Amarilla Golf Course

The day I went in mid January the weather was not the normal Tenerife south weather, it was a cloudy overcast day but dry and about 17 deg so nothing to complain about if you come from Northern Europe but for us locals we tend to wear a jumper and long trousers. This championship course hosted a European tour event in 1990, the Tenerife Open it plays some 5846 meters off the back tees with a par of 71 it was designed by Donald Steel in 1989. The view from the first hole tee is quite daunting a narrow fairway with out of bounds down the right as it runs parallel to the driving range, with a spectacular view down to the first green the Atlantic ocean in the background, a tricky Par 4 at 380 metres and a good hole to get your round started if you get a par. Whilst on the first tee if you happen to look back you get a fantastic view over the mountain range including mount Teide which rises to 3,718m at its highest point, making it Spain’s highest peak and at this time of the year usually has snow on it. The signature hole of the course must be the 5th a par 3 of only115 meters, but as you are at sea level and you are normally hitting into the prevailing wind, one actually plays over the ocean as the waves pound into the rocks causing a white wall of water swirling round the cove, a very tricky little hole which gets the nerves going of many a good golfer to that end their ball ends up in the ocean. The course is surrounded by many “barrancos” or small ravines and rocky, volcanic areas. Your hat must take your hat off for all the green keeping staff because although the sun shines here almost every day they use lots and lots of water, which I believe is all recycled, as fresh water on the island is a very precious commodity and not to be used for leisure purposes. To keep this vast area green and in playable condition must be enormous and a very skilled job and when I was there the greens were running very fast and true although they did have some problem with the 17th green but it seemed on hand with a full reseed of the bottom half of the green. The course also has a full driving range with bunker and chipping areas as well as long range practice area. The Amarilla complex also has an excellent well maintained small tricky little nine hole pitch and putt course ideal for brushing up on your short game, maybe after a lesson, or for taking a youngster, if you can par this course you deserve a drink in the bar. Whilst in the Amarilla area I took a run along the marina area to the lighthouse at the end of the pier and found it was a café called Bar De La Torres you go upstairs into a nice seating area where they sell food and drink all day, as its at the end of the pier the views looking over the ocean are breathtaking and then you turn round and you have the mountain range a full 360 deg vista