Going for Golf

Las Colinas - Here’s to you Mr Robinson

Las Colinas Golf & Country Club

Spread out beneath – and seemingly to the far horizon – is a golf resort that looks destined to eclipse all others in the Costa Blanca and to become a truly world-class destination. Top quality and enormous care are evident in every aspect of this low-density, upmarket development that’s hidden between the hills just 45 minutes from Alicante airport. Everything from the comfortable contemporary clubhouse to the magnificently maintained flowerbeds sensitively stocked with indigenous plants is absolutely first class. As they say in Las Colinas: “Welcome to a world apart.”

Only a blue-chip corporation with huge resources and a proven track record in real estate could confidently undertake such an ambitious project at this time. With its substantial, mostly commercial, portfolio and unrivalled expertise, Gmp is just such an organisation. Not interested in making a fast buck, it’s here for the duration and can afford to take a long-term view of its considerable investment. Throw into the mix the huge specialist knowledge and experience of Troon Golf and you have a dream team that is already delivering on its promise to create something really special.

The undisputed jewel in this sparkling Spanish crown is the truly outstanding golf course that overlooks the sea and rolls around the gently undulating hills, through valleys, up escarpments, between lakes and alongside citrus groves in a delightfully entertaining and enjoyable way that frequently challenges, often surprises, but never intimidates.

It’s a wonderfully generous and forgiving layout that has been imaginatively designed by the renowned American architect Cabell B Robinson. Now living in Spain, the revered Mr Robinson has created this course first and foremost to be fun. With so many modern courses seemingly determined to turn golf into a war of attrition with tight fairways, tough carries and punishing rough, how enormously refreshing to be able to smile the whole way and not have the round regularly punctuated with tedious searches for balls lost in undergrowth or impenetrable jungle.

Don’t, however, for a moment make the mistake of imagining that Las Colinas is a pushover. You’ll dump balls in the five lakes, tangle with a quite a few of the 128 bunkers, be blocked out by an olive tree almost as old as golf itself and three-putt frequently on the magnificent but mysterious greens. But you’ll do all these things with a grin at having been outwitted by the subtle defences of an intriguing course that administers its gentle punishment in a benevolent, rather than brutal, fashion.

The two loops of nine twist out and back along a valley floor rather like a double row pearl necklace around the throat of the small mountain in the middle, with the clubhouse acting as the clasp. By spinning around, the course disorientates you in an appealing way. Don’t worry where the clubhouse is but enjoy the intimacy that isolation and seclusion brings. Concentrate, because if you miss the pleasingly-shaped bunkers from the delightfully elevated tees and hit the fairway, you will almost invariably have a chance of making par. However, clever contouring and numerous bumps and hollows will quite likely deny you a flat lie. But it’s on and around the expansive greens with their subtle borrows that the better players will show their class and scores will be made or mauled.

At nearly 6,200 yards from the sensible yellow tees, and just a tad under 7,000 yards from the nasty blacks – which will be used when the pros play a tournament here – the course is certainly plenty long enough. Half the holes are par-fours; there are five par-threes and four par-fives. Although there is no official signature hole as yet, there are 18 strong candidates worthy of serious consideration.

But Las Colinas is more than just a great golf course. Unsurprisingly, since it was built by a real-estate company, there are some fabulous properties to be found among its 815 acres. Scattered on a few of the hillsides overlooking the course is a mix of magnificent villas and beautiful two and three-bed apartments. And it’s the apartments that are available to golfers wishing to stay on the resort. For those who do, there are 20 other courses within half-an-hour that all suffer by comparison with Las Colinas.

Or, should you ever tire of making pars, there are plenty of other facilities to enjoy including tennis courts, a gymnasium, swimming pools and a nature trail. Undoubtedly the most popular non-golfing activities will be centred on the exclusive Las Colinas Beach Club, on the seafront at La Glea Beach in Campoamor, which is little more than 10 minutes away. With more than 300 days of sunshine a year, it really doesn’t come any better than this.