With so many golf courses being built around the world, it is becoming increasingly difficult for designers and constructors to carve themselves a niche in the market. Golfers will normally choose where they play based on price, location and course design, and Desert Springs scores a very rare ‘Albatross’ based on these three requisites.
Located in Almería, Spain, this is an area where many Western movies were filmed due to its desert landscape. So it seems fitting that the Almanzora Group should decide that this is the ideal place to stage a world class Califonian style resort, and like any great Hollywood movie, nothing is left to the imagination.
Review
Quality oozes in every corner of Desert Springs, from the impeccable practice facilities – surely partly responsible why the English Golf Union chose Desert Springs as its overseas home – toits perfectly manicured fairways, greens and rough.
Perhaps ‘rough’ is an unjust word here, for as far as we could tell its primary function was to catch any shot heading slightly astray of the course from ending up in the desert - which provides a unique challenge as well as a stark and beautiful contrast of colour to the vivid green. This is also the only area of the course where you might get a bad lie – as during our two rounds, not once were we faced with anything other than a perfect lie whilst grass was under ball.
Yet this is not to say that Desert Springs is an easy course – the desert is almost always in play to a wayward shot, not to mention the many strategically placed bunkers, streams and lakes. Designed by award winning Walker Cup captain Peter McEvoy, every hole requires strategic planning and accurate execution. Attacking at the wrong time (most notably from the tee on par 5’s) could cost you dearly. The greens are as immaculate as the rest of the course, and though we would not call them generous in size, once on they are very true and honest if studied carefully. Missing greens on the wrong side however tells a different story – we found it surprisingly easy to ‘short-side’ ourselves, and were left wishing we had the short game of Phil Mickelson to escape from certain situations with an ‘up and down’; best to take your medicine and remember not to make the same mistake again. And you will surely wish to return – we cannot remember the last round of golf that required the use of every club in the bag, or where we teed up a ball at 18 perfectly flat tee boxes with grass that would put many courses greens to shame.
Full credit must be given to all involved with this course – being unique in Europe it could be easy to sell golf based on its desert setting alone, but Desert Springs is maintained to the highest standards set by its Californian inspiration, and all to our benefit.
Great deals on golf andaccomodation are available all year round, and the course is easily walkable at this time of year. Buggies are at hand, especially for the searing desert heat of the summer months. EAT GOLF! were informed after playing that in the ‘hot’ season the flowers that are planted around the course fill each hole with colour much like ‘Augusta’. Another reason to return!
If you have not yet sampled desert golf, now is a perfect opportunity to do so. As with any of the classic ‘Westerns’, Desert Springs is an unmissable experience. Not to be tackled in a ‘gung-ho’ fashion – to succeed you must defend your handicap against the course in a modern day golfing ‘shoot-out’.
