La Cala (Europa) - Southern Spain - Spain

I had played the other 2 courses a couple of times but never before had the chance to play this one until last week when a free afternoon on a rainy day I found the time and even with the climate it was worth. The course is currently suffering a little bit the Covid situation as the bunkers renovation was due to happen last year but once done in my opinion this is the most fun and challenging layout in the Resort, for many reasons.

Greens design is quite similar to the other 2 and a trademark of Cabell’s designs, not very big and with corners where you can place the pin usually protected by a roll off. It is many times the call to hit the center of the green and play safe but sometimes you just can’t help and unnecessarily go for it.

As in the other 2 there are dramatic level changes, up and down, off the tee and for the approach shots. Some holes play way longer than it show and some others shorter like 1-2-8-18 where you can feel very proud of the yardage your tee shot has carried!

The strongest part of the course is the set of par 3s with five very good demanding shots with the highlight on downhill 3rd were you have the river on the right side and monster 14th playing 245yds off the back tee. I felt it was worth to be played from there and again it is wider than it shows from the tee box. Raising it maybe 1m and taking away one single eucalyptus tree that hides the green will make it even better. The alternative tee box playing 175yds from another angle is also a very nice shot.

Par 5s are not bad at all, again way better from those on Asia and America, this ones are not “forced” par 5s but real 3 shooters for most golfers and with a good variety among them: downhill reachable 8th, then 11th with a demanding tee shot and narrow green, 15th with a tough tee shot and a dramatic carry for the second if you wish to go for it and uphill 17th where everybody will need 3 good strikes to get upstairs.

Set up for competition and hopefully in a sunny day, I feel this one should be the most liked and better ranked. If I am invited to play at the Resort, Europa is my first choice.

The newest of the La Cala courses, when I played it initially in 2008 it still had the feel of a new course and was my least favourite of the three.Now it has matured it is developing into a course of the same quality as the other two courses at the resort and if staying at the complex worth playing (all 3 are actually), only gripe about La Cala is that if you wanted to play 36 holes you could struggle as rounds can take 5 1/2 hours

This course is situated in a lovely part of the countryside, a winding river in a deep gorge wends its way through the course. The resort is smart and modern and the breakfast was delightful. A tough course this one, not massive but tight twisty fairways, reminiscent in parts of La Manga's West course. A lot of variety in the holes, but the deep barancas situated around many of them made for accurate driving. Tough for the high handicapper this one, and you absolutely MUST have a buggy, unless you're under 30 years of age and as fit as Mo Farah.