Valle Romano

Inaugurated in 2010, the course at Valle Romano Golf & Resort is a Cabell Robinson design that quickly came to prominence through hosting a couple of Challenge Tour events. Thankfully, generously proportioned fairways make it playable for all golfers. 

Extending to 6,214 metres from the back markers, this 18-hole layout plays to a par of 71 (36 out then 35 in) with holes arranged as two returning nines, each of which begins with a par five. Unusually, a round here ends with the last three holes played as a par three, par five then a par three.

Even more unusually, the opening two holes are laid out above a short, tunnelled section of the Autopista Ap-7 which runs along the coast between Malaga and Guadiaro. A nice touch here is the naming of all the holes after famous Spanish golfers, starting with Álvaro Quirós at #1 and ending with Seve Ballesteros at #18.

Highlight holes include the 344-metre 3rd (which plays to a green protected by a pond to the left of the putting surface); the 391-metre 6th (doglegging left with out of bounds on the right); the 408-metre 12th (out of bounds left and right, rated stroke index 1); and the 229-metre 18th, where four large bunkers guard the diamond-shaped home green.