Golf del Sur

More resort golf options in the Canary Islands It’s two and a half years since we were in the Canary Islands to participate in a golf tournament at Anfi Tauro, after which we produced an article entitled Great Golf in Gran Canaria, detailing the many terrific golf facilities on that particular Atlantic island. We thought we might broaden the scope of our look at golf across all the islands, publishing this article to cover the best resort options. Before the pandemic took hold at the start of 2020, around 13 million people visited the Canary Islands every year so tourism (and golfing visitors) plays a big part in the economy of this special Spanish archipelago off the west coast of Morocco. Across the largest five islands, there are more than twenty golfing layouts in operation and we currently feature what we consider to be the best sixteen courses, most of which also appear in our Top 100 listings for Spain. ANFI TAURO In GRAN CANARIA The 18-hole layout at Anfi Tauro Golfis a spectacular late 1980s Robert von Hagge design that was literally hewn from the volcanic rock landscape on the southwest coast of Gran Canaria. Founded by Norwegian entrepreneur Bjørn Lyng, the Anfi Group is a well-respected Vacation Membership company offering accommodation options both at the golf course and a few kilometres away at Anfi del Mar. The Anfi Emerald Club and Anfi Opal Villas next to the course allow golfers to stay right on site but for those who want to keep the golf separate during their stay then there are four vacation clubs nearby at Anfi del Mar where suites come with a wide range of services, activities and tropical gardens. There’s also a shopping centre, clinic and wellness centre, along with pool bars and restaurants. SALOBRE in GRAN CANARIA Just a 15-minute drive to the east, the Salobre Hotel Resort & Serenity complex lies a bit in from the coast, in the foothills above Playa de Arguineguin, where two contrasting 18-hole courses comprise the main sporting activity at this location. The Old course was first to open at the start of the new millennium, followed by the New course in 2008. If ever you’d like to spend a day playing two completely different tracks at the same place then this is it! Resort residents also have the use of the spa and sauna facilities, together with a wellness centre and fitness suite. There’s also a cycling centre and outdoor swimming pools for those with excess energy to dissipate. On the other hand, if you’d rather just daydream the day away then there are Balinese beds (and a complimentary bottle of cava) for hire, enabling you to chill out and take in the panoramic views of the ocean 3 kilometres away. LOPESAN MELONERAS in GRAN CANARIA Another 10-minute drive east of Salobre, Lopesam Meloneras Golf sits just outside Maspalomas, where the sandy splendour of the famous sand dunes extends to around a thousand acres. The course is laid out above the Pasito Blanco marina and, like the Old at Salobre, it’s a Ron Kirby design (from 2006) which is owned and operated by the Lopesan Hotel Group. The three nearest 5-star accommodation options are the Lopesan Costa Meloneras Resort, the Lopesan Villa del Conde Resort and the Lopesan Baobab Resort but there are also another eight group hotels on the island. ABAMA in TENERIFE Located between Callo Salvaje and Alcalá on the southwest coast of Tenerife, Abama Golfis a little removed from the main tourist traps of Los Cristianos and Las Americas. Dave Thomas designed the layout here in early 2000s, with fairways set out across sloping terrain that runs down to the 459-bedroom Ritz Carlton hotel on the coastline, which boasts an impressive array of wellness amenities including seven swimming pools and a fitness centre. The Michelin-starred Japanese fusion restaurant Kabuki relocated to the clubhouse a few years ago and the sushi bar at these larger premises is open every evening except Tuesdays. LAS AMERICAS in TENERIFE In Tenerife, the course at Golf Las Americas arrived at the tail end of the golf boom in the 1990s and it’s one of the few designed by John Jacobs. Arranged as two loops of nine around a central clubhouse, Las Americas is the epitome of holiday golf in a buggy with the sun on your back and a smile on your face. The three-storey 5-star Hotel Las Madrigueras is situated next to the 4th fairway and guests are given complimentary golf buggies with direct access to the 1st tee from the hotel. COSTA ADEJE in TENERIFE Ten kilometres north along the TF-1 Autopista del Sur lies the 27-hole facility at Golf Costa Adeje, where the Pepe Gancedo-designed Championship course hosted three editions of the Tenerife Ladies Open between 2005 and 2009. The Hotel Suite Villa Maria, a complex of 78 one- and two-bedroom villas (some with outside jacuzzi) and three-bedroom villas with private pool, is only a 5-minute drive away, with residences situated inside the 9-hole Los Lagos short course. TECINA in LA GOMERA Away from the two main islands of Gran Canaria and Tenerife, you’ll find the other main golf resort in