Two Amazing Golf Courses In Mallorca, Spain

  • 3 weeks ago
In the first of this Travelling Golfer series, Rory Anderson heads to Mallorca to experience Pula and Alcanada. He plays both courses to see what the area has to offer.
Transcript
00:00Hello guys and girls and welcome to a brand new series here on the Golf Monthly channel
00:07called The Travelling Golfer. I'm your host, my name's Rory. If any of you who do recognize
00:12me you know that I'm an eight handicap golfer. I've spent years travelling the world, filming
00:16golf content and whacking it on YouTube. I'm here on the Golf Monthly channel to pretty
00:20much do the same and show you guys some of the best destinations that you guys might
00:23want to consider for future golf holidays. To kick off the series, I'm off to Mallorca,
00:2948 hours, two golf courses. Let's get going.
00:43Right guys, just got to Gatwick Airport. I've got a two hour, 20 minute flight time from
00:46here to Parma, capital city of Mallorca. Once I get there, I've got an hour's drive to the
00:50northeast corner of the island where the two golf courses that I'm playing this week are
00:55waiting for me. Two epic golf courses. Stay tuned, 48 hours in Mallorca, golf, sun, maybe
01:01a couple of beers and we'll see what happens. 48 hours in Mallorca, here we come.
01:19Right guys, morning of day one of my Mallorca adventure. I'm at Pula Golf Resort, one of
01:24my favorite venues that I visited here in Mallorca. Basically, it's like a one-stop
01:28shop, stay and play resort. You've got two different accommodation options, one here
01:32and then some proper golf-centric apartments up there. Got the Sierra de Pula restaurant
01:36just literally 20 yards away from where I am now. Fantastic restaurant, great pro shop,
01:42track man on the driving range, two-tier driving range here at Pula. Everything you need for
01:47a golf holiday, literally roll out of bed onto the first tee or onto the driving range
01:51and away you go. 18-hole golf course. I'm going to set myself a target of breaking 80
01:55today. We'll see. It's a European tour venue. It's hosted multiple European tour events
02:00in the past, so we'll see how I get on. Obviously, I play off eight, so breaking 80 is an ambitious
02:08slash realistic target depending on how I'm playing. I'm kind of quietly optimistic. Let's
02:13take to the golf course, show you what it's all about here at Pula, what you can expect
02:16if you head to Mallorca on your next golf holiday.
02:31You all have noticed I've gone baby blue, head to toe. I hope that's okay with some
02:37of you guys. I know, got beard, got man bun, and now head to toe in the same color. Apologies
02:43if that offends anyone, but here we go. Stroking X18, par 4, downwind. Bunkers up the right,
02:51I'm not sure if I can fly them or not, but let's find out, I guess.
02:55Straight at them, drifting right a touch, but it should be fine, findable for sure.
03:13Could be nice. Oh, zipped. That's gone a little bit long. Right guys, long and left
03:26of the first green here, or the fourth green should I say, after skipping the first three
03:31holes. Texas wedging, don't really feel like chipping it off a bare lie. I'm trying to
03:37practice my chipping at the moment, after a few years of duffing it all over the world,
03:42this is definitely a putt in my eyes.
03:48Sit down now. Go, go in. That's it. Oh, there's a lot of emotion going on. You can probably hear
03:54on the cam, it is quite windy today here in Mallorca. I've looked at the forecast the last
03:59couple of days, it does look like it's going to die down a bit. Look, it's start of March,
04:04in the UK we're wearing underarmour, base layers, bobble hats, thermal leggings if you're getting
04:10on a bit like I am, and here in Mallorca, I'm in a t-shirt, it's lovely weather, it's about 10,
04:1512 degrees. I'll definitely take a pile on the first, two points.
04:33So straight away here on the fifth hole at Pula, you're faced with what this course is really all
04:37about. In the middle of the round here at Pula, you've got quite big, sizeable water hazards.
04:42Like I said, it is a little bit windy today. So all up the right of this hole,
04:46I've got water. Into the wind today, so playing a little bit longer than I usually would,
04:50I'm going to hit driver, which I think is pretty aggressive, considering the fairway just gets
04:55narrower and narrower and narrower the further up the hole you go. You know, if it was a still day,
04:59I wasn't just straight out my hotel room onto the course. I'd flirt with the idea of hitting
05:03a two iron down there into the fat part of the fairway. But today, I'm going to hit driver.
05:07I'm on holiday. I'm wearing baby blue head to toe, so I shouldn't be taking myself too seriously,
05:14should I? Ah, it's an arrow. Just leaking right. Get down. I'm not going to lie.
