Emporda (Links) - North East Spain - Spain
Ctra de Torroella de Montgrí a Pals,
17257 Gualta (Girona),
Spain
+34 972 760 450
25km E of Girona
Contact in advance
Miguel Girbes
Robert von Hagge, Rick Baril
Flavio Papa
Set in the green and pleasant lands of the Costa Brava to the north of Barcelona lies the Emporda Golf Club. It’s a fairly recent but very welcome addition to the handful of top-class golfing destinations in this area.
In 1989 a group of Catalan businessmen based in the Baix Emporda got together through their love of golf and decided to construct a top-quality venue. They purchased 125 hectares of land situated fairly centrally in the Costa Brava near the village of Gualta and within 2 years the first nine holes were open for play. The group put their faith for the design of the Emporda course in the hands of the well-known and trusted Texan architect Robert von Haage.
Now complete, Emporda offers four loops of nine holes (formerly called the Blue, Green, Yellow and Red) these loops have now been combined to create two courses called Forest and Links. Both courses offer a varied playing experience.
The Green was the first nine holes to be completed at Emporda and this has been combined with the Red – the most recent nine – to form the new Links course. Its treeless and barren appearance provides a stark reminder of the nature of British links courses. The rough is harsh, the bunkers many and the greens small, fast and subtly contoured. Unlike real links golf, water also plays a part in frustrating the golfer on a number of the holes on the Links course at Emporda.
Reviews for Emporda (Links)
Played in December 2021, the course has recently had a huge makeover and recently hosted the challenge tour. The fairways are large but often bordered by water, and the greens come in all shapes and sizes. The pin sheet for the day showed successive position of 32, 58 and 38 metre from the front edge!
I won't describe the holes as that has already been done in earlier posts, safe to say that the greens were relatively firm, the fairways rolled less than some of the neighboring courses and pace of play reasonable.
The property has a good practice area, especially down at the far end near the 10th green. Pro shop was very welcoming but getting some lunch without a reservation was more difficult. For the price though, it is well worth the money, especially with the Golfy pass.
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My visit to the Emporda resort last month was my second exposure to Robert von Hagge in Spain, having already played his larger than life production at Anfi Tauro in Gran Canaria a couple of years ago. I expected to find waste areas, water hazards and wickedly contoured greens laid out on a grand scale and I wasn’t disappointed to see all three design traits in evidence throughout the round.
I played the day after the Empordà Challenge concluded on the European Challenge Tour so the final day pin positions for the professionals were still in use. I’m sure the Links is a tough enough track to tackle at the best of times but when some of the flag positions are set so close to the edge of the putting surfaces then it makes the task in hand a lot more difficult.
Of course, like many of the courses that are called “Links” this one can’t be categorised as such but it’s a fun layout to play with plenty of interesting features like the skinny peninsula green on the short par four 4th, the sandy waste wilderness between tee and green on the par three 6th, and an sneaky wee putting platform at the back of the 9th green.
On the back nine, there’s a split fairway on the short par four 10th, a “volcano” green set behind huge mounds on the par four 13th, another sandy wasteland to carry at the par three 15th then a brief interlude into the trees at the par four 16th and 17th holes which give a taste of what to expect when you play the Forest course.
It’s hard to imagine that back in 2008 the Links layout was actually ranked higher than the Forest but that error was corrected a long time ago now. If you’re looking for a diverse 36-hole golfing experience at the one location then Emporda fits the bill rather well with its two courses – just remember to play the Links course first and you’ll have a great day out here.
Jim McCann
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The Links at Emporda is different looking than the other course at the resort. There are not many trees on the course so it is more like a classic links course layout. Some beuatiful holes like the final hole. The maintenance of the course was not the best during my visit. Other courses in the vincinity like PGA Catalunya are always in better shape.
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