Canyamel was the first course I visited on my trip to Mallorca last week and it set the bar at a decent level when comparing it against the other layouts that followed. I really liked the routing on the front nine holes, with fairways rising and falling quite a bit across an undulating landscape to the north of the property. For sure, this is where the best holes are located.

Favourites included the par five 4th (where the roller coaster fairway leads to a long, narrow green with a small bunker to the left of the putting surface); the very short par three 5th (played slightly downhill with out of bounds to the right and a big fall off to the left); and the uphill, slightly right doglegged 9th, where tee shots must avoid an old stone building in the middle of the fairway.

I might have considered including the par three 8th in that short list but the droopy power cables strung out behind the green were such an eye sore.

The back nine holes are basically set out on very flat ground adjacent to the Torrent de Canyamel water course. Holes 10 to 13 head south, one after another, before reaching a short par three which is orientated at a 90-degree angle to the line of play for the previous four holes. The remaining four holes then march alongside holes 10-13 in the opposite direction towards the clubhouse.

The only hole I really got enthused about on the inward half was the slightly right doglegging par four 12th, with a big tree protecting the left entrance to a huge, crescent-shaped green that was set out with two distinct levels. The par three 14th is also worth a mention, but for all the wrong reasons – I’ve never seen four trees spaced out directly in front of a green before, and I hope I never see such a thing again!

The par three finisher set the tone for what turned out to be quite a few other closing holes on the island with a par three finish {just like Santa Ponsa (2), Val D’or, Pula and Son Serva) though the 3-tiered green on Canyamel (quaintly described in the Mallorca Golf Guide 2022 as having “triple ‘piano’ undulation”) was probably the most extreme of those five home holes I would come across.

Strangely, four of the five clubs in the northeast of the island have joined forces to promote the game in that area under the banner Golf East Mallorca. The only non-participant in this project is Canyamel and I can’t understand why the club would choose to opt out of such a venture – good luck to them if it’s felt there are a sufficient number of green fee-paying golfers coming their way without having to actively try and attract more custom…

Jim McCann