LA HACIENDA LINKS: IS THIS THE BEST GOLF COURSE IN SPAIN? WE PLAYED 82 TO FIND OUT.
We have played 82 golf courses together across five countries. This one is the best we have played in 2025.
Not the best in Spain. The best. Full stop. La Hacienda Links. If we could only play one course in Spain for the rest of our lives, it would be this one.
That is not a line for a headline. That is what we said on camera at the end of the round and we meant every word of it.
What you need before you book
La Hacienda Links Golf Resort. San Roque, Cádiz. Between Gibraltar and Sotogrande on the Costa del Sol. Par 72. White tees 5,895 metres, slope 133. Yellow tees 5,540 metres, slope 128. Play the yellow tees. The white championship tees carry intimidating forced carries over coastal ravines that will punish mid-handicappers, particularly into the Levante wind.
Green fee: €199 to €299 depending on season. Buggy included in every round. GPS navigation, cooler box, digital pin locations on every cart. Handicap certificate required. Maximum 28 for men, 36 for women. Open daily 07:30 to 19:00.
Practice facilities included with the green fee. 72 bay driving range, 36 covered, Bentgrass putting greens that match the speed of the course exactly.
We arrived early. That was intentional. When a course has a practice facility this good, you use it. We warmed up properly, hit balls, putted. Then we went to the pro shop. The pro shop is excellent. Well stocked, well organised. The kind of place where you go in for one glove and come out having made decisions. Good decisions.
Closest airport: Gibraltar, approximately 35 minutes. Málaga Airport approximately 90 minutes. The Fairmont La Hacienda hotel is on site. Five-star, ocean views, serious kitchen. Stay there if you can.
Book your round: lahaciendagolf.com
The two designers
The Links Course was originally designed in 1992 by Clive Clark and Peter Alliss. Peter Alliss played eight Ryder Cups, won more than 20 tournaments and spent over 50 years as the voice of golf on BBC television. Golf Digest called him the greatest golf commentator who ever lived. He designed this course in 1992. He died in December 2020. He never heard it called the best golf course in Spain.
The architect who redesigned it is an American named Kurtis Bowman. He started his career at Augusta National, home of The Masters. He was so persistent about getting a job there that they eventually gave in the first Ohio State student in history to work at Augusta. La Hacienda Links was his first project in Europe.
His first words when he visited the old course: this should be the Pebble Beach of Spain.
He spent more than 150 days on site. The course reopened in July 2022. You feel his thinking on every single hole.
La Hacienda Links. Best Golf Course in Spain at the World Golf Awards 2023. World's Best Halfway House 2024. Number 94 in the world. The only links-style course in southern Spain. And the best course we played in 2025.
The round, from the first tee to the 18th green
Our playing partners that day were two lovely gentlemen from Korea. Really nice. Very enthusiastic. Slightly more interested in filming themselves than playing golf. Slightly. We enjoyed them very much. Different approach to the game. Same love of it.
Kurtis Bowman starts easy. Wide fairway on number one, generous par five, room to breathe. He lets people feel good before the course starts asking serious questions.
Then hole three arrives. Handicap one. The hardest hole on the course. 440 metres. Par 4. It does not apologise and it does not negotiate. We negotiated anyway. We lost.
But here is what this course does brilliantly. It tests you and teases you at the same time. From holes three and four, something starts building. The layout opens up. A glimpse of the sea. Something is coming.
And then hole five.
We have played 82 golf courses across five countries. We have had moments on golf courses. But the fifth tee at La Hacienda Links — elevated par five — and suddenly the whole world is in front of you. The Mediterranean. The Rock of Gibraltar. The coastline stretching out below. The hole drops all the way down to a green that sits almost on the beach.
This is not marketing. This is just what it is.
We both took photos before we looked at the yardage. Kurtis Bowman said this would be the most photographed hole in Spain before the course even reopened. He was absolutely right.
A ditch cuts across the fairway and forces a decision before you swing. The green at the bottom is enormous — shared with the 13th, almost on the beach, with big contours and positions you did not expect. Hildur two-putted. Steini did not putt at all. We are moving on.
Holes 6, 7, 8 and 9 keep delivering. Every one of them. No filler. No walking from one decent hole to the next.
Hole 6 — before the redesign this played across a pond. Completely forgettable. Bowman removed the pond entirely. Pushed the green to the edge of a ridge with Gibraltar sitting directly behind it. One decision turned the hole nobody remembered into the one nobody forgets.
Hole 7. Par five. Green reachable in two over water. We both went for it. The water is very wet. We know this now.
Hole 8. 140 metres. Looks simple on the card. Then the Levante wind hits you — the wind that funnels through the Strait of Gibraltar and has been making people miserable for over 3,000 years. On this hole it continues that tradition. Do not read the yardage. Read the flag. Then add a club. Maybe two.
The Calma halfway house
Between holes 9 and 10 sits Calma. World's Best Halfway House at the 2024 World Golf Awards. Clifftop position. Gibraltar right in front of you, the course spread out below, the Mediterranean beyond it.
We sat there and we genuinely did not want to leave.
The design of it, the position of it, the view from it, it is possibly the only halfway house where the toilet has a better view than most restaurants. That is completely true and we are not ashamed to say it.
