Top 40 Golf Courses of Argentina 2019
This is the fourth edition of our ranking chart for Argentina and we’ve now added another ten tracks to form a new Top 40. We’re indebted to our Argentina Correspondent, Javier Pintos, for his help with this expansion, allowing us to showcase an even wider selection of golf facilities in a country that occupies a mere 16% of the South American landmass while containing 49% of the continent’s courses.
Dwelling a little longer on the statistical side of things, apart from the ten new entries in our updated standings, we have another ten courses making an upward move, sixteen dropping down at least one place and only four remaining in the same position. The most significant of these non-movers is the , which remains our number 1 course in Argentina.
Designed by Luther Koontz – the American engineer turned architect who worked with Alister MacKenzie during his visit to South America in 1930 – the original 36-hole layout at Olivos has been transformed over time into a fabulous 27-hole facility, with the principal 18-hole course comprising the White and Red nines.
Our man Javier was here last year, calling it “one of the best maintained parkland courses in Latin America,” and “one of the best tests for amateur golfers” when it’s prepared for competition. Our International Correspondent David Davis also visited, saying that “everything from look, feel, atmosphere and general set up is that of one of the lovely old world classics you would find in the UK”.
Nonetheless, David was concerned about the apparent lack of a tree management program, which is now affecting playing strategy. He also thought the club might not fully realise its responsibility to ensure this Golden Age classic fully reaches its potential. In his opinion, what it might require is a person “to provide the course with the loving attention it needs and give it a thoughtful reno/restoration to finally take care of it for generations to come.”
Thankfully, we understand the club has now adopted a policy of planting no additional trees and those in place are slowly being thinned out, along with the removal of lower branches for those that remain.
For now, Olivos holds onto the #1 spot in Argentina but for how much longer is anybody’s guess.
At number 2, the Red course at the Jockey Clubis the first of three highly-regarded layouts in Buenos Aries to make 3-position advances within the Top 10 of the new national table.
Designed by Alister MacKenzie (who also mapped out the Blue course for the club at the same location), the Red course is set on rather flat terrain which is far from the best ground ever given to the Good Doctor to fashion a golf course. Nonetheless, “the mounding around some of the greens has to be seen to be believed,” according to author Tom Doak in Volume 2 of his book The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses.
A recent reviewer thought it was “a true test of technique, confidence and strategy,” where the architect’s “little islands of magnificent elegance represent green complexes that sit starkly on the plain… a bold near miss will be very costly but a conservative strategy might avert disaster without yielding a great score.”
Also rising three places to number 8, we have the century-old course at San Andrés Golf Club, laid out by Mungo Park Jr. in 1907. Mungo, from Musselburgh’s famous Park family, arrived in Argentina in 1903, winning the first edition of the Rio de la Plata Open (the precursor to the Argentine Open) two years later. He would go on to win this event on another two occasions, with all his victories taking place at San Andrés. His wife, Grace, was also a good player, becoming the country's first Ladies' Open champion.
In the past, reviewers have called this an “old school city course [that has] the rich feel of a members club with much tradition” and “a real golf club [with] one of the best courses in the country”. The city of Buenos Aries has grown up round about the property but inside the perimeter fence you are totally unaware of the outside world – isn’t that the way it should always be, even within a big city?
The 18-hole layout at Nordelta Golf Club largely reverses a five-position fall the last time we re-ranked this country by climbing three places in the right direction to number 9. One of a handful of Nicklaus Design layouts to be found in Argentina, Nordelta was specifically built by senior designer Greg Letsche as a tournament track and it’s been used in recent years as a venue for both the Argentine Open and the Argentine Amateur Championship.
The course is the centrepiece of a gated community and it’s a challenging par 72 layout with typical Nicklaus features like waste areas, large lakes and multiple bunkers protecting the landing areas. Fairways are routed across former wetlands with holes that require precise play and more than a little patience if a decent score is to be achieved.
The highest new entry in our chart arrives at number 13 and it’s the new course at Ellerstina Polo, a facility that extends to nine polo fields, two of which were transformed (together with another small piece of land) into an innovative 32-acre golf course four years ago by architect Matthew Dusenberry. Author Tom Doak in Volume 2 of his book The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses calls it “a quintessential Porteño setting for golf” with “nine greens built around the perimeter of two old polo fields, and thirty bunkers set out to defend the greens from multiple angles…. altogether, it’s a near-perfect backyard design”.
