"The Course is already a thoroughbred…. Brilliant, brilliant". - Golf World
Steve Carr, the Associate Editor of Golf World, wrote of PGA Golf de Catalunya, the host venue for the 2000 Peugeot Open de España: "I can honestly say it is one of the best courses I've ever had the privilege to test my skills on."
PGA Golf de Catalunya, located close to Spain's Costa Brava, is the newest course in the portfolio of European Tour Courses. The course, designed by Neil Coles and Angel Gallardo, was opened last June and is set in undulating land, dense with a variety of hanging pine and cork trees which line the fairways. The mountains of the Pyrenees provide a spectacular backdrop to the 7,204 yards, par 72 course.
Bob Atkins took these pictures of PGA Golf de Catalunya, to be found in the February edition of Golf World, and Carr continued: "I am on the dawn patrol of PGA Golf de Catalunya. A heavy head and my dismal orienteering exercise on the N11 do not go well together, but my eyes quickly de-mist when I focus on this spacious beauty. I totter out on to the first tee to catch a glimpse of what is to come. Pow! Immediately I understand why this place has caused such a stir.
"Built by the European Tour, the course has already had the pros cooing with delight, and it jumped straight into Golf World's Continental Top 100 last November at 54, despite limited feedback. It is not a case of 'premature evaluation', and now that we've checked it out I can't see it staying outside the top 15 next time.
"The course is already a thoroughbred, and from the first tee all I can see is an ocean swell of pines, Spanish oaks and olive trees, and a vivid green fairway plunging away from me. The sun has struggled up and is kissing the treetops and the rippling ground with its sodium light. Dew clings to the slopes of shaggy rough, and I wonder if it can get much finer than this. I am just itching to get out there.
"Brilliant, brilliant. It is big, generous, but dangerous. Fairways swoop from elevated tees, greens teeter next to water, and it is all beautifully devised. I come off bewildered by its power, and plot my way back around the holes trying to think of a weak link. The 1st… oh great tee shot. The 2nd… scary ravine. The 3rd…. it goes on like this until I reach the 14th. Perhaps that was it? But even this fairly straight par-4 grips a hillside. It would be a fine hole on any other course.
"I can only applaud the efforts of the designers. Bristling good golf in a landscape that architect's dream of. And because the European Tour is behind it, you will be seeing plenty of this course on your TV screens over the coming years.”
Reproduced with kind permission from Golf World
