Benalup · Los Alcornocales Natural Park · Cádiz
Fairplay
Photos courtesy of Fairplay Golf & Spa Resort, for exclusive use on this page.
The first thing you notice on arrival is the silence. The course sits inside the Los Alcornocales Natural Park, the largest cork-oak forest on the peninsula, and winds through olive trees, pines and cork oaks without a single development in sight. Baron Paul Rolin designed it and it opened in 2002. The round has two halves that don't resemble each other. The first plays against water, which keeps showing up and forces a decision on almost every tee. The second climbs, and from the elevated tees the whole Janda valley opens up. And it's a par 73, which isn't common: that extra par 5 changes the rhythm of the round. The holes start on the other side of the hotel garden, so there's no need to take a car to go play. And around it is the best of the province: Vejer, Bolonia and Tarifa a morning away, the almadraba tuna of Barbate and Zahara, and the Jerez wineries a short drive away.
Handicap 54. Nobody gets left out here for their scorecard. It's the most welcoming course in the catalogue, and that matters when four friends travel together and two play every week while the other two play three times a year.
Where it's played
Would rather play it from another hotel, or in another combination? Tell us and we'll put together a firm-priced proposal.