Javier, in a recent 6-ball review, said it was “something you will find nowhere else in the world” while David, in another 6-ball review, called it “something completely new and exciting… what Dusenberry created is to say the least magnificent – in terms of land usage – and extremely unique… they created a highly undulated property full of short grass everywhere, making the game incredibly fun and all about finding the proper angles for approaches into greens based on the pin positions.”
Another new entry appearing at number 16 is the new Robert Trent Jones Junior-designed course at Termas de Rio Hondo Golf Club, which was profiled in the R&A publication Golf Around the World 2019:
“The high desert plain of South America known as the Gran Chaco can be a forbidding stretch of land. The arid soil and scorching temperatures – often reaching 115˚ (46˚C) in summertime – combine to stifle settlement and development. But among those oases of growth is the spa resort city of Termas de Rio Hondo in the province of Santiago del Estero.
And it’s here, 700 miles northwest of Buenos Aries, that glove-trotting architect Robert Trent Jones Jr. debuts his second course in South America and his first in Argentina – the 39th country in which he has worked.
The 235-acre golf course sits just west of town, straddling the Dulce River and just behind a dam that forms the Rio Hondo Reservoir. A walkway from the golf course brings city residents to a recently restored estuarial nature reserve. The golf course has been turfed in Paspalum – a turf type easily adaptive in the high desert conditions.”
Nicolas Iorio, partner with Javier at WeGolf and GIA (Golf in Argentina), attended the recent official opening day for this new golf facility and was very impressed by what he saw, remarking that it’s a serious contender for a slot in a South American Top 10. Now there’s another continental chart we must get around to compiling in the very near future…
As for the present, there are some new courses under development: Mendoza Norte Country Club in the Las Heras wine region will provide a high quality golf product; Estancia El Terron by Tom Weiskopf in Córdoba is due to officially open in November with 12 holes already fully playable; and La Providencia Resort & Country Club by Vicente Fernandez in Buenos Aries enjoys a lovely location and it should feature in the next ballot.
There are also plans in progress for course upgrades and redesigns by international golf course architects which will hopefully raise the level of the golf offering in and around the capital. Golf in Argentina has made great advances in the new millennium. Apart from a couple of links layouts by the ocean, the country had only one old-school parkland courses to attract golfers to the game up until the arrival of Robert von Hagge’s 27-hole complex at Buenos Aries Golf Club in 1994.
In the last couple of decades, renowned architects like Jack Nicklaus, Bob Cupp, Greg Norman, Robert Trent Jones Jr., Tom Weiskopf, Matt Dusenberry and Randy Thompson have added contemporary layouts to widen the choice of golf courses for the more discerning golf tourist in the modern era.
That’s why WeGolf re-branded last year, becoming Golf in Argentina.com, with the launch of a new logo, website and social media channels to keep up to date with the dynamic changes in the local golf market. The intention is to attract more golfers from every corner of the world who will enjoy a destination which is not only golf-related, but a complete vacation experience.
To view further details of our Top 40 Golf Courses of Argentina click the link.
If you’d like to comment on these revised national rankings then please do so via the “Respond to this article” link at the top or bottom of this page. It’s always good to receive feedback when we update our charts so we’re happy to have you contact us if you’ve something you’d like to say.
