Try two of Spain’s best at Son Gual and Alcanada
Son Gual
Once this was just 175 acres of at farmland and scrub and the brainchild of multi-millionaire German double-glazing magnate, Adam Pamer, who has a magnificent home in Mallorca but could not find a course on the island he thought good enough to play regularly so he decided to build his own.
Pamer recruited German golf architect Thomas Himmel, who shifted more than 1.8 million cubic yards of earth and planted 800 mature olive trees, some more than 1,000 years old, in a project costing around €30m.
The end result is stunning, delivering a course that has already featured on the European Senior Tour despite only opening in 2007.
There may be no natural lakes on Mallorca but there are plenty of artificial ones at Son Gual, seven to be precise, linked by sinuous streams that snake their way through the undulating greensward.
If the wind gets up, as it often does on Mallorca, Son Gual can be a ferocious challenge especially if anyone other than a professional is prepared to take it on off the black tees at 7,241 yards.
Fortunately, there are three sets of tee boxes for both men and women with the forward yellow tees, still no pitch and putt at 6,543 yards, the best place to start.
The crucial thing is to keep the ball on the fairway, and sacrifice one shot rather than disappearing into one of the vast bunkers or being snared in the short but extremely clinging rough.
There is not a weak hole on the course with stand-outs being the par-5 sixth across a lake the size of a football pitch and the relatively short par-4 14th that appears to have as much sand as it does fairway.
And having negotiated the truly nasty par-5 18th it is time to sit on the splendid terrace and gaze back over the scene of our triumphs or disasters.
