Home of the Volvo Masters from 1997-2001, Montecastillo is “Golden Bear” Jack Nicklaus’s only golf course design in Andalucía. A tough, testing course with considerable distances from green to tee Montecastillo keeps to Nicklaus’s firmly held belief that, “a golfer should see what he’s getting”. There are some spectacular holes with water coming into play often. The 18th is the most famous and most photographed hole. From the very high tee one looks down on the Barceló Montecastillo Hotel and the lake just before the final green. From this spot Sandy Lyle hit a drive in the 1994 Turespaña Masters. His ball disappeared into the hotel swimming pool but he didn’t have the heart to ask his caddie to dive in - there were three balls at the bottom of the deep end - so he took a drop under penalty. Later his ball was fished out. It transpired that had he done this within the five minutes permissible search time he’d have had a free drop.

HOW TO GET THERE

From the N-340 motorway, take the “Benalmádena-Arroyo de la Miel” turn-off and continue in the direction of Benalmádena Pueblo. The course is located on the A-368 road, two kilometres from the motorway turn-off.