Jim McCann
Editor
Top 100 Golf Courses
Central & South American Golf Course Rankings 2012 Top 100 Golf Courses extends its Central & South America rankings 21st January 2012 It has been a challenging process for us to journey through Central & South America, identifying the best golf courses across twenty-one countries. But we’ve done just that. Some countries, such as the Falkland Islands, French Guiana, Guyana and Suriname have only one or two golf courses, and their current golfing facilities are rather too rudimentary to mention in any detail. However, there is some stunning golf to be played in numerous other countries across the continent and subcontinent. Argentina is at the historical heart of golf in Central & South American and it’s where golf reputedly began in 1890, when an intrepid Scotsman was flung into jail after customs officials in Buenos Aires thought his golf clubs were secret weapons. Little did they know that seven decades later an Argentinean would win more than 250 golf tournaments worldwide. Roberto de Vincenzo is the Argentine golfing equivalent of football’s Diego Maradona and de Vincenzo’s career was crowned in 1967 when he lifted the Claret Jug at Hoylake. Two years later, Ángel Cabrera was born and “The Duck” progressed from caddying at Córdoba Country Club to becoming a two-time Major champion, winning the US Open in 2007 and the Masters two years later. There are around 250 golf clubs registered in Argentina and there are many Argentinean golf courses worthy of close inspection. I won’t steal any thunder from Javier Pintos, who runs a successful golf travel company called “Let’s Golf Argentina”, because Javier has agreed to write an article for us on his country’s golf courses. I’ll just thank Javier wholeheartedly at this point for helping us assemble our Argentinean golf course rankings. Caye Chapel is Belize’s only golf course and it’s set on a private 2.5-mile Caribbean island just off the Belize mainland. Originally developed by Kentucky industrialist Larry Addington, the entire island of Caye Chapel is currently for sale. If you have $75 million dollars under your mattress and fancy your own private 265-acre island retreat, complete with airstrip, deep-water marina, eight beachfront villas and eleven marina view cabanas, then Caye Chapel and its championship golf course and clubhouse could be yours. If you do buy it, please forward an invite to the island warming party to the address below! We currently feature only one golf course in the following countries: Bolivia (La Paz), Ecuador (Quito), Honduras (Black Pearl at Pristine Bay), Nicaragua (Hacienda Iguana) and Peru (Los Incas). We feature two courses in Chile: (Las Brisas de Santo Domingo) and (Leones), two in El Salvador: (Salvadoreno) and (Veraneras), two in Panama: (Coronado) and (Cielo Paraiso) and two in Paraguay (Yacht & Golf Club Paraguay) and (Carlos Franco). The premier courses in Colombia are located around the capital, Bogotá, and the best is Club El Rincón de Cajicá – to give the club its full title. The Country Club of Bogotá and San Andrés Golf Club are two other Colombian golfing facilities that are from the top drawer. Costa Rica has become quite a golfing hotspot in recent years and we have five golf courses listed, headed by the Arnold Palmer designed Peninsula Papagayo course at the Four Seasons Resort, which opened in 2004. Designed by George Fazio and constructed by his nephew Tom Fazio in the early 1970s, Cariari Country Club was the first 18-hole course to be built in Costa Rica and it’s our Costa Rican No.2. Hacienda Pinilla was fashioned by American, Mike Young, and our No.3 course weaves its way out through tropical woodland and heads down to the Pacific Ocean on the way home. Guatemala is another Central American country that punches way above its weight. The Fuego Maya course at La Reunion Antigua Golf Resort is a Pete and Perry Dye design from 2009 which enjoys a stunning setting in a verdant valley that lies between two towering volcanoes. The Mayan Golf Club on the other hand was established in 1918 as the Pamplona Golf Association and is recognised as the oldest golfing society in Central America. We feature three of the eleven golf clubs affiliated to Uruguay’s Golf Association and the best of these was laid out in 2000 at the Four Seasons Resort Carmelo by two Robert Van Hagge protégés, Kelly Moran and Randy Thompson, from the American Golf Course Design Company. Last but not least in our whistle-stop tour is Brazil, South America’s largest and most populous country. There are more than 100 golf courses in Brazil and we feature fifteen of the best. Our No.1 Brazilian golf course was laid out by American architect Dan Blankenship, a former associate of Pete and Perry Dye, on Brazil’s Discovery Coast. Terravista opened for play in 2004 and from day one the golf course has received glowing accolades. “Terravista Golf Course has proven to be the most enjoyable project of my career,” said Dan Blankenship with pride. “Working in an area with incredible ocean views from seaside cliffs, native Brazilian rain forest, contours almost ideal for a golf course, and knowing that Brazil was discovered at this exact location 500 years ago, was a wonderful experience. My construction team and I felt honored to be