Palmeraie Rotana

The Palmeraie district lies about five miles to the north west of Marrakech and legend has it that this extensive palm grove (which contains around 150,000 trees) can be traced back to the 11th century. Apparently, soldiers of the Almoravid sultan Youssef ben Tachfine, after eating dates they had brought back from the Sahara, spat out the stones around their encampment and these germinated over time to form the massive 45 square-mile palm grove that exits today.

In 1992, it was in this fertile area of fields, gardens and orchards that Robert Trent Jones Snr established the original 18-hole layout at Palmeraie Golf Club, the first golf course to make an appearance in Marrakech since the fairways of the Royal course were laid out in 1927. More recently, Stephane Talbot, a former professional at Palmeraie, added a further nine-hole circuit in 2008.

Holes 1-9 (the Jbilettes nine) and holes 10-18 (the Atlas nine) were formed as two returning loops and their fairways weave around several large ponds on a site that’s pretty flat throughout. As it’s a resort course, golfers will find the greens here are not as heavily bunkered as those found on many RTJ designs and their soft contours can help golfers post a decent score with a little care.

In 2020, new resort owners decided to rebrand the golf facility as Golf Club Rotana, closing holes 19-27 (the Tensift nine) to operate an 18-hole layout using only the original Robert Trent Jones Sr. holes.