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Golf
in Casablanca
Golf was introduced before football in Morocco at the beginning
of the century and has since become a national passion. This craze
for the game is also a reflection of royal favour, since golf is
the favourite sport of His Majesty King Hassan II.
The Hassan II Trophy is held annually at Royal Dar es Salaam Golf Club
in Rabat and has become a popular tournament with some of the biggest names in
the game. There are 45 holes at Royal Dar es Salaam and, having been given full
rein to his imagination, Robert Trent Jones has laid out breathtaking fairways
among the cypress, palm, eucalyptus and cork-oak trees. Equally stunning is the
Agadir Royal Golf Club, which was borne out of a Scottish golf enthusiast, known
only as Wilson, digging out a hole in what was then a field.
 A
few years later, another enthusiast called Colonel Kamili continued
the work to create the current nine-hole course and their triangular
setting bordered with geraniums. It is a truly delightful place
to play golf, though trees and dense undergrowth combine to ensure
the par of 36 is no pushover by any manner of means.
Take a talented and imaginative designer in the shape of Cabell
Robinson, a superb stretch of gently rolling land with abundant
growths of eucalyptus punctuated by expanses of water and you will
obtain the magnificent Dunes Golf Club, which is also in Agadir
and has three nine-hole par-36 courses.
The Eucalyptus Course is
ideal for warming up but that doesn't mean to say it's easy. The eighth hole,
for instance, is a real gem. Its green suddenly comes into view on the top of
a hill surrounded by bunkers, though once the effort has been made to tackle it
you'll be rewarded with a magnificent, uninterrupted view of Inezgane. The Wadi
Course requires much more skill, typified by the par-5 third, where the narrow
green is guarded by a lake, an embankment, a bunker and a deep depression. The
third course at the Dunes is called the Tamarisk and here you'll need all your
clubs and also your A game.
Trouble can easily be found in the two lakes
that are on the course, as well as the eucalyptus wood. The last hole is a narrow
par-5 that climbs up through the trees before gently sloping down to the green
and clubhouse. Completing a formidable trio of Agadir clubs is the five star Golf
du Soleil, a 27-hole facility which is set around lakes, palm trees and eucalyptus.
Altogether, there are approximately 30 golf courses in Morocco and others well
worth a visit include Ben Slimane and El Jadida, both of which are near the Atlantic
Coast, Mohammadia Royal Golf Club near Casablanca and the Royal Tangier Golf Club.
 The
latter symbolises the Moroccan passion for the game. It was inaugurated
in 1917 and though King Hassan II has subsequently had it brought
up to date the natural, spontaneous character which the original
architect had been aiming for has been preserved.
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English Golf Courses 
