
Barcelona, Spain
Designed by Dave Thomas and opened for play in the late 1980s, the tree-lined layout at Golf Montanyà is set around the enormous Masia l'Estanyol clubhouse, deep within the rolling landscape of the Montseny Natural Park.
Designed by Dave Thomas and opened for play in the late 1980s, the tree-lined layout at Golf Montanyà is set around the enormous Masia l'Estanyol clubhouse, deep within the rolling landscape of the Montseny Natural Park.
4
I had visited the Club 2 years ago but hadn’t had the chance to play it, this time it happened, and it was my 609th Course worldwide, doing the back 9 on a Wednesday afternoon and full 18th on the Thursday with my good friend Guillem. The first call is that I was gladly surprised and course was way better than expected. If you add an old building refurbished Club House and great food, nothing can go wrong.
The piece of land is in the mountains, hilly but very walkable even when being tired you face the uphill on the very technical par 5 15th hole where I feel there is room for something special. You have mountain views, trees (leafless in winter), streams, lakes, very creative greens, and tee shots demanding to be moved both ways. Yes, there are some weak features but also some very strong ones. As it is said in architecture, it has the bones and potential to really climb on the rankings.
The weakest feature is the bunkering, sometimes a similar case as Real Sevilla, where you don’t see them nor sand from where you stand. What could be a nice contrast picture then happens to be a deep huge bunker that you only see when you get close. Are they bad placed? Not at all, just they need to be rethought and shown in perspective, some should be smaller as well.
My friend said the front 9 are weaker but I didn’t feel they are bad at all. 1st with tee shot over water and then uphill is quite nice, even the tree before the green adds character and need to place the shot. 2nd a very good short uphill par 3 with sloped green with several platforms (nearly made an ace). 3rd might be the weakest hole, a very short 90º dogleg left where the only shot off the tee is a 210yds one … if some trees were cleaned on the left and given the chance to go for it this could improve it dramatically. I loved 4th downhill short 4 because you can go over trees or layup, even if modern drivers don’t allow you to draw the ball. 5th a very good 5 with a stream on the right side that crosses the fairway 50yds before the green and ends on water left of it, very technical and demanding. 6th a nice 3 with a lake on the right and another creative green, in a sunny day in fall this spot must be unreally beautiful. 7th a nice tee shot facing snowed mountains and dogleg left to a severely back to front sloped green, second shot playing into the wind was tough. 8th needs some work on the fairway as when they run all balls end on the left rough, it isn’t a bad hole but with some work and maybe a fairway bunker it would be way better. 9th a par 5 up the hill with a penalty area on the left, gettable, and with a fairway tree that directs where you can aim with the driver.
Back 9 has some spectacular spots and shots, 10th tee shot is the first on a hole that the more right you go the shorter and easier the second shot will be. 11th downhill dogleg right to a tree framed nice green. 12th is tough, the bunker on the left of the green is one of the improvable features. 13th a very good 5 with a tight tee shot and then a potential line over the trees to get to the green or left to make it a 3 shooter. 14th a very nice 3 downhill with water short tributing Barcelona’s most famous “14” (Johan Cruyff) with his silhouette on the back of the green. 15th last par 5 uphill to a green that is sort of hidden and could perfectly well be moved to a very creative Punchbowl. 16th downhill long 4 to an elevated green, tigh but with room to go for some risk. 17th a long 3 with a two-tier green, hit 3 wood both times into a very strong wind. And 18th goes down from the tee and up to the green with a nice view of the old Club House.





Javier Pintos
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Round Information
Date Played
February 19, 2026
Standout Holes
#14, #7, #5
Rating Breakdown
Strategy
Facilities & Amenities
Course feels playable and scorable, consider winter soft conditions but later in the season this is a very nice entertainment. You will hit many shots from your bag and around the green the challenge is there; not sure it would play easy if set in competition set up.
My final call is I need to come back in early fall with fairways still green and trees blooming into autumn colors. I feel given the piece of land and the layout; you could have some of the nicest pictures of golf courses in Spain. After this horrible winter with 2 months of almost nonstop rain courses have suffered and you can see it. Said this, feel the course even with its defects is a good one and enjoyable.
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