Empordà Golf Dunes Course

Empordà Dunes began in 1989, when a group of local enthusiasts bought 125 hectares near Girona and brought in the Texan architect Robert von Hagge to design it from scratch. The first nine holes opened within two years, and von Hagge returned in 2004 to add a further nine, completing the eighteen-hole links course that exists today.

This is the exposed, wind-exposed half of the Empordà resort, built through dunes and lakes rather than the pine forest that shelters its sister Forest course. Fairways run wide and the greens are large and fast, but water threatens repeatedly and the wind off the Empordà plain adds a genuine variable most Costa Brava courses don't have to offer. The course was the permanent home of the European Tour's PGA Pre-Qualifying School from 1993 to 2006, a run few Spanish courses can match. The signature 18th closes the round in style, the green wrapped by a lake and running to some 300 square metres.

Facilities include a driving range, academy and full practice greens, with an on-site hotel for a proper two-course stay. Book Empordà Dunes for a genuine links test, and pair it with the sheltered Forest course next door for real contrast across one trip.