Golf du Soleil (Championship)

First established as a 27-hole facility in the late 1990s, an additional nine holes were added to the Blue nine in 2006 to fashion a new 18-hole Tikida course, with the original red and yellow nines rebranded as the Championship layout. The 27-hole les Dunes facility lies next door, sharing a common boundary at the 4th and 5th holes on the Tikida.

Both golf complexes are situated a few miles south of Agadir and du Soleil is operated by the Tikida hotel group, so golfers residing in the on-site Tikida Golf Palace hotel don’t have far to go to tee it up on either course whilst those staying in other downtown Tikida hotels have the use of a dedicated shuttle bus service to and from the clubhouse.

The shorter Tikida course offers a slightly easier test than the Championship though some might feel it’s little unbalanced because four of the five par five holes on the scorecard are played on the front nine though it does conclude – just like its sibling – with a terrific short par three tee played across the small pond that fronts the clubhouse.

The Championship course measures 5,976 metres from the back markers and it’s a beautifully bunkered layout with distinctive banked sand traps and a smattering of water-laden holes. The par five 3rd is a real feature hole, dog legging left to a two-tiered green that also tilts from right to left.

Du Soleil can boast of a recent international championship pedigree as the 17th edition of the Lalla Meryem Cup on the Ladies European Tour was held here in 2011. On that occasion, Slovakia’s Zuzana Kamasova became the first person from that country to win an event on the women’s European professional circuit.