There’s a very impressive golf facility located within the grounds of the Royal Dar Es Salam estate which will soon be augmented by a new Ritz Carlton hotel being built close to the 10th tee of the Red course, providing a rather upmarket dormy house for visiting golfers when it opens.

The Red course was renovated by Cabell Robinson prior to the re-hosting of the Trophee Hassan II in 2016 when new tees were installed on ten of the holes, putting surfaces were enlarged on four of the greensites and new bunkers were put in place on another four holes.

The lake between holes 11 and 12 was also reconstructed and a new water cascade feature has been built into the middle of this large water hazard – it’s more than a little ostentatious if truth be told, but it fits in rather well with the conspicuous Roman columns that sit above one side of the lake.

I’m not a fan of the par three 9th – the all-carry par three featured in books like The 500 world’s greatest golf holes and 1001 golf holes you must play before you die – because it’s way too contrived with its peninsula green jutting out into another lake.

The hole preceding it is a cracking par five (played as a par four for the pros during the European tour event) which doglegs downhill towards another lakeside green. Similarly, on the back nine, the par three 17th hole also plays directly downhill to one of the newly extended putting surfaces.

It’s a wonderfully routed course, with holes gently rising and falling across pleasantly undulating terrain, and it’s not until the par fours at the 15th and 16th that fairways run parallel to one another. Greens are relatively flat – often tilting from back to front – with subtle contours rather than broad swales, just as the pros like it.

There’s no doubting the quality of the course conditioning here, with the Moroccan authorities appearing to spare no expense when it comes to showcasing their national golfing treasure. If only the same maintenance budget was available to the other deserving Royal courses at Agadir, El Jadida and Tangier… Jim McCann.