Los Arqueros - Southern Spain - Spain

Los Arqueros Golf & Country Club is located a few miles inland from the fashionable resort of Puerto Banus and it was here on the Costa del Sol that Seve Ballesteros first took the plunge into golf course design back in 1990.

Like most of the courses concentrated in this part of the Costa, the fairways at Los Arqueros compete with real estate for the available space and unfortunately, housing has encroached on the layout, particularly on the front nine.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of challenges on the course (such as water hazards, doglegged fairways, out of bounds, multi-tiered greens, uphill and downhill holes) to keep golfers concentrating on the job in hand rather than worrying about their surroundings.

Both par threes on the front nine are very good (the 2nd plays downhill and the 5th has a two-tiered green) whilst the par five 13th is regarded as the signature hole on the card – starting from an elevated tee, the narrow fairway veers right to the green, falling away steeply on that side. Anyone who adopts a Ballesteros persona and takes the pin on by cutting the corner with their second shot will be advised to play a fade down the left in order to avoid a lost ball on the other side of the fairway!