Playing golf immersed in nature at Club de Golf Montanyà
Play golf in a privileged natural setting, with a backdrop of mountains
There is something wonderful about playing golf immersed in nature. If you are looking for a course to play golf in Spain, Club de Golf Montanyà offers you just that. Perhaps less well known than other golf courses near Barcelona, those who visit it leave with the impression of having discovered a most unexpected gem on their golf break to Barcelona.
In the incomparable setting of the Montseny Natural Park, a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, to which a large part of its woodland belongs, the golf course is located on a privileged estate of 100 hectares and employs all the necessary resources to ensure the conservation and sustainable use of its biological diversity. The layout only occupies 40% of the estate, which is crossed by the Estanyol brook, and has ten lakes of various sizes. The rest of the estate is wild. This is an area of great natural beauty, everchanging, where a golf holiday can reach its maximum splendour. Here your game is accompanied by birdsong from the great variety of birds that live amongst the holm-oaks, the fine oak trees, the poplars and the pines.
Closeness, tradition and gastronomy
The communications are excellent. The golf course is near Girona and Barcelona, only 70km and 60km away respectively. You reach the club via the A-7 (Parets exit) and by the N-152 to Aiguafreda, from where there are good road signs. You’ll find the golf club near the community of El Montanyà, between La Seva and El Brull – a friendly club house on top of a hill in an old restored Catalan farmhouse that presides over the course with a splendid terrace. The interior of the Masía de L’Estanyol, originally from the 14th century, is representative of typical Catalan architecture. To relax after the game, the Restaurant l’Estanyol offers you top quality seafood and mountain products, thanks to the proximity of the Montseny and the Mediterranean. Alternatively you could recover your strength in the Gastrobar L’Estanyol. The course itself and this ‘19th Hole’ make booking tee times here take on another meaning!
A course with two different challenges
The course was designed by David Thomas and was opened in 1989 with its first ten holes. Now with 18 holes, par 72, the course is 6,053 meters long (from white bars) and is characterized by its slopes, doglegs and varied hazards, with sunken bunkers and very delicate uneven greens. The course is configured by four par 3s, ten par 4s and four par 5s, and is well maintained so that it is always in very good playing condition with spectacular greens. The staff are courteous and charming.
The first and second half of the course have clearly differentiated technical and environmental characteristics. The first nine holes trace a short and quite technical game, demanding precision and a defined game strategy. For the second nine holes, however, the course takes on its full extension, and distance is now an objective as the course becomes more open but no easier, bringing you very varied and entertaining golf. With such a diversity of shots, it is very probable that you end the round having used all the clubs in your golf bag.
It should be noted that the Handicap 1 is the 12th hole, a long and uphill par 4. The most authentic challenges come at the 7th hole, a par 4 with a dogleg to the left, which requires great precision from the tee and then on to reach its devilish green; and the 13th hole, a par 5 with a dogleg to the right with the most difficult start of the day, having to overcome a complicated frontal water hazard.
A millennial oak-tree and the Johan Cruyff memorial
By the entrance to Golf Montanyà you will see the famous ‘Alzina Rodona’, (the Round Holm-oak) which is the emblem of the golf club. This is an ancient oak-tree listed as a natural monument of Catalonia. This was the resident club of Johan Cruyff, the legendary footballer of the Dutch national team and FC Barcelona. He was a lover of golf and of his club, so a memorial has been dedicated to him on the 14th hole, the number of his football shirt, and is now called ‘Johan Cruyff Hole’ in his memory.
The club has a driving range, a pitching and putting green, a locker room for visitors, a restaurant, a bar, a proshop, equipment to hire, buggies and a meeting room.
To complete a golf holiday in perhaps one of the best golf courses in Spain, certainly one of the most beautiful golf courses in Catalonia, the Montseny Natural Park offers all kinds of outdoor activities, such as hiking or mountain biking, where you can admire the typical fauna of the region or admire its rich cultural heritage, including megalithic monuments, churches and castles, or fortified farmhouses such as the Tagamanent site, with a variety of nearby places to stay.
Without a doubt this is a golf experience worthy of a visit, in an exceptional environment, which will be difficult for any player to forget.
If you have come to Club de Golf Montanyà, do take the opportunity of playing other courses with the ‘Barcelona Golf Pass’ offered by Barcelona Golf Destination. The nearest clubs are Golf La Roca and Club de Golf Vallromanes, also inland, and Club de Golf Llavaneras, on the coast.
