Villanueva

Here you play along the ground. Flat terrain with natural undulations, almost no trees, wide fairways sown with pot bunkers — the small, deep bunkers of British courses, some of which you can only escape backwards — and the bay's wind built into every shot. It's a links in the strict sense of the word. And it's the exact counterpoint to the province's other courses. After two days among pines and elevation changes, the running shot appears here as an option, which is an entirely different way of moving the ball. Anyone who's never played a links discovers it here, and it stays with them. The wide fairways mean it doesn't punish someone short on their scorecard, but the bunkers sit exactly where they get in the way: you enjoy it more the second time than the first. It's in Puerto Real, right in the Bay of Cádiz, ten minutes from the city.