Finca Cortesin sits firmly atop the list of hardest golf courses I have played. It charms you with it’s good looks and impeccable service and then punishes you with the slightest of errant golf shots. Nowhere is tee box selection more important. If you opt to play from the tips, only your best and most accurate golf will see you walking off with a good score.

Finca Cortesin is one of the youngest courses in the region, only opening its doors in 2007 but already is one of the leading resorts in the Med. The service, hotel, restaurants, beach club and last but by no means least the Golf complex.

The main things that will catch and hold your attention with this course is the peace and tranquillity. Set back from the sea and with views of the surrounding mountain range, you are alone with your friends and your thoughts (not always a good thing!).

The club has hosted numerous high-profile events including the Volvo World Match Play Championship on three occasions and will host the Solheim Cup in 2023 and the walls within the clubhouse are adorned with memorabilia and images of champions past and present.

It’s when you make your way through the clubhouse and out onto the rear veranda that you realise the true undulations of this golf course. Dark brown rock and scrubland interspersed with bright green ribbons of fairway draped over them like lashings of cream over a pudding. You are also greeted with what I can only describe as one of the most picturesque driving ranges in world golf. Hitting practice balls down into the valley below and really getting to admire an extra few seconds of ball flight in the process.

I’d argue there is very little flow to the course and instead there are 18 very good, secluded holes, each sending you in a different direction. A buggy is compulsory due to some of the distances between the green and next tee. Buggies will be used at certain points in this year’s Solheim Cup, as walking will take too long.

Standout holes are the risk reward Par 4 4^th. The green sits just behind a lake and tempts you into a drive, where the best option of one of the few guaranteed pars on the course would be to plot your way around the water. The long downhill narrow Par 3 10^th is one of the most aesthetically pleasing shots on the course but requires an accurate long iron to find the narrow green set in a valley. The 15^th finds you teeing off over a ravine to a rippling fairway playing at a 90 degree angle uphill to a devilish green. A tough but wonderful Par 4.