If you enjoy the written review of Real Club Sevilla, please go to our complementary podcast here https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-golf-pilgrim-top-100/id1743914901?i=1000683458766
Swelled oranges bent the branches of trees that lined the streets of this fabled city against the backdrop of azure skies.
Mrs W and I thought there could be no prettier place to take refuge from an English winter than Seville.
And the golf club that bears its name, Real Sevilla, maintained the high bar set by our time spent on the tourist trail.
According to the weather forecast, the temperature for our game at the Jose-Maria Olazabal-designed course should not have reached more than 14C.
In fact, it soared to about 22C, and the sun's reflection shimmered off the many water hazards, giving an early-year sense of summer.
Real Sevilla prides itself on its family feel. Meanwhile, the hacienda-style clubhouse may be modern, but its honours boards reflect past glories.
It also has the highest standards of service and food and drink.
The practice facilities are impressive, in common with other high-end Spanish venues.
But the most memorable element is the conditioning of its course – the fairway lies were near-perfect when we played, and the greens, with their devilish contours, were speedy but consistent.
Real Sevilla builds gently into the crescendo of its final five holes.
The opener is a fairly gentle par-four – but bunkers await those drift away from the green's narrow entrance.
This is the tone for much of the course – sand and water are the major threats, and accuracy is key. Shooting for the flag was rewarded because the greens were moist and holding.
I found this to my delight on the long par-four second which I had taken on conservatively but saw my pitch dig in three feet from the flag, leaving a tap-in par.
The water appears for the first time on the par-three third, but the pond should be cleared without too much trouble before a green that has bunkers left and right.
It re-emerges down the left-hand side of the sixth – a long par-four which descends towards a target defended by the now-familiar sand traps.
Mrs W had suffered much bunker woe in the opening holes – now it was my turn. Consequently, my early hopes of a stellar score disappeared as quickly as the early-morning dew.
Unusually, I had shots on all of the par-threes at Real Sevilla – and, boy, did I need them – resorting to driver on three of the four because they were longer than 200 yards.
Nevertheless, I trudged pointless off the uphill seventh – a devilish hole with bunkers surrounding the target.
The par-five ninth offered a rare birdie opportunity as two pleasing strikes avoiding water on the right were followed by a chip to the back of a two-tier green. The putt narrowly missed.
I think the back nine is much stronger than the front – with attractive lakes, pretty bridges, deep sand traps and tall palm trees dotting the landscape.
The course is also surrounded by some gorgeous properties.
The 10th leads players in nicely – a dogleg par-four into a green defended by water on the right and trees to the left. There is nowhere to bail out.
I enjoyed the short par-four 12th – another dogleg with a desert of sand down the right before an ascent into a treacherous green that falls back to front.
But Real Sevilla's gems are reserved from the final quintet, straight out of Europe's top drawer.
The par-four 14th demands a drive between tall trees before the player is faced with a decision whether to attack a green that is behind water.
Mrs W and I went for conservative strategies but shared the champagne moment by nailing consecutive three-pointers with curling putts from off the green.
The tee shot from the 15th – the stroke index one - is even more intimidating as it is over an expanse of water and needs to avoid a copse of tall trees down the left.
I laced the ball down the middle, whacked a three-wood to the front of the target,
avoiding the bunkers on either side, but fell foul of the subtle borrows of a huge green.
Strategy is to the fore on the 16th – a par-five with water directly in front of the pin with a bunker at the rear, while the 17th is another 200+-yard par-three with a giant bunker protecting the green.
Mrs W and I were tied in our match going into the 18th – a belting home hole which runs down the side of a lake.
She had bunker trouble off the tee, and I managed the hole splendidly to leave myself a 12ft putt for par.
I even joked that I could have used the handle of the putter to complete the job and yet conspired to knock it five feet past the cup and missed the return.
How she mocked me as we sat on the balcony, eating a lovely lunch, overlooking more adventurers setting off on the first.
Real Sevilla had matched the drama played out on the city's famous football grounds and flamenco stages.
We certainly didn’t want to go home.
Comments