Villa Padierna Marbella Spain

Fly to Malaga on the Costa del Sol in Spain, then get yourself to Villa Padiernain Marbella. When you walk in the door you will think you are walking into an Italian Villa. Not a hotel, more like someone’s private home, complete with tapestries, artwork and white-marbled sculptures. Then you are greeted by one of many Ritz Carlton employees who seem as glad to see you as though you are an old friend.
This a small hotel compared to the others I have visited this week. The hotel is sold out tonight and to look through the lobby you would think it was nearly empty.
And that’s the beauty of this courtyard style design; public, yet private.

There are 131 rooms and twelve of them are marvelous villas with private entrances. One of these has its own private pool fit for visiting Royals. Even the Saudi Royal Family comes here to book all of the 12 villas. And the going rate is well over a thousand of dollars per night.

I learned today that on Expedia.com, Villa Padierna is rated as the number one hotel in Spain and 28th in the world. In fact, even the hotels’ chef was recently voted best chef in Marbella. I concur with this assessment having eaten a luscious T-Bone steak dinner with seasoned potatoes and crisp watercress and béarnaise. Followed the next night by a Risotto like I have never tasted before.

The Golf Courses
I came here specifically to play golf, and they have two wonderfully challenging golf courses; the Flamingos Course, and the Alferini Course.

Los Flamingos is a par 71 that plays approximately 6300 yards from the tips, but everything here is measured in meters including the distance markers in the fairways, so you have to calculate an additional ten percent to account for the difference into yards. Once you get that down, there is club differential could change all that on this beautiful mountain course with lots of elevation changes and sweeping vistas, with the Mediterranean Sea in the distance.

We teed off on the Flamingos Course immediately after check-in since the driving range was not open.
Most of the fairways have ample driving room and provide a generous roll. Only a few such as number 9 and number 10 give little wiggle-room for a well-hit drive.
The greens are easy to read and are sure to hold your ball on line.
The tee box at hole number 14 is the highest spot on the course with panoramic views of the Costa del Sol and Marbella below. And it gives a player a chance to take in some fresh mountain air rolling up from the Mediterranean Sea. Los Flamingos is surrounded by hundreds of condo developments to take in its generous beauty. The course will host the Women’s’ Spanish Open for the next 3 years.

Adjacent to the Los Flamingos Golf Club is the Alferini Course. And one may say that it is completely opposite in nature to its neighbor.
Built into the highland valley, the Alferini Golf Course delights in solitude and splendor. There is no development, in view, rather, sweeping pastoral fairways and valley walls that frame the beauty in each hole.
The opening fairways sport large meandering gorges that dissect the pathways towards the distant greens. And the player is immediately put on guard to place each shot strategically into segments when calculating their par strokes. Number 3, the first par 3 on the course may have the largest green I have ever seen. It looks like a huge target, until you start thinking about mile long putts.

Midway through the front nine we began our assent into the mountain gorges and were rewarded with ample Bermuda grasses and a teasingly easy par 4 on hole number 6.
But this slight break in challenge is only temporary since it is followed by a nearly 510-yard par 5, a 175-yard par 3 (with a green protected entirely by a large man-made lake), and a 410-yard par 4.
The back nine brings the golfer into a meadowland of mountain grasses and stone-lined cliffs. Back to back par 5’s test your endurance while giving you the opportunity to unleash the “John Daly” within you. And you are reminded why you ever took up this game in the first place.
Midway through the back nine, with its ups and downs, you realize why nobody EVER walks this course! Every player needs all of their strength to blast off each and every shot on this 7000-yard course. The finishing holes fully challenge each player with a tempting par-3 green and a skinny 18th hole fairway for a last chance to lower your score. And while you may not like the total tally, you will definitely want to play this course again.

If you go
www.villapadierna.com
www.ritzcarlton.com

Delta airlines flys non-stop from the U.S to Malaga