English Golf Courses

Golf in Marrakesh

Golf was first played in Marrakesh 80 years ago and today the Moroccan city has three excellent courses, making it a popular destination for golfing holidays. The Marrakesh Royal Golf Club is the oldest of the trio, having been built by the pasha of Marrakesh in 1920, three years before it was officially opened. Constantly renovated and improved, it is one of His Majesty King Hassan II's favourite golf courses and the golfing-mad royal knows his stuff.

The course measures 6200 metres, has a par of 72 and is set in a sea of cypress, eucalyptus, palm, olive, orange and apricot trees. Be warned, though, it's not just pleasant on the eye. The courses provide an excellent test of golf and you'll certainly need to be extra vigilant when you come to the fifteenth.

There, the green is hidden behind two grassy mounds separated by a bunker. And, just to make it even more difficult, the angle of attack is blocked slightly by high palm trees. Winston Churchill, David Lloyd George and Ike Eisenhower have all played here and it is certainly worth finding out just why for yourself.

And the same goes for the two other golfing gems in Marrakesh - the Palmeraie Golf Club and Amelkis Golf Club. Palmeraie is an 18-hole masterpiece from Robert Trent Jones - there's just no other way to put it! The famous American designed a spacious valley, its broad form broken by thousands of palm trees and embellished with seven lakes.

Numerous bunkers add the pearly whiteness of the Atlantic beaches to this lush scene, with the ochre walls and green tiles of the magnificent Moorish-styled clubhouse forming a striking centrepiece to the whole design. Moroccan courses are renowned for their visual appeal but Amelkis may well be the most eye-catching of all and also perhaps the most exciting to play. It has been built on a big site and has big targets.

It has expansive, undulating fairways, seductive mounding, lakes and fountains and, last but by no means least, unique waste bunkers. These were created from crushed rock and the colour of them really complement the landscape.

The greens are massive but put your approach in the wrong spot on them and you could easily end up four putting! In winter, just three hours from cloudy British skies, golfers can enjoy their game in Marrakesh in the midst of palm groves with a fairytale view of the snow-capped Atlas.

It sounds lovely, doesn't it, and if you want to give it a go then most of the hotels in magical Marrakesh offer the possibility to play on any of the three courses.