05:27Ah, I've rinsed one into the water. So taking a bit of a drop. Got about 110-ish yards.
05:35Getting into the wind. Got a 50 degree wedge. What a disappointing start. Pile on the first.
05:43Stupid club choice off the second, to be fair. So I'm going to hit the green and
05:50top two, play three. In for a five with two putts.
05:54Ah, it's at it if it's the club. Be up. Be up. Yes, please. That is six feet or so.
06:06I've got a par putt, people. Come on. Right, this would be very sneaky getting out of here with a
06:12four. Great wedge shot, if I don't say so myself. Not like me at all. Come on, left to righter.
06:23Put another par. I've hit that quite hard as well. Don't miss this now, Rawls. Thank God.
06:41That's exactly where I wanted to hit it. I think that's perfect.
06:46And he's fatted it. Not going to lie, fatted that. It's done quite well, actually.
07:02Right, for a four. Pretty uninspiring after the tee shot, which was in a great position, to be fair.
07:09Go. Go. I'll take it. Four or five hives to kick things off with. Not the end of the world.
07:20I nearly missed that.
07:38Now, Pula opened for play in 1995, and it was just about a decade after that that the course
07:53went through an extensive remodelling phase. And it was none other than Jose Maria Arlathabel,
07:57who was overseeing that project. And anyone who's ever played an Arlathabel course knows that the
08:03guy knows exactly what he's doing. Hardly surprising for a double Masters champion
08:06and Ryder Cup legend. But yeah, he oversaw the renovations here at Pula. And you can definitely
08:11see how from these back tees, if you look behind me there, the white tee is a good, I don't know,
08:1760 yards further back than the yellow tee here today on the 12th. There really is championship
08:23golf on offer here at Pula. If you're the kind of low handicap golfer who likes to test yourself,
08:27this is definitely a course that will test your game. But with multiple tee positions,
08:32it is definitely a more friendly proposition for handicapped golfers who just want a bit more
08:37holiday golf vibe. Today on the 12th, I've got 127 yards, plays uphill, wins slightly off the right
08:43and a little bit against, I would say. So let's see what we can do here. I've not had the best
08:49of front nines. Respectable in places and something to work on for tomorrow when I head to
08:54Alcanada, which is one of the favourite courses that I've played over the last few years.
08:58So yeah, enjoying my time so far here in Mallorca. Let's see if we can finish strong
09:02on the back nine, rack up a few more pars, starting with the par 3, 12th.
09:09That is a toey hook, but I reckon I'm putting. Right, as you can see, just about held onto the
09:18putting green to be honest with you. Great result after a pretty bang average shot.
09:23And I'll show you in a second, but the step in this green is quite severe.
09:27So the pin literally three or four yards up onto the top level.
09:31This is not an easy hole, despite only being 130 yards from the yellow tees today.
09:39Go, go. Okay.
09:43As you can see, if you get this just slightly wrong, that is just going to go and go and go
09:51off the front edge of the screen. That's a naughty little pin, isn't it?
09:58And that's out to the right. Get out of that bunker.
10:12All right, this is kind of my nightmare considering how bad my chipping is. Ball
10:20off the downslope, green running away from me. I've got the 60 degree wedge out,
10:27weight on the left. Oh God, this is so difficult for me.
10:33I played that quite nicely though. Not understanding how it's not rolling right
10:39instead of left, but oh well, it's on the green. That could have been Duff City.
10:44Right. One final putt. Can I scramble a par? Can't believe that that chip has rolled down
10:51here. Although now that I'm on this side of the hole, it is a little bit more obvious.
10:55See that thing that tall pros do when they kind of look at it from all angles,
10:59doesn't make sense, but ain't nobody got time for that.
11:02If I can slot this one, I'll be happy with the way I've played on day one.
11:06Looking very much forward to trying a little bit harder to put a score together tomorrow.
11:11The golf course tomorrow is out of this world, so make sure you stay tuned for that.
11:18Not hit that hard enough. That's poor, to say the least. All right, tap in bogey.
11:29Oh well. Right guys and girls, there's a bit of a snapshot of what is on offer here at Pula Golf
11:34Resort in Mallorca. Make sure you stay tuned because tomorrow we've got an absolutely amazing
11:38course playing at Alcanada Golf Club, host of the Challenge Tour Grand Final, three-time host
11:43as of November this year. If you are looking for a winter golf holiday later on in the year,
11:47definitely consider Mallorca because you can play a few rounds of golf here at Pula.
