Golf in the north of Mallorca
For some, Mallorca equals partying in Magaluf; for others their destination of choice is the vibrant, beautiful capital Palma de Mallorca. Both of these are in the south of the island where there are many fine golf courses. But Mallorca’s best golf course is probably in the north.
Someone at the airport, who knew only that I was there to play golf, not what I did, told me Alcanada was the island’s best course. I asked how he could be so definite. “Because Golf Monthly says it is,” he replied with a self-satisfied air of someone with the clinching argument.
But first stop was Pula. Well umpteenth stop as it turned out as our driver got lost. We were later told that satnavs often struggle to locate Pula. At one point we were bumping down a potholed single lane overgrown track. Quite why the driver thought our hotel might be at the end of it I don’t know – it was the way to a rubbish dump it turned out – but a while later he was attempting to squeeze the minibus along a golf course cart path, so he was clearly an optimistic fellow.
It had been an eventful journey one way and another. I had been booked on Ryanair by a PR company who obviously hated me. The airport automatic gates could not read my boarding pass, so I was directed to Ryanair’s Customer Service (the definition of an oxymoron?) After twenty minutes in their queue, I calculated it would take more than two hours to be served, by which time my flight would have long gone. I pointed this out to a staff member, who sent me to another queue which he said was quicker. It was slower. I barged my way to the front and asked for a new boarding pass which, with bad grace, I was given. Then, by queue jumping at security and running like the wind (well okay, a gentle breeze), I made the gate just in time for the flight. Other airlines are available.
The small resort of Pula may be elusive, but it also really rather delightfully atmospheric and has much of what you’d expect and want from it such as a restaurant, spa, sauna, outdoor swimming pool, three-tier putting green, two-tier driving range with Trackman. If your list of desires include a windmill and an ancient chapel, well it has those, too. The resort is big on sustainability, and has it own 1.5 acre vegetable garden where it grows produce for its restaurant.
Accommodation is spread across two buildings. The old manor house which dates from 1581, has ten individually designed and decorated suites. The newly built accommodation offers purpose-built self-catering accommodation, although guests are also able to use the restaurant for all meals.
The course was, from 2003-2007, the venue for the Mallorca Classic on the European Tour. The layout, which had opened in 1995, was not considered to be of Tour standard, so José María Olazábal carried out renovations to the course – six holes per year, starting in 2004. He certainly got to know his way round here – he won the Mallorca Classic by five shots in 2005. His design is eminently serviceable but perhaps lacks in drama and excitement in places. The 16th hole, offering views of the sea from the tee and with a mountain backdrop, was the favourite hole of our party.
Alcanada is a visual feast, with the holes having either as their backdrop the Sierra de Lavante mountains or the sea. It is forgiving off the tee, and the greens, previously notoriously tricky to read, have had their contours softened when the greens were relaid in 2018. The pick of some highly scenic holes is the par-5 13th, played from an elevated tee with a glorious view to the green set against the backdrop of the sea and the lighthouse on the island on Alcanada, 150m offshore.
Alcanada has no on-site accommodation but has partnered with the recently re-opened and refitted Inmood Aucanda hotel, which is also on the coast and is a 15-minute walk from the golf through the local village.