the Canary Islands on the small island of La Gomera, which you can access in under an hour via the ferry from Los Cristianos in Tenerife. It’s well worth the short journey as the course at Tecina Golf is a real delight to play. Designed by Martin Ebert when he was an associate of Donald Steele, the layout hosted eight editions of the Challenge de Espana event on the European Challenge Tour from 2009 to 2016. For golfers who are not making just a day trip from Tenerife but wanting to stay longer, the 4-star Hotel Jardin Tecina has a wide range of facilities including 7 restaurants, 5 swimming pools, 5 tennis courts, 4 bars, 2 solariums and a fitness centre. Located in an unrivalled cliff top setting, amidst 70,000 square metres of botanical gardens, this Fred Olsen hotel certainly isn’t short of options for relaxation and leisure. What about the other two main islands in the Canaries – Lanzarote and Fuerteventura – you might ask? Well, we produced another article entitled Golfing in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura in the winter of 2019, which gave an account of our visit to the six golf courses located on those two islands. COSTA TEGUISE in LANZAROTE Unfortunately, only one layout makes the cut for our Canary Islands ranking chart and that’s the John Harris-designed 18-hole layout at Costa Teguise Golf Club on Lanzarote, with this club offering playing packages for golfers staying at four nearby hotels: the Grand Teguise Playa, Melia Salinas, Los Socos Club Resort and Hotel Villa Vik. The four courses on Fuerteventura all serve up a fun-filled round of golf, starting with the southernmost layout at Jandia, where holes are set out on either side of the imposing Barranco de Vinamar. The short Playitas course (with eight par threes) near Gran Tarajal features plenty of interesting green contouring while, closer to the resort of Caleta de Fuste, near neighbours Salinas de Antigua and Fuerteventura GC have their moments (but sadly, not often enough). Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Golfing in Lanzarote and Fuerteventura Earlier this year, we published an article exploring all the golf facilities on the island of Gran Canaria. Having already visited all of the courses in the neighbouring islands of Tenerife and La Gomera, we thought it might be a good way to round off our Canary Islands golfing education by taking a short trip to look at the half a dozen 18-hole layouts on Lanzarote and Fuerteventura. We already maintain a Top 100 chart for Spain – supported by five regional listings within the national rankings, one of which includes a Top 15 for the Canary Islands – and now that we’ve seen all twenty-one contenders, we think we’re in a good position to fully appraise the relative merits of all the Canarian courses on this popular archipelago in the Atlantic. We started off by visiting the two courses on Lanzarote, the fourth largest of the islands in the Canaries. Costa Teguise Located a mere fifteen minutes by car to the northwest of Arrecife international airport, on the volcanic slopes above the coastal area of El Jablillo, the course at Costa Teguise dates back to the late 1970s, when it was set out by the renowned British architect John Harris. Costa Teguise It’s a genuine, championship-standard layout playing long and tough from the back markers, though there are plenty of forward tee options if a more casual game is called for. Make no mistake, this course has flown under the radar for a long time now and it’s one that deserves wider recognition. Lanzarote Golf A 10-minute drive from the airport in the opposite direction brings you to the Lanzarote Golf course, laid out on the hillside above Puerto del Carmen by Ron Kirby in 2008. The American architect has been involved in a number of golf projects in the Canaries in the last ten years or so, including Salobre (New) and Lopesan Meloneras on Gran Canaria. Lanzarote Golf Configured with two returning nines, the course weaves its way between rocky outcrops and lava fields, really coming to life on the inward half, where several of the fairways are routed around old, low-lying stone walls. The property isn’t by any means flat though it’s certainly walkable for those who prefer to carry their clubs or use a trolley. It’s only a short half-hour ferry trip from Playa Blanca in the south of Lanzarote to the port of Corralejo on the northern coast of Fuerteventura, home to another four 18-hole courses. Jandia The course at Jandia Golf Club is situated eighty kilometres from the international airport on Fuerteventura, very close to the southern tip of the island, so it takes around an hour and a half to get there by road from the terminal building. It’s another Ron Kirby design that’s set on either side of the Barranco de Vinamar, with holes running alongside the natural ravine that takes storm water from the hills to the north to nearby Playa del Matorral on the coast. Jandia Golf Club The opening and closing four holes occupy ground at the lower end of the valley and they’re a great way to begin