Real Club De El Prat – Pink
Some time has passed since I played El Prat and still I now want to take some time in this winterly offseason to tell you about all the interesting courses for when you are planning your next rounds or vacations event. I had been to Barcelona a couple of times before. For the city life and the parties mainly, which everybody already knows about. But I hadn‘t really put this charming city on my golf radar though. If you ever get to be in Barcelona and would also enjoy some world class golf, then El Prat is the place to be. A 35 minute drive will take you from the city center to the rolling hills where you‘ll find a staggering 45 beautifully integrated golf holes, all designed by Greg Norman.
El Prat sports a sweet mix made up of the three highly recommended courses – Pink, Yellow and Green – a modern and vibrating club house, top notch training facilities with a 300m range and a variety of short courses. If you‘re wondering about the quality you‘re going to expect at El Prat, just think about the ten Spanish Open Championships they‘ve already hosted here.
Another interesting fact is the founding year of 1912 which gives the club its royal title „Real Club de Golf El Prat“ Of course El Prat has renowned hotel partners of which I got to check out the Gran Hotel Le Florida. During my two day visit to El Prat I ended up playing the Pink and the Yellow course. I am gonna say this right away: the whole place is just so good and that obviously is resembled in the quality of every single loop.
I still constantly dream about everything out there! The pinks course consists of the two nine hole loops named „Bosque“ and „Arriba“. This is one of the most beautiful layouts and course designer Greg Norman‘s absolute favourite. The front nine kicks off with super technical and ambitiously narrow holes and afterwards stray drives on the second nine will massacre your score unless you‘re capable of hitting a couple of extraordinary recovery shots.
In general all Par 3 holes are rather memorable because of their length and their elephant back characteristics, which are obviously not insulted with these exact words in the official course description, where you will read about little hills originating from vulcanic activity. On top of that the Pink course is a real beast and, according to Golf Digest, number four of the longest courses in Spain at a staggering 6465 meters.
Somehow it feels like playing somewhere in Australia. The layout and the design in this particular landscape constantly remind me of Brookewater in Brisbane… Expect for the kangaroos maybe. Kidding aside: This place is more than worthy of your time and money!
Facts and figures:
#4 Golf course in Spain by Golf Digest
80 – 114 € / 18 holes
White tees Par 72 / 6665 m from Black