How to play Flamingos & Alferini Golf Courses

Climb is the thing here. The terrain rises and falls for a measured 271 metres across the round, which is a proper amount of up and down for eighteen holes in the hills above Benahavís. You feel it in the legs and you feel it in the clubbing. The prevailing wind comes from the north, and because the holes turn through the property it hits you from every angle: into your face on the long climbs, at your back on the drops, across you on the holes that sit side-on. Water comes into play on around seven holes, so there is trouble to read as well as slope. None of it is brutal if you plan. All of it punishes a player who turns up swinging hard and thinking later.

The fourteenth is the one to circle. It plays as a shortish two-shotter (around a par four) running downhill with the north wind behind you, so the ball flies and then keeps going. Take less club than the number tells you. The temptation off the tee is to chase the slope with driver, and you can, but only when the line is genuinely clean. If the angle brings the trouble into the frame, lay back to a comfortable short-iron and let the hill do the work. Greed is the only way to make a mess of it.

The toughest stretch is built around three par fives, and they ask three different questions. The eleventh climbs, and it climbs into the north wind, so it plays a good deal longer than the card. Treat it as a genuine three-shot hole. Position over power: find the fairway, find a sensible layup number, give yourself a full wedge rather than a hopeful gouge from the rough. The sixth also goes uphill but the wind sits across it, so allow for drift on both the drive and the second. It is reachable in two if you have committed to it and the wind is helping your shape, so go for it when the lie is clean. The fifteenth is the mirror image. Downhill, crosswind, reachable in two. The slope gives you the distance the eleventh took away, but the side-wind means you have to start the ball into it and trust the drift. Get those three right and the card looks after itself.

These plays-like characters come from terrain and seasonal wind data rather than the official scorecard, so treat the pars and distances as a guide to feel, not gospel.

This is a course for the player who enjoys thinking. If you like reading slope, judging how much the wind adds or takes off, and picking a side of the fairway with intent, you will have a good day. Bigger hitters get rewarded on the downhill, downwind holes where the ball runs. Steadier players hold their own by clubbing honestly on the climbs and not forcing the par fives.

On walkability, be honest with yourself. With 271 metres of total climb across hilly ground, this is a buggy course for most golfers. You can walk it if you are fit and in no rush, but the buggy is the sensible call, and it keeps something in the tank for the back nine where several of the better holes sit.

For weather, the Costa del Sol shoulder seasons are the sweet spot. April through June and September into October give you firm, fast turf, comfortable temperatures for the climbs, and a north wind that is more of a factor to read than a battle to survive. High summer is playable early, though the hills feel longer in the heat. Winter golf is reliable here too, with the wind more likely to have an edge.

The climb is real and it is constant. At 271 metres of total ascent over hilly terrain, this is not a flat seaside stroll, and anyone with a dodgy back or knees, or anyone hoping to walk briskly between shots, should know that going in. Take the buggy, pace yourself, and the hills become part of the fun rather than the reason you fade after twelve.

We arrange tee times at Flamingos & Alferini Golf Courses as part of a hand-built trip to Benahavís, Costa del Sol, with a hotel to match and the rounds you want to play.

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