Area guide: Costa Blanca, Spain

El Bosque

The opening tee shot at El Bosque is simultaneously thrilling, bewildering and intimidating. You are standing on an elevated tee, so the shoulders feel a little more loose than is often the case over the opening shot of the day, but this dog-leg left doesn’t let you hit driver with any comfort.

Such are the density of trees and narrowness of the fairway that you can only hit your longest club in the bag over the top of the trees in the corner of the dogleg. It seems a risky play on the first swing of the day, but it is a worthwhile one… because hit something safe off the tee and you face something like a 5-iron acutely uphill to a slender green with a bunker guarding the front. Such is the puzzle of El Bosque.

The twisting 2nd, the land falling away to the right where sand and awkward stances await, further confirms El Bosque as a technical, strategic course – as one would expect of Robert Trent Jones. So, too, does the 3rd, a par 5 that turns over undulating land between pines of various  heights. After driving up and over the brow of a hill you face an approach to a well-bunkered green. And if you hadn’t worked it out already, the 6th confirms this as a RTJ design, with another typical raised green on a fiddly dog-leg.

While the downhill 4th is good, the 8th is probably the pick of the front nine’s short holes, played over water to a target with run-offs and bunkers making it pretty but tricky.

The sweeping 9th to another elevated green, with steep run offs to the left, is the closest residences come to the line of play – because otherwise they are well set back here.

The back nine is sprinkled with fine holes: the par-5 11th playing downhill to a small triangular-shaped green; the short 12th over water to a shallow green; the well-guarded 13th, with a bank of water all the way across its front.

The funky 14th, again over water and this time to a kidney-shaped green, is succeeded by arguably the strongest hole on the course. And then the 18th, which lets you start as you began, by opening your shoulders from an elevated tee… but this time it is a much more inviting, wide target.

Did you know?

El Bosque opened in 1975, the same year as Robert Trent Jones finished Sotogrande New, which became first Las Aves and then Valderrama.

Add another 18

Jose Gancedo routed Foressos among 14 lakes and between Mediterranean vegetation, 1,500 palm trees, 100 olive trees and 100 pines. Located just 10 minutes from the centre of Valencia, the par-3 7th green is nearly 80 yards in length.

Costa Blanca travel guide continues on the next page…

Pages: 1 2 3 4