part of this amazing project and also felt a huge responsibility to deliver not just a golf course but a championship course that will stand the test of time in the ever growing game of golf.” We genuinely welcome feedback… in fact we actively encourage it. So please tell us what you think about our latest voyage through the golf courses of Central and South America. We won’t ever claim to be “definitive” but we are the most “informed” golf course rankings in the business. If you’ve played any of our featured Central and South American courses, we’d be delighted to know what you think, so why not contribute and post a course review or two? Click here to visit Central and South America on the Top 100 website, or simply click on Central and South America on the left to navigate through the continent. Keith Baxter Editor-in-Chief www.top100golfcourses.com
Top 50 Golf Courses of Argentina 2021 It’s just over two years since we updated our Argentinian listings so it’s time to reveal the results from our latest biennial ranking update for this important golfing nation. With around 350 courses in operation around the country, Argentina accounts for nearly half the number of golfing layouts on the continent so it’s a big hitter on the South American sporting stage. We’ve added another ten tracks to the listings so we now feature a Top 50, thanks in no small measure to the efforts of our Argentina Correspondent Javier Pintos and his team of panellists who look after business in that part of the world. We’re grateful for their efforts in helping to promote so many of the best courses within a very proud golfing region. The big news is that we have a new No.1. After two editions in the top spot, the Blanca & Colorada course at Olivos Golf Club in Pablo Nogués drops one place to make way for the Red course at the Jockey Club in San Isidro, which was designed by Alister MacKenzie back in the mid-1930s. It was described in volume 2 of The Confidential Guide to Golf Courses as “no match for MacKenzie’s best, but the mounding around some of the greens has to be seen to be believed.” Jockey Club Red course Well-travelled golfer Bob McCoy (The Odyssey) told us at the end of last year that “all the flat land for the fairways was dug up to create swales and hollows (with) the excess soil used to create humps and bumps in the fairways and around the greens”. Prolific reviewer Peter Wood posted the following last month: “The Jockey Club is not a striking course visually, but if you think your way around you will enjoy yourself with Dr MacKenzie’s wonderful strategic design.” There’s not much movement near the top of the standings until we chance upon the highest new entry, the 18-hole layout at El Terrón Golf Club which is situated a short 15-minute drive from Córdoba airport. Opened at the end of 2019, it’s a Tom Weiskopf design that’s laid out within a 370-acre housing development, with holes arranged in two distinct returning loops of nine across a rolling landscape. El Terrón Golf Club Along with La Paz in Ascochinga, Córdoba in Villa Allende and Potrerillo de Larreta in Alta Gracia, the golf facility at El Terrón is now at the forefront of tourist golf attractions in the local area. The biggest upward move in the upper half of the table is made by the Blue and White nines at Pilar Golf Club, where this layout improves its position by four places to reach #24 in the new listings. Designed by Ron Fream to a championship standard for its owner, the course has hosted the Abierto de Argentina championship three times in the new millennium and it also staged the first Latin America Amateur Championship (organized by the USGA, R&A and Augusta National) in 2015. Pilar Golf Club In the bottom half of the table, two courses advance three places. The 18-hole layout at Golf Club Sierra de la Ventura (at #31) lies 100 kilometres northeast of Bahía Blanca and it dates back to 1935, when Pedro Churio (the professional at Ituzaingo Golf Club) designed an initial 9-hole track with the enthusiastic support of workers from the Southern Railroad Company. Sixteen years later, Luther Koonz was engaged to add another nine holes and his out-and-back layout, with several holes played across the Arroyo San Diego, is the one that’s still in play today. Golf Club Sierra de la Ventura The 18-hole layout at San Eliseo Golf and Country Club (at #33) sits an hour’s drive south of Buenos Aries city centre, with holes routed around a substantial residential development. Several interlinked lakes were fashioned during construction to provide material for sculpting fairway and greenside mounding on a very flat landscape, with a little of the surplus soil reserved for the island green on the par three 17th hole. San Eliseo Golf and Country Club Nine of the final fourteen slots at the foot of the new chart are occupied by new entries, led by Club Mar del Plata Los Acantilados at #37. The club was founded in 1907 but its current three 9-hole loops – Merlo, Laguna and Medio – date back to the late 1950s, when they were laid out by professionals Pedro Churio and Agustin Posse. The Merlo and Laguna nines are regarded as the premier 18-hole set-up, combining to form the Colorada course. To view the complete detailed list of our latest Top 50 Golf Courses of Argentina click the link.