and end the round here. There’s also a little loop of three holes at the start of the back nine laid out around the large hotel sitting further uphill at the top end of the layout, affording great views back down towards the Atlantic. Playitas The Playitas sports complex lies five and a half kilometres from Gran Tarajal, the second largest town on Fuerteventura, which in turn is located around midway between Jandia and the airport. There are a multitude of sports available here, from watersports such as diving and swimming to racquet sports like tennis and basketball, but golf also has a big role to play amidst these more energetic activities. Playitas Originally starting out as a small 6-hole circuit, the Playitas course was expanded across the entrance road to the facility by Swiss-based designer John Chilver-Stainer, with the Scottish-born architect adding another twelve holes on hillier terrain to fashion a compact 18-hole track that now extends to just under 5,000 metres. Don’t let a lack of length put you off Playitas though as this is a delightful little course featuring eight par threes, four of which are played in the last five holes on the original layout next to the clubhouse. The green contouring is among the most imaginative you’ll ever come across, offering a feast of putting conundrums that you’ll remember for a very long time. Fuerteventura The course at Fuerteventura Golf Club was the first to be built on the island at the start of the new millennium and within a couple of years of opening it had hosted the 2004 Spanish Open, won by Frenchman Christian Cévaër. Residential apartments now line the periphery of the course, but never to the extent of unduly interfering with play. Fuerteventura Golf Club Designed by Juan Catarineu, who also planned the course at Isla Canela in Huelva on the Spanish mainland, the course at Fuerteventura finishes with a flourish as the routing takes golfers up to the highest point on the property at the penultimate hole before the 18th then plunges back downhill prior to swinging sharply left to the home green. Salinas de Antigua Immediately next door to Fuerteventura Golf Club sits the course at Salinas de Antigua, a Manuel Piñero design from 2006. Undulating fairways work their way round large black volcanic waste areas, with large-scale bunkers positioned close to many of the greens. Water also comes into play at half a dozen holes, most notably from the 11th to the 14th on the back nine. Salinas de Antigua And just when you might think you’ve read details of every hazard ever written about in a course guide book, the page for the short par four 3rd “El Nido” contains the following advice: “be careful not to drive behind the machine gun nest”. Apparently, the large concrete pill box in the fairway was one of hundreds of similar fortifications built during World War II to repel a possible British invasion but nowadays it serves no other purpose than to hamper tee shots placed too far to the left of the fairway. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Great Golf in Gran Canaria We were happy to accept an invitation earlier this year to participate in the 5th edition of the Anfi Golf Classic, a prestigious two-day golf tournament which took place at the end of May at Anfi Tauro Golf in Gran Canaria – come on, who wouldn’t say no to a break in the Canary Islands playing golf with the sun on their back at the end of May? Twenty-five 4-man teams from eleven European countries participated in the event, including a team of European Golf and Travel Media Association journalists drawn from Scotland, France, The Netherlands and Sweden. The golf writers were there to play in the competition, of course, but we also took time to run the rule over the other golf facilities on the island. Top 100 Golf Courses publishes a Spanish Top 100 chart, maintaining five regional listings below the national rankings – one of which covers the Canary Islands – so this was the ideal opportunity to have a good look at how all the Gran Canaria golf facilities stood up against those on the other islands in the archipelago. Anfi Tauro Founded in Gran Canaria in 1988 by the Norwegian entrepreneur, Björn Lyng, the Anfi Group is a reputable Vacation Membership company with accommodation options located at Anfi del Mar and Anfi Tauro Golf & Luxury Resorts in the southwest municipality of Mogán. Here, you’ll find luxurious apartments, a marina, shopping centre, beach club, wellness centre and a wide variety of restaurants. For the more energetic, there are aquatic activities such as fishing, diving and snorkelling but, for those with more of an onshore sporting interest, look no further than the Anfi Tauro championship golf course designed by the late Robert von Hagge. Anfi Tauro We stayed at the Anfi Emerald Club, situated next to the Anfi Tauro course and these 119 air conditioned luxury apartments are the perfect place to stay on a golf trip, featuring airy bedrooms that lead out to large, tastefully furnished balconies; a fully equipped kitchen area with dining