11:50You can go to the event at Alcanada. You can obviously then play that golf course the day
11:54after the event in tournament condition. There are some other courses in this corner of the island as
11:59well. So yeah, good first day at Mallorca. Hopefully you've enjoyed what you've seen of
12:04Pula Golf Resort. If you have any questions about this place, make sure to pop in the comment
12:08section. But for now, I'm going to head into the Pula Clubhouse, get changed, go for dinner in a
12:13banging restaurant, get up early tomorrow, hit the road for some more golf.
12:29All right guys, day two of my Mallorca adventure and I'm off to a place called Alcanada Golf Club.
12:50It's about an hour's drive, just less than an hour from where I'm sitting here at Pula Golf
12:54Resort, still up in the northeast corner of the island. And this, I have to say, is one of my
13:00favorite golf courses that I've played over the last few years. So yeah, special one in store for today.
13:24So
13:37right guys and girls, arrived at Alcanada Golf Club. And as you can see from the drive-in,
13:40the location of this course is pretty spectacular. We'll see more of the amazing views
13:45as we get to the high points around these mountains, which some of the rays tease
13:49looking out over the Bay of Alcudia, looking pretty special. I have played this golf course
13:54before and I was last here. I didn't play, but I was watching the Challenge Tour Grand Final,
13:59which has been hosted here at Alcanada twice, is coming back in 2023 for a third visit. So as you
14:05can see, when you come here, play off those back tees, Championship Golf is very much on the cards.
14:10And the winning score last year was only minus nine. And bearing in mind, these guys are obviously
14:15playing for their rights on the DP World Tour. So they're at the top end of the professional game,
14:19really, really amazing players. And only coming out with a winning score of minus nine shows you
14:24what the test of golf is like here at Alcanada from those back tees. Now I'm not man enough to
14:29take on those white tees. It's over 7,000 yards from back there. I get my handicap at a 6,200
14:34yard course. So I've edged forward onto the yellows, which is still 6,600 yards. And I've
14:40set myself a target of breaking 80. Now, an educated guess, I'd say I'm probably not going
14:45to do it. But anyway, let's crack on, play a bit of golf here at Alcanada. Like I said, an hour from
14:50where I'm staying at Pula and a really, really special course. Can I break 80? Jump in the
14:55comments down below. Yes or no? It's up the right. It's well hit. It's fine. It's just over that
15:05bunker. Kicking down now. It could be on the adjacent fairway once gravity gets involved, but
15:12considering I'm fresh out of the car with no time to warm up, I'll take that to start.
15:25Not really expecting to hit this all the way up to the green.
15:28Anything in play and over that trouble, I'll be happy with.
15:36Ripped it straight at the bunker.
15:42Yeah, that is about five, six yards short of the green. Exactly where I was aiming.
15:46Happy, happy with that start. Like that. Run. Ah, not enough to get over that slope.
15:57Not the best, but given my history of the duffs, I'm not overly disappointed with that.
16:05Just needed to fly a little bit further or take a little less loft. Something to think about.
16:09Obviously, I didn't have a chance to warm up on the practice screen before I teed off. A little
16:14bit of guesswork with how the green is going to react over the first couple of holes, but hopefully
16:18I'll get up to speed with them for lack of a better pun. Apologies. Birdie putt on the first.
16:26Go in, go in. Oh, I will take a two-inch tap-in par putt on the first hole without a warm-up any
16:39day of the week. Level par through one. Yeah, actually a bit of a cut there, but that's absolutely
16:48fine. Hit the slope, and go a bit, and go a bit more, and go in. I think we can all agree
17:07that that is a gimme. Worth noting that Alcanarda boasts this Tag Marshall buggy system, which is
17:14a really, really detailed GPS of the golf course. Tells you what your pace of play is like, what
17:19your start time was. I've been playing for 29 minutes, so too old. Maybe need to speed up a
17:25little bit, but you can do all sorts of stuff with this. Give it a bit of food and Bev's action.
17:32Lovely. As you can see, map of the course. Don't get lost, all that kind of stuff. It's a great
17:39system. One of the fancier GPS units out there, for sure. A bit skinny, low on the face, up the
17:49right. Not a good shot at all, but it's bouncing. Could even get a bit of cart path love and a few
17:57extra yards out of that one. Quick shout out to Alcanarda, actually. The course opened for play
18:01in October 2003, so we're creeping up on the 20th birthday of this magnificent golf course. We'll
18:08just see if I can find my ball. Flick another little wedge shot into this par four green and
18:12hopefully start off with par, par, par. That would be lovely. I've taken the wrong club down here.
18:19I've got a 60 degree wedge, so I'm going to have to throw this quite far, but I definitely can't
18:24be bothered to go back to the buggy. Played it nice and sit. Definitely take that.
