Real La Coruña - La Zapateira

On 1st September 1961, a group of like-minded friends met at the local yacht club to consider the possibility of establishing a golf club in La Coruña. After scouring the outskirts of the city for a suitable site, a place protected by the City Councils of La Coruña, Arteixo and Culleredo, was found in the mountains of La Zapateira.

Renowned architect Philip Mackenzie Ross, who had already worked extensively within the Iberian Peninsula on a number of Portuguese projects, was called in to set out the course and the 18-hole layout that he designed was brought into play shortly after the club’s formation.

The course is configured as two returning nines and, rather unusually, the opening hole (“The Pyramid”) is a short par three. Five demanding par fours and par fives follow before the next short hole is played at the 161-metre 7th, where out of bounds threatens on the right hand side of the green.

On the back nine, notable holes include the par three 14th and par four 16th, with both the greens positioned behind water, on opposite sides of the same small lake, but the short par four 18th is probably the best hole on the entire scorecard, requiring a precise approach to an offset home green that’s protected by a large cypress and three bunkers.

King Juan Carlos I conferred the royal prefix in 2007 so the club is now one of around thirty in Spain to use the “Real” title. A few years later, architect Rubèn Palacios Setvalls carried out a sizeable renovation on ten of the holes in 2013.