In the fifties the area of Guadiaro was farming country but then came Sotogrande and some farm workers, moving with the times, became greenkeepers. Their work at Sotogrande kindled an intense interest in the game and they developed a small nine-hole golf course on a mountainside. With local kids gathering in their droves to whack golf balls around this primitive “golf course” the tiny village of Guadiaro was able to boast of more golfers than any other village in the entire country. Major improvements were guaranteed when Jamie Ortiz Patino talked the municipality into donating a parcel of the land and then arranged for the doyen of golf course architects, Robert Trent Jones, to design a nine-hole golf course. La Canada was the result and some ten years later, with financial help from both the First Tee programme and Jimmy Patino, a second nine-holes, designed by Dave Thomas, was added. When a clubhouse became a reality La Canada was really on the golfing map but, remaining true to the spirit of their origins, it was decided that local golfers would still get priority with tee times.
MEMORABLE HOLES
La Canada is something of a hidden gem and the final three holes are a pure joy. The 16th travels dramatically downhill as it wends its way among a tapestry of trees until it reaches the green. The par-3 17th will doubtless cause havoc to many a player’s card. Although measuring just 135-metres this short hole provides the original “all duck or no dinner” tee shot. The ball has to carry a chasm and then a lake as it wings its way to its intended destination. An ability to blank out the potential for disaster will be the biggest requirement of the tee shot.
Just when you think it can get no more difficult the 18th tee provides a spectacle which is sure to cause a further tightening of the tummy muscles. The ground immediately in front of the tee drops off into a huge abyss which is filled with an eye-catching selection of trees. The drive, on this 338-metres hole, has to carry about 180-metres before it arrives out onto the fairway; anything less will require a re-load and three off the tee, and so on! The buggy-path brings you right around the edge of the gorge which must be the final resting place of countless thousands of golf balls. The fairway slopes severely from right to left as it rolls down onto a plateau from where you can see the green surrounded by a necklace of mounds while over the back does not look in the slightest bit inviting.
Although not of 24-carat quality, the variety of the holes, and dramatic views of the countryside, makes La Canada a delight to play. It could be suggested that the course keeps its best until last and, with golf being a game of memories for most of us, those final three holes are sure to provide moments of exhilaration, or possibly despair, which will last for some time.
THE 19TH
While sitting on the terrace, enjoying a bowl of superb gazpacho soup which came with all the trimmings, the saying, “From little acorns great oak trees grow,” came to mind for, what I remembered as a mediocre nine-hole golf course (admittedly an age ago), has changed beyond all recognition into a facility of some stature.