18:34No, that was low all day long. Now, to be honest with you, I'm struggling for a bogey.
18:43Yeah, in for five, one over through three. To be honest with you, without a warm up,
18:48take that for sure. Right, seventh tee, raised tee. Absolutely spectacular view in the background,
18:53as you can see, as this par five snakes its way down the hill, in between bunkers and rows of
18:58trees. Brilliant, brilliant golf hole. I would argue this is the signature hole
19:01on this golf course. There are other candidates later on the round, which I'm sure you'll see
19:05on this video. But yeah, if I can get a good drive away over this bunker, chasing down the
19:10hill, even though it's a 600 yard par five from this yellow tee, I reckon I can get pretty close
19:15in two. So bombs away, as they say, and let's see if we can sneak one down there in the fairway.
19:23Bit necky, definitely not my best strike. Up the left, it's absolutely fine. It's at that
19:29kind of big tree right in the middle of the two bunkers. But as you can see, I've been so close
19:35to going down this slope and getting a few extra yards. That would have been lovely. But as it
19:41stands, I've got about 320 yards left in. So I'm going to try and get a few more yards in.
19:47But as it stands, I've got about 320 yards left in. So there are two bunkers down there,
19:54one right, one left, which I do think make this lay up a little bit more complicated than it
19:58needs to be. So I am kind of tempted to hit three wood and just try and get as close to
20:03the green as possible over these bunkers and in play with a wedge. Unfortunately, though,
20:10three wood off the deck is not really my strong suit. I'm going to be a wimp. I'm sorry. I'm
20:17going to play this hole as a three shotter, which let's be honest,
20:20unless I absolutely ripped one down the right side here and chased down the hill.
20:24It was always going to be anyway. I was going to hit a six iron, which I don't think is enough
20:30to reach the bunker on the right. If I go in that direction, should leave about a wedge in.
20:37That's straight out the bunker, so it does reach it. I'm an absolute plonker.
20:47Yep, comes to be right in the middle of that bunker.
20:51Right, so nine iron, one three six. Try and catch it a little bit clean.
21:00Like that. That's the yardage. That's such a good shot. Get down, get down, get down.
21:07It's straight over the top of the pin, but I think I have hit that a little bit too hard.
21:13Probably got like a 35 footer for a birdie. I'll take it though.
21:38So
21:45so
22:05come on.
22:06So
22:08par required to break 80.
22:15Oh, a bit bottomy, but that's so straight and safe.
22:22Oh, that's fairway I think. Rubbish for distance, but accuracy wise, lovely.
22:30Stay there and be the yardage. Stay there.
22:35Just not quite reached the green, but I think it's literally like a yard short,
22:39should be putting that. Now I know I said I quite fancy practicing my chipping at the moment,
22:44but, and this would be a good opportunity to practice that strike off the tight fairway lie.
22:50But let's be honest, I need to get this down in two for a 79. So I'm running back to the putter
22:58off the left, quite a few left to right putts today, all on the pace.
23:06And swing and go and that's a tapping 79. Nothing to write home about for decent golfers,
23:17but for me, eight handicapper, seven over broken handicap, break 80 done.
23:26There we have it guys. All done at Alcanada, all done in Mallorca. I'm sad to say that was my 48
23:30hours on this amazing island, playing two really cool golf courses. Really enjoyed my stay at
23:36Pula as always. Fantastic, all encompassing resort, track man driving range, superb restaurant,
23:42great place to have a few drinks in the evening, really relaxed kind of vibe, friendly people.
23:46And obviously the two different accommodation options on site, making it a super convenient
23:51place to stay and play in Mallorca. And then you've got this place, Alcanada Golf Club,
23:55an hour's drive or just less than an hour from Pula. So if you're looking at maybe like three
24:00nights, five nights, kind of holiday stay and play package, definitely recommend Pula as a good
24:05base. There are accommodation options near Alcanada, but as a standalone golf club, they
24:09don't have their own hotel as of yet. So this is definitely a kind of tack it onto the itinerary
24:15kind of vibe option. And I certainly would recommend it. One of my favorite courses that
24:20I've played over the last few years. And I'm lucky to say that I've ticked off a fair few
24:24all the way around the world. And this is definitely one of the most spectacular places
24:27to play as you can see behind me. And as I said, at the start of the video, super friendly,
24:32really great clubhouse to have a spot of lunch after your round. Unfortunately, I don't have
24:37time for all that. I've got to shoot back to Palmer airport now and back to the UK,
24:42back to base layers and jumpers and bubble hats. And can I just stay in Mallorca?
24:57Transcribed by https://otter.ai