Orihuela Costa for a winter fourball.
Four courses within a short drive of each other, winter sun and a fourball that doesn't need a plan. Paul's old stomping ground.
The trip in a minute
The Orihuela Costa, just south of Torrevieja on the Costa Blanca, has more golf in a small patch than almost anywhere in Spain. You can stay in one place and play a different course every day without a long drive.
It's an easy winter trip for a fourball: fly into Alicante, pick a base, and mix the big-name round at Las Colinas with older, friendlier courses like Villamartin and Campoamor.
The courses
Las Colinas Golf & Country Club
Par 71 · Cabell B. Robinson · opened 2010
The treat round. A modern course in a quiet valley that regularly appears in rankings of continental Europe's best. Expect to pay more here than at the older courses.
Villamartin
Par 72 · about 6,150 m off the whites · Putman design
One of the coast's long-established courses and a regular on winter trips. A good all-rounder for a mixed-handicap fourball.
Las Ramblas
Par 72 · about 5,900 m · Pepe Gancedo, 1991
Shorter than Villamartin but not easier: a Gancedo design that asks for position over power. Visitors need a handicap certificate.
Real Club de Golf Campoamor
Par 72 · about 6,200 m off the whites · opened 1988
An established members' club with a royal title, opened in 1988 by Don Juan de Borbón. A traditional round to finish the week.
Which course to play on which day, the tees to pick for your handicap, and the holes you'll still be talking about at the bar.
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