Top 30 Golf Courses of Argentina 2016 Our latest and expanded golf course rankings for Argentina are unveiled with some outstanding new entries Top 100 Golf Courses and Wegolf Argentina (www.wegolf.com.ar & www.wegolfargentina.com), Argentina’s leading Inbound and Outbound Golf Tour Operator, together present the new 2016 Top 30, expanding the list by ten more courses. We now feature the best 10% of the total courses in Argentina. Four years have passed since our last update and there are some well deserved new additions: Pueblo Estancia La Paz, La Estancia de Cafayate, Los Canales de Plottier, El Valle del Golf and Cañuelas Golf Club are five notable courses that we’ve added since our last update. All five are great courses located in some of the most breathtaking landscapes in the country. In its 2,800,000 km2 of land surface, Argentina has more than 300 courses and more are on the way, including new developments in Mendoza, San Juan (near the Racing Track, an RTJ II Design) and Córdoba, additionally some existing courses are undergoing some form of renovation. For example, the Blue Course at the Jockey Club will have a complete new irrigation system that will surely improve its current status. Argentina has become a more popular golfing destination in recent years, due not only to the success of our main golfers, Cabrera/Grillo/Romero/Gomez, but also thanks to genuine value for money. You can experience top quality courses with a very high standard of greens maintenance (many of the best run at 11-12 on the Stimp). You can build a complete vacation by including wonderful tourist experiences, great food and nighttime spectacles for a very affordable price. Following a recent visit to Argentina, Tom Doak provided a very good commentary (within the latest Confidential Guide to Golf Courses) of the great courses that you can play in the Gaucho’s land. Golf Digest ranked three of our top venues in the Top 100 outside the USA: Olivos Golf Club, Buenos Aires Golf Club (both co-hosts of 2010 World Amateur Championship) and Jockey Club (Red Course), designed by Alister MacKenzie. But one of our best courses, Chapelco Golf Club, is still not recognized by international publications, but why? Also Mar del Plata Golf Club, with its greens running at 13-14, and El Potrerillo, which was qualified by Doak as the best golf course in the country, are two other layouts that deserve the highest consideration by international media. Olivos (Blanca & Colorada) has a well-deserved first place, sometimes called the Augusta of South America. It has great design, challenge, stately trees and greens that during competition can be really tough. Although some greens were changed from the original Luther Koontz design, most of the course remains unchanged. It will host the 2016 Argentine Open for the PGA Tour Latin America. Buenos Aires Golf Club stays at No.2. Robert von Hagge designed this 27-hole facility and the club was honored to host the 2000 EMC World Cup, which was won by Tiger Woods and David Duval (No.1 & 2 in the world at that moment). The course is a typical American design, with variety, challenge and huge greens with a lot of movement that can provide numerous different pin positions. 3rd position goes to El Potrerillo, which is very well deserved. It’s routed over a fantastic piece of land, where the presence of its historic Jesuit building and lovely touches by local architects Caprile & Capdepont make this course a true jewel that can be played almost all year long due to an ideal climate. Chapelco goes from 1 to 4 and this is because raters finally got to play the top three over the last four years and most agree they are the better courses, although maybe not as scenic. All the same, Chapelco is a must-play course and now that there are nine holes ready at nearby El Desafío this destination has moved to a higher level. Those who also love fly-fishing will be in paradise here in Patagonia where you can combine the best fishing with great golf. Jockey Club (Red) maintains its previous 5th position. It’s our most renowned course and the one every visitor wishes to play. Designed during Alister MacKenzie’s world trip when he also fashioned Club de Golf Del Uruguay, Club de Golf Los Leones (Chile) and Royal Melbourne among others. “La Colorada” offers challenge on a big scale with narrow fairways and inverted dish-shaped greens. It usually hosts the Argentine Open (last time in 2015) and hosted the event in 2001 when our championship was part of the European Tour, which Angel Cabrera won. Inside the Top 20 there are new additions such as Cañuelas Golf Club, El Desafío, Los Canales de Plottier, El Valle del Golf, Pueblo Estancia La Paz and Hurlingham. For those who like to study golf course design, you will find some very interesting greensites in Argentina (12th at Golf Club Argentino, 14th at Hurlingham, 17th at Mar del Plata, 17th at Jockey Club Red, 15th at San Isidro and 12th at Cañuelas). There are some world-class holes too, such as the 7th at El Desafío, 6th at Potrerillo and the 11th at Chapelco to name just three. Maybe it is time to visit Argentina and experience what used to be a hidden golfing destination but now is perhaps the true gem of Latin America. We all know that Maradona, Messi, Fangio and Tango are a few Argentine sporting icons, but golf is something we are also very proud of. With a great variety of courses in the country’s best tourist locations, we feel that a golf holiday in Argentina will never be forgotten. During the second week of March we host the Argentina Invitational (www.argentinainvitational.com), which is our promotional event. More than 400 golfers have played in the first six editions. Maybe it is time for you to come and join us and experience some of our amazing venues. Jockey Club (Red) will be the opening round in the 2016 edition next month. To see our new 2016 Argentina Top 30 in detail, click the link. Javier Pintos Top 100 Argentina Correspondent and owner of Let’s Golf Argentina javier@wegolf.com.ar
