Golf World Top 100: Best Golf Resorts in Spain

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What are the best golf resorts in Spain? The Golf World Top 100 panel ranks and rates them. 

JUMP TO: How we did it | 30-11 | 10-1 

Welcome to the Golf World Top 100 Golf Resorts in Spain, a list we hope will help you make informed choices the next time you are pondering a golf trip there.

Given Spain is the most popular destination for a holiday with UK golfers, there will be lots of names you will be familiar with on this list. But we also predict there will also be lots of new ones, and some that are in very different positions than you might imagine.

This ranking busts a lot of myths and dismantles a lot of perceived wisdom about Spanish golf – this is far from a recap of what you’ve heard and read previously.

Please do feed back where you feel we’ve gone wrong – and also if you think we’ve got things right, too. We’d love to hear from you via email, on Twitter, Facebook or Instagram.

And, once you’ve enjoyed this ranking, please do take a look at some of our others – which include lists of the best resorts in Great Britain and Ireland, Continental Europe, Portugal and even the world.

Chris Bertram, Golf World Top 100 Editor

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The Criteria: How we ranked the Golf World Top 100 Best Golf Resorts in Spain

Firstly, what is a golf resort? It’s an important point to clarify as it explains why Resort X made it in, yet Resort Y didn’t. We define a resort like this: the course and accommodation must be owned by the same company and the accommodation has to be on-site. Any time there is a short transfer time involved, the resort loses a mark in the ‘setting’ category.

People often ask whether advertising affect positions? No! Never. The editorial and sales teams have scars to prove the many battles…

On a serious note, advertising does not affect positions in any of our rankings. We might, however, give a resort or course which is advertising a larger image for their entry, but never anything more than that.

RELATED: Golf World Top 100: Best Golf Courses in Spain

The scoring: How we marked the Golf World Top 100 Best Golf Resorts in Spain

Golf Course/s (marked out of 40): The quality of the course/s – with second or third courses duly recognised.

Accommodation (marked out of 20): The range, quality and quantity of the accommodation.

Non-golf amenities (marked out of 20): Additional facilities that can make a resort a family and couples attraction. 20 marks

Setting (marked out of 20): Lots of 14s and 15s for standard countryside locations, but those that drop jaws get a boost with 18 and 19s – occasionally even higher.

Golf is clearly still the key category in all of this, but we take accommodation and non-golf amenities into account fairly strongly, because we didn’t want a list of ‘courses with rooms’ and to end up with a list of Top 100-ranked courses with a dormy house. We wanted to include rounded resorts that could appeal to couples and families as well as those for absolute golf nuts.

Can I join the Golf World Top 100 panel?

Yes! If you have knowledge of lots of resorts and courses, we’d love to hear from you. Whether you’re male, female, young, old, low handicap, high handicap, if you’re well-travelled then get in touch with us, here.

>> Golf World Top 100: Best Resorts in Spain – 30-11 >>

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Chris Bertram is the Golf World Top 100 Editor.

He was born and brought up in Dumfriesshire and has been a sports journalist since 1996, initially as a junior writer with National Club Golfer magazine.

Chris then spent four years writing about football and rugby union for the Press Association but returned to be Editor and then Publisher of NCG before joining Golf World and Today’s Golfer as Senior Production Editor.

He has been freelance since 2010 and when he is not playing and writing about the world’s finest golf courses, he works for BBC Sport.

A keen all-round sportsman, Chris plays off 11 – which could be a little better if it wasn’t for hilariously poor lag putting which has to be seen to be believed.