La Duquesa

La Duquesa is one of the more recent Robert Trent Jones Snr courses on the Costa del Sol, opening as it did in 1989, a good number of years after his earlier designs at Sotogrande (1964), Las Brisas (1968) and Valderrama (1975).

The course at Manilva, near Estepona, may not be as highly regarded as that trio of top ranked, iconic Spanish layouts but it still displays more than a modicum of RTJ design traits – raised putting surfaces and challenging greenside bunkers are in evidence throughout.

The clubhouse sits not far from the seaside and the course rises in two returning loops of nine around El Hacho Hill, overlooking the Mediterranean. It’s a pity the original order of playing the front and back nines has been reversed as the excellent short par three, 8th is not quite the knee-trembling matchplay proposition that it once was when played as the 17th, so late in a round.