A high percentage of the millions of tourists who visit mainland Spain every year venture nowhere near the central region, heading instead for the resorts and beaches of the sunny Costas to the east and the south of the country. This makes it a little ironic to discover that the headquarters of the UN’s World Tourism Organization is sited in the Spanish capital, Madrid – a city located in the middle of the country.

More than a hundred golf clubs operate in the Central region of Spain and they’re affiliated to one of four federations: Federación Extremeña de Golf is the smallest with only 8 clubs, Federación de Golf de Castilla-La Mancha has 31 clubs split into five districts, Federación de Golf de Castilla-León controls 52 clubs in nine districts and the Federación de Madrid de Golf has more than 60 clubs on its books, though only half of them own a course.

Apart from Santander, with its Rees Jones-designed layout from 2005, the most distinguished clubs in the capital of Madrid operate from 36-hole golf complexes. Members of RHSE Club de Campo enjoy playing privileges at the North and South courses, both of which were designed by Robert von Hagge, whilst golfers at Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro can tee it up at either the wonderful Arriba or Abajo 18-hole layouts.

Members of Real Club La Moraleja are in the fortunate position of being able to play four 18-hole courses at two separate locations to the northeast of Madrid. The No. 1 course opened in 1976, designed by Jack Nicklaus and Desmond Muirhead, with the No. 2 course appearing sixteen years later, laid out by another of Jack’s associates, Ron Kirby. The club then developed the No. 3 course and the No.4 course sited 20 kilometres further north. The former is a Jack Nicklaus Signature layout, while the latter was fashioned by Nicklaus Design.

A new course at La Finca Los Lagos in Madrid is set to open in 2023, designed by Marco Martin from the Stirling & Martin design company. The property will also include luxury apartments, restaurants, shops and offices located next to the 18-hole layout. An enormous amount of earth was moved during construction – all the fairways were sand capped – and five of the new holes will occupy land that formerly housed the 9-hole Somosaguas course.

We visited Madrid in November 2022 – click the link to read the report.