We almost did not go back out for the back nine. Then we remembered we had nine holes left at La Hacienda Links. That made the decision easy.
The back nine, Gibraltar watching every shot
Hole 10. You tee off and Gibraltar is just there, right in front of you. Watching every shot. The whole back nine carries this presence that is hard to describe. You feel it the whole way home. The sea beside you, the rock in front of you, the course asking questions all the way to 18.
Hole 11. Dogleg right. The green drops off a cliff straight toward the beach. One of the most dramatic green positions we have seen on any course in Spain.
Hole 14 is the surprise of the back nine. Short uphill par 4 with water cascading through boulders into a lake. Four bunkers around the green. Trees closing everything off. Not a breathing hole. Not a moment to relax.
And then 18. Par five. Gibraltar watching the whole time. A grand way to end a round this good.
What makes La Hacienda different from every other great course we have played
It is not too long. It is not too short. Hildur played the ladies tees. Steini played the gents. We both found it equally fun, equally challenging, equally rewarding. That does not always happen.
The fairways are wide enough that you feel free off the tee. The rough is real — we found it. The bunkers look fierce but they are strategic, not cruel. You can make par from them. They are there to make you think, not ruin your round.
The greens are the best we played in 2025. Fast, contoured, full of character. The condition of the whole course is immaculate. Greenkeepers on every stretch. Bunkers raked perfectly.
From hole one to hole 18. Not one boring moment. Not one hole where you are just getting through it to reach the next one.
Most courses do one or two things really well. La Hacienda Links does nearly all of it. From the moment we arrived to the moment we walked off the 18th — the clubhouse, the pro shop, the restaurant, the practice facilities, the layout, the condition, the greens, the halfway house, the views, the atmosphere — it just kept delivering.
Hildur's hole in one
Hole 17. Par 3. Heavy wind directly at us from the Strait. Hildur stepped onto the tee and said it before she even took a practice swing.
"Okay, heavy wind. Probably I won't hit the green because it's heavy wind."
The contact was pure. Her Srixon ball cut through the Gibraltar wind tracking straight at the pin. From the tee we were both convinced it had gone too far.
"Too long, too long. I thought I wouldn't hit the green. Okay, it's gone."
We drove to the green. Walked to the cup. And there it was. Sitting at the bottom of the hole.
"Oh my god. Oh my god. I made it. I'm going to put it in my wallet. I'm shaking. Do you believe it? Against the wind and everything. A hole in one. Steini, I'm so happy."
The Srixon ball went straight into her wallet. It is still there.
Against the wind. On her favourite course in Spain. With Gibraltar behind her and Africa in the distance. We have played 82 golf courses around the world. That is the moment we will still be talking about when we are 80.
The verdict
We played 82 golf courses across five countries. In 2025 we played in Spain, Iceland and beyond. La Hacienda Links is the best we played all year. Not the best in Spain. The best. Period.
If we could only play one course in Spain for the rest of our lives, this is the one.
That is the only thing you need to know.
Par 72. Green fee €199 to €299. Buggy included. Handicap 28 men, 36 women. Open daily 07:30 to 19:00. The Fairmont hotel on site. Five-star, ocean views, serious kitchen. Stay there if you can.
Watch our full review: youtube.com/watch?v=_Wli0uuIINc
Watch Hildur's hole in one: youtube.com/watch?v=xT9SjjWfiBg
You don't stop having fun because you get old. You get old because you stopped having fun.
Steini and Hildur
Beyond 50
FAQ
Is La Hacienda Links worth the green fee?
Yes. At €199 to €299 depending on season with a GPS buggy included, this is exceptional value for the best course on the Costa del Sol. Valderrama costs €674 minimum for a couple. La Hacienda gives you Africa visible from every green, the World's Best Halfway House and a Kurtis Bowman design that earned number 94 in the world. The choice is clear.
Who designed La Hacienda Links Golf Course?
Originally designed by Peter Alliss and Clive Clark in 1992. Completely rebuilt by American architect Kurtis Bowman — who started his career at Augusta National — and relaunched in July 2022. Named Best Golf Course in Spain at the 2023 World Golf Awards.
What tees should a golfer over 50 play at La Hacienda Links?
The yellow tees at 5,540 metres with slope 128. They provide the ideal combination of challenge and accessibility. Avoid the white championship tees at 5,895 metres slope 133 unless you have a handicap below 10. The Levante wind makes the white tees genuinely punishing for mid-handicappers.
What is the Calma halfway house?
Calma sits between holes 9 and 10 and was named World's Best Halfway House at the 2024 World Golf Awards. Views of Gibraltar, Africa and the Mediterranean simultaneously. Possibly the only halfway house where the toilet has a better view than most restaurants. We are not ashamed to say this.
Is La Hacienda Links walkable?
The course drops over 150 vertical metres from the clubhouse ridge to the coastline. The buggy is included in the green fee. Take it.
How far is La Hacienda Links from Gibraltar Airport?
Approximately 35 minutes by car. Málaga Airport is approximately 90 minutes away.
Is there a hotel at La Hacienda Links?
Yes. The Fairmont La Hacienda Costa del Sol opened in 2025. Five-star. 311 rooms, suites and villas. Ocean views. Serious kitchen. Stay there if you can.