table and chairs; and a spacious lounge with flat screen TV, DVD player and music system. The Anfi Classic was played over two days, preceded by a cocktail reception at the beach club on the evening of the practice day, with a barbeque dinner at the same venue for the prize-giving ceremony. Hubbelrath Golf Club from Germany edged out East Brighton Golf Club by three stableford points to lift the trophy whilst the media team finished well down the order, unfortunately. There were probably a few eyebrows raised when Anfi Tauro entered both the Spanish Top 20 and Continental Europe Top 100 charts at the start of 2018. However, for golfers who have played the course and fully appreciate the quality of the design and the overall playing experience, they’ll be looking to see what chart progress it might make when those listings are updated at the end of this year. Salobre Salobre Hotel Resort & Serenity lies less than a 20-minute drive from Anfi Tauro, located high in the foothills above La Playa de Arguineguin, and it’s the only 36-hole golf complex operating in the Canary Islands. Salobre (Old) course opened for business in 2000, with Salobre (New) arriving around ten years ago. Salobre Old course The Old course has hosted national events such as the Spanish Seniors in 2003 and the Spanish PGA Championship in 2006. The order of play was altered a few years ago when the hotel changed hands, moving the 1st tee to the old 5th tee, which now means there are three par three holes played on the front nine. Salobre New course The New course has also had a few recent changes made to the layout but these involve alterations to the par values on several holes, with new tees added to mix things up a little. Salobre has to be a contender for the European golf facility with the two most contrasting 18-hole courses at the one venue – the Old course isn’t short of contouring but the New course takes mountain golf to a higher level altogether. Lopesan Meloneras Less than ten kilometres back towards the coastline, on the other side of the GC-1 highway, sits the Lopesan Meloneras golf course, laid out above the Pasito Blanco marina. Unveiled in 2006, it’s a Ron Kirby design with a compact front nine weaving around a few small water hazards before the back nine then edges along the cliffs overlooking the Atlantic. This course was probably the biggest surprise of the trip, such was the quality of the golf product encountered here. Lopesan Meloneras Maspalomas It takes just under ten minutes to drive to the Maspalomas clubhouse from Meloneras, where you’ll come across one of the oldest golfing layouts in the Canary Islands, designed by Philip Mackenzie Ross in the late 1960s. The holes on the outward half occupy the most interesting portion of the property – alongside the 1,000-acre sandy stretch of Maspalomas Dunes – with the inward half winding its way around a couple of ponds. Maspalomes Despite its very close proximity to the dunes, this course is entirely parkland in nature – even on the holes closest to the sand hills – with fairways routed across a pretty level playing field. You’ll more than likely have to contend with the wind when teeing it up here as it’s a fairly exposed tract, even with the protection of palm trees lining the fairways. Real Las Palmas Sixty kilometres to the north of Maspalomas, after a journey of around forty-five minutes by car, you’ll reach the oldest golf club in Spain – even though the course is relatively new following a relocation to its current position in the late 1950s. Real Club de Golf de Las Palmas was founded in 1891 but expect to receive a warm new millennium welcome when you arrive here. Real Las Palmas There’s a boutique hotel on site, run by Leif Svensson, who started as bar manager in the clubhouse more than fifteen years ago, and it’s easy to see why this lovely 3-star hotel attracts so many repeat visitors to the slightly cooler climate in the north of the island as golfers have all that they need here; taking meals in the clubhouse, golfing all day on the course or relaxing by the pool. And if the hotel doesn’t suit for some reason, Leif also manages the nearby 5-bedroomed Villa Bandama Golf Hotel, which is perched on top of a ridge that overlooks the course with stunning views of the surrounding landscape. Even if you’re based on the south side of the island its’s well worth the 90-minute round trip to play here on a golfing day out. Thanks We extend our appreciation to the Anfi Tauro Group for the invitation to the Anfi Golf Classic and for providing accommodation at the Emerald Club during our week-long excursion to Gran Canaria. Thanks also to Gran Canaria Golf, the promotional body created from a collaboration between the Gran Canaria Tourist Board and the golf course owners on the island. We’re grateful for their sponsorship of the visits to Salobre, Lopesan Meloneras, Maspalomas and Real Las Palmas. You’ll find forty recommended accommodation options for golfers by clicking on their website link. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses