Thursday, April 27th 2006

There are two courses at the Marriott Resort in Son Antem. I played the 'East' course, and enjoyed it very much. It's perhaps not as impressive as some other courses on the island, and it has more of a 'club course' feel to it, but it is definitely fun to play. The tees were set forward quite a bit, so I played off the white ones, which made it a bit more challenging. The course has a typical parkland layout, pretty flat, an easy walk. Every hole has its own distinct features and you have to give some thought to playing the holes to your advantage; the course never gets dull.

Wednesday, April 26th 2006

Son Vida - my favorite course so far. Beautiful fairways, lovely views, very good greens - all of them sloping one way or another (usually from back to front), quite challenging but fast and true. A varied course, every hole has something unique to offer. Green fee of EUR 79, trolley EUR 6, well worth it.

Nice club house with an artificial waterfall feature and a lot of comfy chairs to rest your weary feet after a satisfying round of golf.
The par 3's with elevated tees are particularly tricky, selecting the right club is not trivial here. I consistently overclubbed one or two clubs - best to err on the short side here.

Tueday, April 25th - Santa Ponsa I.

I like this course; it is very long though, so you must have reasonable distance off the tees to play well here. There are wide fairways that are quite forgiving, the greens are true (perhaps a bit slow), and it has some very nice holes. Overall maintenance quality is perhaps not as good as some of the newer courses, but there are very few spots where this interferes with play. You do get the odd bare lie though; thoughfully, there is a local rule that allows placing on the fairways.

The club house is great; there is a very nice terrace where you can have a drink and something to eat with a lovely view of the surrounding areas. The club house is a bit removed from the number one tee (always good to see a few latecomers sprinting over to settle their dues).

1. GOLF SON ANTEM
Ctra. de Palma - Lluchmajor, km 3,4; Apdo. Correos 102; 07620 - Llucmajor.
Manager: Ann C. Whitelaw. Holes: 36
Tel.: 971.12.92.00 - Fax: 971.12.92.01

2. SON VIDA GOLF
Urbanización Son Vida; 07013 - Palma.
Designer: F.W. Hawtree; Manager: Juan Alvarez. Holes: 18
Tel.: 971.79.12.10 - Fax: 971.79.11.27

3. SON MUNTANER GOLF
Urbanización Son Vida; 07013 - Palma.
Holes: 18.
Only for guests of the hotels Son Vida and Arabella Sheraton.
Tel.: 971.79.12.10

4. REAL GOLF DE BENDINAT
Urbanización Bendinat. - C/. Illetas, s/n. ; 07184 - Calvià.

Played on Monday, April 24th, 2006.

A nice course, bit difficult to find: initially, follow the signs to Andratx, and then those to Camp de Mar. At the circle where the resort (orange marker) is sign-posted, go straight through, and take the next left to get to the course. My internet reservation worked out ok. Most of the front-facing personell at the club seems to be, or at least speak, German; English is also not a problem. Staff was very friendly and efficient.

Carts are mandatory before 14:00h, which puts the total fee at EUR 95. This includes a free bottle of water in your cart. The course is nicely laid out, and calls for precise driving. It's definitely one of the more challenging courses on Mallorca; not recommended for high handicapers, you'll enjoy the course if you're at or below 24 I'd say. The greens were nicely shaped, very undulating but rather bumpy, which made putting quite a challenge and a bit of a hit-and-miss afair. The fairways were in good shape; as a rule, they run in a bowl-shaped fashion with uphill slopes to the right and left, which help to feed slightly off drives onto the fairway. The fairways are not very wide though, and hitting them takes some precision in your drive.

The Hotel Saratoga is situated close to the old town of Palma; not far from the Cathedral, and an excellent starting point to walk around in the city, with its many restaurants and bars and quaint architecture. The hotel itself is unremarkable; the usual mediterranean 4* standard, a reasonably quiet location; the room I got is ok, but the walls between rooms are not very well insulated, so you can here people talk or watch the telly next door. Bit cumbersome if your neighbours come home late and feel the urgent desire to chat through their adventures of the night there and then.
Breakfast is not bad, lot's of variety; the one redeeming factor that is a big plus for the hotel is the fact that they provide wireless internet access at no cost, which works well; I got it up and running with no installation hassles whatsoever. You just need to ask for the proxy userid and password (hotelsaratoga and 727240 respectively), and off you go. Speed is good.

It's great to be back in Mallorca again! I took a flight with Swiss on Sunday on the evening of the 23rd of April, picked up a rental car, and made my way to the Hotel Saratoga. I'm looking forward to shake off the winter blues and get into golfing again. Tomorrow it's off to Golf d'Andratx; I used their web site's online booking service, which seems to be unique for the island since so far it is the only real online service I've found, let's see if it works out.

Im Südwesten Mallorcas befinden sich der Golfplatz Poniente (www.ponientegolf.com), der Golf de Andratx (www.golfdeandratx.com) und die Golfplätze Santa Ponsa I, II und III (www.habitatgolf.es). In der Nähe von Palma gelegen sind die Plätze Son Vida Golf (www.sonvidagolf.com) und Son Muntaner (www.golfsonmuntaner.com) und der Golfplatz von Bendinat (www.realgolfbendinat.com). Halb in den Bergen der Sierra de Tramuntana befindet sich der Golf Son Termens (www.golfsontermens.com), während die beiden Plätze von Son Antem Ost und West (www.marriotthotels.com/pmigs) sich im flachen Inselsüden erstrecken. Ganz im Norden Mallorcas können Golfer auf den Plätzen von Pollença (www.golfpollensa.com) und Alcanada (www.golf-alcanada.com) spielen. An der Ostküste der Insel liegen die Plätze Canyamel Golf (www.canyamelgolf.com), Capdepera Golf (www.capdeperagolf.com), Pula Golf (www.pulagolf.com), Son Servera Golf (www.golfsonservera.com) und der Golfplatz Vall d’Or (www.valldorgolf.com).

To kick things off, I'd like to ask if anyone reading would have some advice on golf in Mallorca in April. I'm planning on staying in Palma, for about five days, and would like to play as much golf as possible; what courses would you recommend? Are there any that should positively be avoided? Looking forward to better weather...