La Cala Golf (Asia)

Situated in the foothills of the Mijas Mountains between Marbella and Malaga on the Costa del Sol, the Asia course is one of three 18-hole courses on the sprawling La Cala estate and it was originally named the South course when it opened in the late 1980s.

The old North and South (now America and Asia) were two of the first courses created by American architect Cabell B Robinson when he formed his own company on leaving the Robert Trent Jones design group and he has since added the Europa course to the La Cala portfolio in 2005.

With a landscape similar to that on the hilly America course, there are many pleasant elevation changes over the modest 6,500-yard length of the Asia. Both fairways and greens are proportioned accordingly, with strategically placed greenside bunkers in place at many of the raised putting surfaces.

The four short holes on the card are between 160 and 185 yards long, with three of them played from elevated tees to greens of various shapes – the 2nd hole has a two-tiered, L-shaped green protected by three bunkers at the rear whilst the triangular green at the 8th hole sits in a valley surrounded by sand traps and grass hollows, the 12th hole has a pear-shaped putting surface with a swale running through the middle.

La Cala has an exceptional 6-hole par three course on the property, which is located next to the Golf Academy. The course is aptly named the Academy and is routed across a windy hilltop with ravines and tricky elevated multi-tiered greens. Cabell B Robinson designed the Academy course too and it’s perhaps the best par three course on the Costa del Sol and an ideal warm up for any of the three main 18-hole La Cala courses.