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here are some holes in golf that make your heart race inanticipation well before youreach them. They are theones that create edge-of-the-seat drama for TV viewers.Often they are the penultimate hole. The17th at St Andrews – the infamous Road Hole where the lurking bunker derailed David Duval’s Open Championship hopeswhen battling Tiger Woods in 2000 – is onefamous example. The par-3 17th atSawgrass in Florida, with its notoriousisland green and baying crowd, another.In the 1997 Ryder Cup, it wasValderrama’s par-5 17th that gripped theattention of the golfing world. Severaltempted to take on a long approach shot over the guarding lake to the pin had their joy athitting the green cut short when the ball spun back on the wicked slope and disappeared into the water.TigerWoods even managed to putt his ball into the lake. All of whichearned it the nickname “Valderdrama”.The slope has since been softened and thegreen extended slightly, to make it a fairer challenge. But the hole is still a daunting prospect, and one that prayed on my mind for theentirerounduntilIreacheditwhenIfinal-ly got the chance to play the course in June.It was during a competition for interna-tional media. Teams comprised four playersfrom each nation. I was captain of England and my partner (actually an Aussie!) and Iwere pitted against two Germans.Conditions could not have been better.Gorgeous blue skies were matched by fair-ways so perfectly groomed it seemed a
 November/December 2009 TheTravel&LeisureMagazine
37
COSTA DEL SOL,SPAIN
 pack your CLUBS
Costa del
Golf 
Spain’s top holiday spot isalso favourite with holidayinggolfers and its top-notchfacilities include one of Europe’s very best, as
Peter Ellegard
discovered 
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Valderrama
 
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TheTravel&LeisureMagazine November/December 2009
shame to spoil them with divots and greenssmooth enough for a snooker match.The match was a close affair right upuntil the 17th, with us just ahead. My drivefound the wide fairway. Deciding againstgoing for glory, I laid up in front of the lake,then hit the green with my third shot whilethe others all found trouble. I was left with atricky 25-foot putt, and had visions of emu-lating Tiger’s putt into the lake. Instead, my ball agonisingly lipped out just as it seemed I would get an unlikely birdie. However, the par was good enough for us to win thematch and secure fourth place for the team.Back in Marbella that evening, we helped the victorious Irish celebrate their deserved overall win with much alcohol.
Investment
Valderrama is one of nine courses designed  by Robert Trent Jones senior along theCosta del Sol. This 100-mile-long coastalstrip of Spain’s southernmost region,Andalucia, tempts golfers with more than60 courses, many by top architects.Unsurprisingly, it proclaims itself as theCosta del Golf on roadside signs.And it is no idle boast. This is theMediterranean’s top golf holiday area,underlined by Andulucia beingnamed Europe’s Established Golf Destination of theYear for 2009 in theIAGTO Awards, thegolf industry’sOscars. The galaawards ceremonycame during theInternational Golf Travel Market, golf’smain business forum,in Marbella last year.With provincial capitalMalaga the host of IGTMthis year, it highlights how seriousAndaluciais at maintaining its position – not only withgolfers but also with holidaymakers in gen-eral.Huge investment is underway in its infra-structure, with a new terminal and second runway opening in 2010 at Malaga Airport,a new high-speed train now con-necting Malaga with Madrid,and new motorways. New golf facilitiescontinue to open, too.Finca Cortesinopened to greatacclaim near Estepona in 2007and is now thehome of therenamedVolvo World M a t c h p l a yChampionship, takingover from Wentworth.
Off course attractions
Regional capital Malaga’s old quarter contains remnants of its Moorish heritage as wellas a Roman theatre and later edifices such as its cathedral, built over an ancient mosque.Malaga was home to artist Pablo Picasso and his house is preserved as a monument,while the Picasso Museum contains works from throughout his life.In Mijas, donkey taxis take visitors on tours of the town, which has a square bullring.They once transported marble and lime from hillside quarries to the coast.Cosmopolitan Marbella has a colourful old town while nearby Puerto Banus has manybars and restaurants by its ritzy marina.The narrow streets of inland village Istan echoto the sound of water flowing from numerous fountains fed by natural springs.Ronda is one of the region’s hill-top Pueblos Blancos, or white villages – named forthe white-washed walls of their traditional Andalucian architecture.A deep gorgespanned by an ancient bridge divides Ronda’s historic and new quarters, with buildingsprecariously perched atop sheer cliffs.The ancient white village of Casares, the construction of which was ordered by JuliusCaesar, has a preserved Arab castle and offers views of the Straits of Gibraltar.
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La Cala Resort 
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The hill-topvillage of Casares
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La Cala
 
England’s Ross Fisher won the inauguralevent there at the beginning of November.One of the longest courses in Europe, at7,438 yards, the course was designed byCabell Robinson – who was on RTJ senior’sdesign team for Valderrama – and takesgolfers on a rollercoaster ride with sweepingviews from several tees.
Royal history
Golf first arrived here in 1925 with theopening of the Golf Parador Malaga by theSpanish royal family. But the Costa golf  boom didn’t begin until the 1960s and 1970s, taking off in the 1980s.Valderrama is the undoubted star of thearea, although strictly speaking it is not partof the Costa del Sol as it lies just across the border from Malaga province in Cadiz. Named Europe’s third-best course in therecent Top 100 survey by Golf World maga-zine, it is in the exclusive, 5,000-acreSotogrande estate, which includes expensivehouses and several other top-drawer coursesset among cork oak trees.
“This is theMediterranean’s topgolf holiday area”
Tee times are limited for non-members, and greenfeesarehigh.Buttheexperienceismag-ical and well worthwhile. It may not currentlyhost a PGATour event – it was host course for theVolvo Masters until the event’s final stag-ing in 2008 – but it oozes quality and refine-ment.You also feel close to nature.A certified Audubon Co-operative Sanctuary,Valderramahas 40 acres of wildlife sanctuaries.Of Sotogrande’s other golfing gems, theSan Roque Club boasts the San Roque Old course by DaveThomas andTony Jacklin and the more recent San Roque New, designed byPerry Dye and Seve Ballesteros. Its evocativeclubhouse exudes an old Spanish haciendafeel, while that of the 27-holeAlmenara Golf Club has an elevated terrace where golferscan relax after a game and take in the sweep-ing vista to the sea. The Cabell Robinson-designed La Reserva, which opened in 2003,is already regarded a classic.
Largest complex
Gibraltar is close to Sotogrande, and theRock is framed by several holes of Alcaidesa’s picturesque Links course, perched above a sweeping beach at thewestern end of the Costa del Sol.Spain’s largest golf complex, La Cala, isset in a 1,000-acre leisure and residentialestate east of Marbella. Its longest layout,the 6,766-yard, par-73 America course, iscomplemented by the tightAsia course and 
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Spectacular view of Gibraltarfrom Alcaidesa's Links course
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San Roque II
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Antequera
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chubbyavalanche9340

Heres a great golf tip for any golf nut out there. http://bit.ly/GolfTip001

reply03 / 26 / 2010
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