Costa Ragusa Golf

Due percorsi davvero bellissimi il links è davvero difficile se poi c'è vento diventa davvero championship.

Il percorso links è davvero clamoroso con buche dove il golf deve essere di alto livello perché tra bunker e acqua le insidie non mancano

Ottima la clubhouse ed il ristorante anche la Spa non guasta dopo 18 buche.

Campo tenuto benissimo, peccato per i bunker.

Donnafugata Golf Resort & Spa has two 18 hole layouts, the Parkland Course was designed by Gary Player and the Links Course by Franco Piras. Both courses were opened in 2010 and only 6 months after its opening the Parkland course already hosted an European Tour event.

We played our first round at the Parkland. The course starts with three gentle holes. But then things get a lot more challenging and a few holes are surprisingly penal for a resort course. I really liked how a couple of stone walls were incorporated into the design. It makes the course feel older than it is. My favorite hole on the front 9 is the short par 5 7th hole. After a good drive you can easily reach the green in two but water on the right and some heavy bunkering on the left really makes you think about going for it. The most memorable holes on the back 9 are the three finishing holes. They all feature a water hazard either left or right and the par 4 18th hole is a good risk and reward hole. It’s the no. 1 handicap hole and fairly short from the members tees and plays as a dogleg left. If you decide to hit driver from the tee you need to flirt with the water hazard on the left otherwise you might run out of fairway. Depending on the line of your tee shot you can get really close to the green and have only a short pitch onto the green.

On the following day we played the Links. While it’s certainly not a genuine links course, it definitely plays a lot firmer than the Parkland course next door. The course is more open than its neighbor and has only one big tree (a majestic pine on the 9th hole) on the entire course. The Links starts with a good birdie opportunity. If you challenge the water hazard on the left from the tee you will have a good chance to reach this par 5 in two shots.

Another good hole on the front 9 is the par 4 8th. The hole is less than 300 meters long and probably a bit too challenging to go for the green with your tee shot, but after a good layup you still have an exciting second shot into this semi-island green. My favorite hole on the course is probably the par 4 14th hole. There is a pond in the middle of the fairway and you have basically three ways to play the hole. You either take the bold line and try to carry the water hazard (a 220 meters carry), or you try to shorten the hole by hitting the left part of the fairway. Lastly, the safest way is to hit the right part of the fairway which leaves you the longest approach into the green.

Overall we found the Links Course better then the Parkland. But having two different type of courses on the same property certainly adds some variety when staying at Donnafugata Resort a little longer. Lastly, both courses at Donnafugata can easily be walked so a cart is not necessarily needed.

Donnafugata is a big resort with almost 200 rooms and two 18 holes courses. The reception was very nice and the rooms are very nice as well. When we were there they had just experienced a lot of rain and were working to find the best sand for the bunkers, this is very hard because you have to find to exact mix that doesn't blow out by the wind but is loose enough to have a nice bunker shot. They are experimenting but not there yet.

I only played the Links course which had a very nice design, I don't really think it is a links course, but there are a couple of very nice holes. It begins with a cool par 5, reachable in 2, that is bordered by water on the whole left side. The other hole that stands out is hole 8 a short downhill par 4 but not really drive-able. The solitary tree on hole 9 is really beautiful and a great finish if you play only nine.

On the back nine there are some nice holes as well I liked the water holes like 14 & 15 and the finishing hole 18 is a challenge but when you clear the bunker on the left side a birdie is possible. When we played the greens and tee boxes were really in very bad shape, this is a shame because the rest of the course and the facilities are really nice. The views are excellent and I loved the breakfast in the hotel.