The song goes, “Don’t cry for me, Argentina.” But tears sure weren’t the reaction of a Golfweek’s Best group during those players’ first outing to South America.
For 26 raters, the 12-day trip to Argentina in March was filled with the fine tastes of Latin America, including fascinating sights, delightful food and drink, enchanting scenic tours and wonderful golf to boot.
A 12-hour flight from the U.S. usually means arriving bleary-eyed and hopelessly jet-lagged, but flights south to Argentina are blessed with minimal lag as the South American time zones aren’t much different from those of the States. As a result, the course reviewers could hit the ground running.
Reaching Buenos Aires, raters were shuttled to their hotel in the Recoleta area of downtown, the base of operations for the first half of the trip. Walking tours and taking in the charming sights of the “Paris of Latin America” were the first order of business.
Some raters took half-day cruises to nearby Tigre, enjoying antique shops, riverside restaurants and bars, casinos, amusement parks and open markets, where they were able to practice their bargaining skills. Then it was dinners and early bedtimes, as the first round of the trip awaited the eager golfers.
Golf and more in Buenos Aires
The Red Course at The Jockey Club (designed in 1930, along with the sister Blue Course, both by Alister MacKenzie) is characterized by a network of shallow ditches dug to drain water from a flat piece of property. The ditches double as playing hazards – to the degree that MacKenzie originally suggested they were hazardous enough and the course did not require sand bunkers. The club management thought differently and instructed Mac to add at least a modest number.
MacKenzie used the dirt removed from these ditches to build the course’s green pads, some resulting in significant rises with stern associated slopes. It’s these complexes that give The Jockey Club much of its character. The half-horseshoe 10th (a tribute to the Road Hole at St. Andrews) and punchbowl 16th greensites are examples of his use of stern contouring, bold mounding and precipitous drop-offs, all making the Red a study of your approach-shot prowess.
Back to Buenos Aires for showers and drinks (such as refreshing locally brewed beer such as Quilmes and Patagonia and an array of delightful Malbec wines) before dinner. Like many European dining establishments, most of the restaurants of Buenos Aires don’t open until 8 p.m., so later evenings quickly became the norm. All OK, since the golf courses also generally opened later, most not until 9 a.m.
Next up for the raters was The Olivos Club – designed by MacKenzie’s Argentinian associate, Luther Koontz, and open for play in 1950.
Luther Koontz?
“Turns out he was an architect … who was involved in five of the golf courses played during the rater trip,” observes veteran rater Steve Backstrom. Koontz was an American who became the most prolific architect in South American with around 25 designs to his credit.
The Blanca and Colorada nines at Olivos are generally considered the championship pair in the three nine-hole complex (Azul is the third). A parkland setting featuring gently rolling terrain, ponds, mature conifers and hardwood, the Blanco/Colorada eighteen will remind you of venerable classical courses in the U.S. and U.K. A longer course with sprawling undulating greens and shallow sweeping greenside bunkering, it’s easy to see why Olivos has hosted many prominent tournaments, including the Argentine Masters and Open.
Standout holes at Olivos include the 15th, a striking dogleg par 5 sweeping through a tree-lined corridor, culminating with a forced carry over a fronting pond to an undulating green.
Back to town for a group dinner of something Argentina is widely known for: beef!
While there may not be an airport entry sign saying “Vegetarians beware”, steak houses seem to be everywhere and the vast norm. The raters had reserved a private room at an upscale Buenos Aires restaurant and enjoyed a wonderful dinner of various beef cuts and Argentinian red wine. For golfing carnivores, this was easily a plus-2 dinner.
Argentina has a fine golf tradition, thanks largely to the British influence starting in the late 1880s. With 300, Argentina has far and away the most golf courses compared to any other Latin American country. Argentina can also boast the home of two major champion winners – Roberto De Vicenzo and Angel Cabrera.
In a bit of irony, the first winner of the Argentine Open in 1905 was Scotsman Mungo Park. It certainly ran in the family as Mungo’s father, none other than Willie Park Sr., won the first Open Championship at Prestwick in 1860.
Next on the golfing rota was a pair of more modern courses, the first being Buenos Aires Golf Club, designed in 1994 by Robert von Hagge. A decidedly American layout, BAGC features holes that navigate around several large lakes, all under a canopy of not-so-attractive high-power lines. Von Hagge used the excavations from the lakes to create framing and containment mounding – literally hundreds of them resulting in a more engineered look to the playing field. Standout holes include the 2/3 shot option short par 5 at the Green’s sixth, and the Blue’s ninth with its split tees and excellent green complex.
The most memorable aspect of BAGC may not be the golf but the indigenous animals. Capybaras – docile 150-pound giant rodents – roam the course, oblivious to any playing woes of their two-legged golfing companions.
“Sharing a tee box with a wild capybara at Buenos Aires Golf Club is a once in a lifetime opportunity,” said Florida rater Ron Schroeder.
Indeed – another addition to golf’s wild kingdom. Maybe as eye-popping as the goats you use as caddies at Oregon’s Silvies Ranch, the huge elk at Banff, grizzlies at Jasper, crocs at Sun City, golf ball-thieving monkeys of Tuck Tuck in the Philippines and the wallabies of Tasmania, but those are all other stories.
