Los Arqueros Golf & Country Club is the first golf in Spain designed by Severiano Ballesteros, and it’s situated only 10 minutes from Marbella, in Costa del Sol. Los Arqueros Golf, a challenging 18 hole, par 71, inaugurated in 1991, has been designed by a man who is not only one of the world’s top professional golfers, but also a native of the country, Severiano Ballesteros. He has shared his knowledge and put his name into the creation of almost 30 golf courses throughout the world.
The underlying idea in the design of Los Arqueros was to create a course which followed the lie of the land and blended harmoniously with the natural surroundings. Seve took this philosophy to heart when designing the course, and each hole has its own particular personality.
Like most of the courses concentrated in this part of the Costa, the fairways at Los Arqueros compete with real estate for the available space and unfortunately, housing has encroached on the layout, particularly on the front nine.
Nonetheless, there are plenty of challenges on the course (such as water hazards, doglegged fairways, out of bounds, multi-tiered greens, uphill and downhill holes) to keep golfers concentrating on the job in hand rather than worrying about their surroundings.
Both par threes on the front nine are very good (the 2nd plays downhill and the 5th has a two-tiered green) whilst the par five 13th is regarded as the signature hole on the card – starting from an elevated tee, the narrow fairway veers right to the green, falling away steeply on that side. Anyone who adopts a Ballesteros persona and takes the pin on by cutting the corner with their second shot will be advised to play a fade down the left in order to avoid a lost ball on the other side of the fairway!
The most difficult hole at Los Arqueros Golf is the hole 8th. A 480 meters Par 5 with a Hcp of 1.
Los Arqueros Golf & Country Club is a good course for players of all kinds – a reasonable challenge for the average golfer and a tough test for professionals.