Guadalajara Country Club

Designed by John Bredemus in 1942, the lush parkland layout at the prestigious Guadalajara Country Club makes up part of an extensive private estate near the city centre that also offers its more energetic members the sporting pursuits of tennis, swimming and horse riding.

Measuring 6,563 yards from the member tees, Guadalajara plays to a par of 72 and its small, though well-defined and receptive greens require accurate approach play – just the test for golfers who don’t need to drive the ball a mile off the tee to score well.

The club’s most famous member is Lorena Ochoa, Mexico’s Golden Girl of Golf, who followed Annika Sorenstam as the number one lady golfer in the world. Lorena’s family home overlooks the country club so she had plenty of opportunities to develop her skills as a child on the course before moving to Arizona to further her golfing career.

Lorena is the type of person who will never forget her roots and it came as no real surprise to see her host the first Lorena Ochoa Invitational tournament at Guadalajara in 2008. An elite field of 36 competed in this official LPGA event near the end of the season with proceeds from the tournament helping La Barranca education centre for children in Guadalajara.

Tom Doak made a point of playing Guadalajara in 2017 and awarded the course a rating of six out of ten. He commented as follows in his Christmas 2017 Confidential Guide update:

“Set in the heart of the city, the Country Club is a lushly landscaped private park featuring all sorts of amenities from golf and tennis to swimming and equestrian sports, and many would happily pay their dues just to sit on the terrace for lunch and admire the view. The club is most famous today as the childhood stomping grounds of Lorena Ochoa, but the gently hilly terrain provides for interesting golf. Designer Bredemus, a virtual unknown outside of Texas, created a complex routing that keeps coming back to the foot of the hill below the clubhouse, where five different greens tangle with the creek that cuts through the property.”