Huelva, which captures the last rays of sunlight in southern Spain, at its most south-western point, enjoys a pleasant and moderate climate all year round, with an average temperature of 18.6 degrees and the highest number of clear days on the peninsula: 156. With spectacular beaches of fine white sand, and the incomparable Doñana nature park, this Andalucian province seduces visitors with its natural light – and its golf.
Many years have passed since English miners working in he Riotinto mines founded Huelva Golf Course – the first on the peninsula. The possibility of playing during every season has resulted in extraordinarily quick growth in the development of golf in Huelva.
There are currently nine golf courses in the province, distributed among eight clubs.
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Isla Canela Golf
Situated between the beach of Isla Canela and Ayamonte, and boasting excellent travel connections and a mild climate with an average annual temperature of 20ºC, this course is a privileged tourism destination. Gentle slopes formed by sand dunes blend with a picturesque landscape of olive, orange and eucalyptus trees to produce a design requiring precision, striking power and skill in exactly the right proportion. The 18 holes on this course are arranged in a natural design, highly adapted to the topography of the site, rather than being dependent on artificial elements. It is an extremely versatile course with large teeing grounds, comfortable and easy for average players yet fairly difficult for high-level professional competitions.
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Costa Esuri Golf Club
Costa Esuri, situated near the town of Ayamonte in a stunning beauty spot on the banks of the River Guadiana with magnificent views of Portugal and the mouth of the river, is a superb destination for golf players, offering 18 holes and the chance to play two completely different rounds on the same course, designed in the style of British links with wide fairways and exquisitely shaped greens. The wind also plays a prominent role. It is a long British links-style course, with wide fairways and exquisitely moulded greens, with the wind playing an important role. It measures 6,584 metres and is integrated into the area that descends towards the Guadiana marshes, overlooking the sea and the town of Ayamonte. It is a more technical course than others, as the fairways of nine of its holes meander through terrain similar to that of Scotland’s toughest golfing origins, with the aim of imitating its traditional landscape features.
As it is located in a natural reserve, some of the fairways are a protected area, with no high vegetation, and are more exposed to the natural elements, which adds even more difficulty to a round of golf.
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Islantilla Golf Club
Situated in one of the principal residential and sports resorts on the Huelva coast, the Islantilla Golf Club opened at the beginning of the 1990s and, having hosted top-ranking tournaments, enjoys international fame. Its clubhouse is a colonial-style building with exquisite interior decoration. Just 50 metres away lies the modern four-star hotel, Islantilla Golf Resort. The gentle slopes, water features, landscape and climate conditions all combine to make playing golf in Islantilla a genuine pleasure for all types of golfers and handicaps. The 27-hole golf courses offers three 9-hole rounds designed for different types of players, ranging from medium-low handicaps requiring precision and striking power, to the easiest conditions. Meanwhile, its Penncross greens and Agrostis fairways offer both quality and variety.
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Golf El Rompido
Golf El Rompido is situated on the edge of the Piedras Marshlands, a protected nature area with ecological merits and magnificent views of the Atlantic. The modern clubhouse offers golfers a wide range of facilities for relaxing after an intense round, and there is also a fantastic five-star on-site hotel. The South Course has hosted numerous tournaments, including the Spanish Professional Circuit final, while the North Course was graded 17/20 in the prestigious Peugeot 1,000 Best Courses in Europe guide and highlighted as one of the best facilities in Spain.
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Golf Nuevo Portil
This exclusive golf course is situated in Cartaya, at the heart of the Huelva coast, and enjoys an average temperature of 22ºC and 3,000 hours of sunshine per year. The Golf Nuevo Portil clubhouse offers a range of facilities, including a driving range, pitch & putt, putting green, changing rooms, sauna, pro-shop, caddy master, restaurant and café. Visitors can also stay on-site at a superb four-star hotel. The fairways afford stunning views of the long beaches and sand dunes, the sea, the forest, ancient junipers and parts of the Piedras Marshlands and El Rompido Spit.
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Club de Golf Bellavista
Bellavista Golf is an ideal course for enjoying the game all year round in a stunning natural setting surrounded by pine trees and fanned by the sea breeze. Added to which, the club offers its customers the use of its indoor practice range, tennis, squash and paddle tennis courts, and swimming pool. Meanwhile, a restaurant, creche, games rooms, reading room and an exhibition of old trophies will make visitors feel like they are in their own club.
Handsome pine trees accompany golfers throughout the course, which has wide fairways and short distances between the greens and teeing grounds, resulting in an extremely comfortable, fast game. Not far from the sea, this course offers golfing enthusiasts of all levels the great challenge of using nearly all the clubs in their bag. The most difficult holes, 8, 14 and 12, are par-four, requiring an accurate drive to make the second stroke a stroke to the green in this small, downhill design surrounded by bunkers.
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Club de Golf Corta Atalaya
Situated at the foot of the Sierra de Aracena y Picos de Aroche Nature Reserve, Golf Corta Atalaya is the oldest golf club in Spain, dating back to the early 20th century (1914) when British technicians employed at the Rio Tinto Mining Company founded it as the North Lode Golf Club. In 1992 the club opened on a new site, a repopulated mine void from which it is possible to see the corta or open cut from which it takes its name today. A nearby place of interest is the picturesque English Quarter with its Victorian-style buildings. One of the greatest charms of this course is the spectacle of colour, reds, coppers and ochres, offered by the old mine cut. This is a 9-hole course, with three par-3 holes, five par-4 holes and one par-5 hole. Approximately half of the course is fairly flat, but there are fairly steep fairways. The unique feature of this course is that the fairways are earth rather than grass.
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La Monacilla
La Monacilla Golf Club, in Aljaraque municipality, just five minutes from Huelva capital city, has been designed by none other than dual US Masters champion José María Olazábal. The 18-hole course, par-72 and 6,800 metres, is located in a stunning natural pine forest setting, surrounded by green areas and near the mouth of the Odiel river.
La Monacilla has the advantage of winding through a landscape of tall pine trees, which gives the course an immediate sense of maturity.
It is a fairly flat course, with wide fairways, very large greens and six tees on each hole, thus providing considerable diversity for play. It has four lakes, two of which come into play alongside two holes.
