Real Club de Golf Sotogrande

Sotogrande was Robert Trent Jones Sr's first European commission, built in 1964, and it remains the most elegant parkland course on the Costa del Sol. The trees are enormous — sixty years of cork oak, stone pine, and eucalyptus framing fairways that feel closer to Augusta than Andalucía.

The layout rewards controlled ball-striking over distance. The fairways are generous, but the approach angles demand positioning from the tee — there are virtually no holes where straight down the middle leaves the best angle in. Learn to shape the ball both ways before you play here.

The club still has the feel of a private estate rather than a resort — members who have been coming since the 1970s, a clubhouse that takes food seriously, and a pace of play that never feels pressured.