.
Founded in 1964, Sotogrande regularly features among
Europe’s
top 10 golf courses. Robert Trent Jones’s first golf course design
in Europe, Sotogrande has matured beautifully. It is a members’ course
with certain times reserved for visitors. Water makes a splash here on
the 7th, 12th, 13th, 14th, 16th and 17th. There are fine houses around
the golf course though none can be accused of encroaching. This is truly
an ‘old school’ golf club where golf comes first. It is a
rare pleasure to stand on the 12th tee with the broad unspoilt expanse
of fairways before you, the lakes, the distant green, the 13th hole and
per-5 14th coming back up. Where else in Europe will you find such a
sight? The recently modernised clubhouse overlooks the first tee and
18th green.
Length: 6,224 Par: 72 back to top
Torrequebrada G.C.
Built in the 1970’s by Malaga’s favourite golf course designer,
Pepe Gancedo, Torrequebrada Golf Club has flourished and is highly popular
and a delight to play on your golfing holiday. Torrequebrada has lakes
and mature semi-tropical vegetation, and offers superb views of the Mediterranean.
The 11th hole is one of the most testing on the golf course, a 164-metre
par-three. Your tee shot has to take into account water at the front of
the green, bunkers surrounding it, and then the green itself is on two
levels. The 1979 Spanish Open was held here.
Length: 5,852 metres Par: 72
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Valderrama G.C.
Owner and President Jaime Ortez-Patino took less than 10 years to create
a legend. He took over Valderrama in 1987, applied the knowledge he had
learnt at the USGA, from its greens superintendents and agronomy sections,
and, by 1997, was proudly welcoming the King of Spain to the Ryder Cup
opening ceremony. In the meantime it had hosted nine Volvo Masters and
gained respect from Europe’s top players who, it must be said,
were at first sceptical about his efforts. Valderrama became Europe’s
No. 1 golf course. For Andalucia it has become the standard bearer, a
prestigious resource that tourism authorities are proud to boast about.
The golf course was designed by Robert Trent Jones Sr. who said, “I
think Valderrama is a classic championship golf course. It’s like
Augusta… in about as good condition as any golf course can get.”
Valderrama’s challenge is limited to club members and 36 visiting
golfers per day but it is nevertheless an irresistible challenge. In
a Golf Digest world survey golfers were asked to name the one course
they’d play for the rest of their lives. Augusta was first. Second
came Pebble Beach. And third? Valderrama.
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