A monster course that’s as beautiful as it is challenging, Finca Cortesin Golf Club is perfectly designed to test players’ skill. Guy Fiorita jets off to the Costa del Golf
Anyone who has visited southern Spain in the past decade will have noticed the change. You see it on posters as you enter the airport; you see it on roadside banners. The Costa del Sol is dead. Long live the Costa del Golf.
With 50 courses popping out of every nook and cranny on the coast it didn’t take a marketing genius to come up with the new name. That was easy. The hard part is left to the new courses wanting to make a name for themselves here. To stand out in the crowd you really need to offer something special and Finca Cortesin Golf Club, near the seaside town of Estepona, has certainlydone that. As a matter of fact, I would already consider it one of the best of the lot.
The key was the appointment of designer Cabell Robinson to work his usual magic on the terrain. In golf there are few names I trust more. I can honestly say that I’ve never played a Cabell course I didn’t like, and this is no exception.
Cortesin is a monster course in every way. It’s long: 6,800 metres from the back tees makes it one of the longest in Spain and indeed in all of Europe. It’s tough: 122 strategically placed bunkers, three lakes and various streams (water comes into play on eight holes), and undulating, hard-to-read greens see to that. It’s also beautiful: the Mediterranean sea and surrounding mountains form a wonderful canvas. And its fun: the variety of holes, from long straightforward par 4 and 5s to downhill par 3s, and shots over water, gorges and sand, mean you’ll use every club in your bag – and probably wish you had more.
But above all it’s fair. Cortesin is one of those courses that tests players’ skill, not their patience. I didn’t find one shot on the course that shouldn’t have been there. If I was in trouble it was always of my own doing. Some courses, especially here, where courses are squeezed into every kind of terrain imaginable, actually punish a good shot. There is nothing like that here. And it is this kind of no-nonsense golf that certainly will make Cortesin a standout on the Costa del Golf. Oh, and by the way, as far as I could see from my visit on a sunny, late February day, sol is still very much a part of the Costa too.
Finca Cortesin Golf Club
Finca Cortesin, Carretera de Casares
s/n 29690, Casares (Málaga), Spain
(+34) 952 937 883
www.golfcortesin.es
FINCA CORTESIN GOLF CLUB
| Inaugurated | 2007 |
| Designer | Cabell Robinson |
| Number of holes | 18 |
| Par | 72 |
| Length: Black tees | 6,802 metres |
| White tees | 6,351 metres |
| Yellow tees | 5,884 metres |
| Red tees | 4,852 metres |
| Open | All year |
Green fees: €110 (£85), buggy rental (with GPS system) €40 (£31) Finca Cortesin Golf Day: includes breakfast, lesson with a pro, 18 holes of golf with buggy and lunch, €220 (£170).
Other services: Driving range; putting and pitching greens; practice bunker; buggy, cart and club rental; pro shop; changing rooms, showers and lockers; Jack Nicklaus Academy for private and group classes; restaurant and snack bar.
Ideal playing season: Year-round or early mornings and late afternoons in the summer months
The hotel: The five-star luxury hotel Finca Cortesin, on the grounds, offers 67 suites, two outdoor and one indoor swimming pools, a spa, fitness centre, tennis courts, two restaurants, bars and meeting rooms.
THE HOLE
The 13th is a 335-metre, par 4 with a water hazard that runs tight to the left side of the fairway and cuts in front of the green. The approach is made over the water to a green that is guarded by bunkers front and back. Once safely on the sloping surface of this green can still mean trouble.
THE VIEW
A number of spots offer stunning views of the Med but my favourites are from the 5th tee and the 15th green. From here you have views not only of the course, the countryside and the sea but, on clear days, you can also see the rugged silhouette of Gibraltar in the distance.
THE WATERING HOLE
After the round I soothed my injured ego with a chilled glass of Manzanilla sherry from the renowned house of Emilio Lustau and a plate of paper-thin sliced Jamón de Bellota (cured ham from Iberian pigs fed only acorns). The view from the terrace bar of the Andalusian style clubhouse were memorable too, with the course laid out before me and the deep blue of the Mediterranean in the distance.