Pilara, site of the last of the rater’s Buenos Aires rounds, is a suburban course designed by Jack Nicklaus. Set adjacent to 100-year-old polo grounds, the site is gently rolling and expansive, an easy walk. Nicklaus provided wide playing corridors and large greens, all protected by 76 deep bunkers with water hazards on eleven holes. Get to a green in regulation and you may well still be faced with an iffy two-putt proposition – a quality and championship layout.
South America? Tango dancing! Thought to have originated in the 1880s from the lower-class dance halls and brothels of Buenos Aires and Montevideo, a tango was a high spirited, fast and sensual form of dance, first performed exclusively by women.
High society shunned the dance as immoral and flirty, the polar opposite of the stuffier and more formal waltz, then the widely embraced dance of the Victorian era.
But the tango caught on. By the early 1900s, it had become widely accepted and was danced in upscale halls throughout the U.S. and Europe. It has since become one of the best-known and most enjoyable forms of ballroom dancing across the world.
Arrangements were made for the rater group to take in an outstanding tango/dinner show at an upscale downtown nightclub. An energetic and fast-paced show, the raters were all glad to be fine-dining rather than called to the dance floor.
Dining in Buenos Aires is truly wonderful. From Pizzeria Guerrin, the best pizza this side of Mamma Mia’s Tuscany kitchen; to La Brigada, an otherworldly old-town steak house where the server cuts your fillet with a spoon; to Floreria Atlantico, a speakeasy hidden below a florist that serves a scrumptious array of tapas dishes; to a million bistros and street front cafes, Buenos Aires is a foodie’s paradise.
The final day in Buenos Aires was devoted not to golf, but to touring. A professional guide showed the raters sites such as Puente de la Mujer (Woman’s Bridge), the Metropolitan Cathedral (opera house) and the Obelisco (half-sized version of the Washington Monument). Other sites included Eva Peron’s crypt, Casa Rosada (presidential “pink” house) and Plaza de Mayo, maybe the most famous of Argentina’s plaza landmarks.
Although now a peaceful and prosperous democracy, politically Argentina, like many countries, has a tumultuous past. For much of the early and mid-20th century, Argentina’s rule ping-ponged between democratic presidents (Juan Peron being the most noted) and military dictatorships. There was a span when the Argentina government changed presidents five times over a ten day period. A number of the generals and military juntas were particularly harsh.
Every Thursday since 1983, women come out to the plaza with signs bearing names of children. The Mothers of the Plaza de Mayo pay tribute to the “disappeared,” the 30,000 children missing during the 1976-1983 rule, or “Dirty War”, over the reign of a brutal regime. It’s a sobering reminder of the past in what is currently such a vibrant city.
On to Patagonia
Back to the travelogue – and moving day! Bidding adios to the city of “good air,” the raters packed up and headed to the airport for a 2-hour flight and our next stop – Patagonia. Our first base of operations was at the San Martin resort Chapelco, home of a wonderful layout by Jack Nicklaus Sr. and Jack Nicklaus Jr.
A parkland layout cast in a secluded valley and surrounded by mountains, lakes, streams and native flora, the raters found a beautiful well-conditioned course but also one asking for a few too many blind shots. The par-3 seventh and downhill par-5 10th were the most compelling holes from both a scenic and tactical standpoint.
And after a long day, it was a pleasure to have just a 60-second walk from the clubhouse to the hotel.
The next day the Golfweek’s Best panel was treated to a tour of the partially completed Greg Norman design next door. El Desafio Mountain Resort is an upscale real estate venture with an associated golf course. Set on the side of a mountain with views to die for, nine holes have been completed with the other nine still being fleshed in.
From the opening shot, you play from highly perched tees down sweeping valleys to often stingy targets. Playing off hillsides with uneven lies is the norm at El Desafio, as is its exact targets, maybe a tad too exact. With stunning views of neighboring Chile and Lanin (at 12,400 feet tall, one of most active volcanos in the Andes), it was hard to keep your head down making a shot. A tough tract as far as playability, but the views at El Desafio add a definite wow factor.
“Patagonia courses were more spectacular in their vistas and views with challenging routings,” said Kansas City rater Sarah Brookfield. Agree!
Packing up the next morning, the rater crew enjoyed an all-day bus tour south through small towns, lakefronts and gorgeous Patagonia scenery to the final stop of the trip.
Occasionally compared to Banff in the Canadian Rockies, the 90-year-old Llao Llao (pronounced Zhow Zhow) Hotel resort lodge commands a stately hilltop setting over Nahuel Huapi Lake and is surrounded by towering snowcapped Andes peaks.
After checking in, some raters retired to the lounge for drinks as others headed to the excellent spa for pre-dinner massages, while some shopped at the lodge’s fine stores.
The first of the rater group’s final two courses was Arelauquen Golf and Country Club, located a short drive from the hotel. Opened 20 years ago, the club was part of an upscale gated real estate compound. It is private and doesn’t get a lot of play.
A somewhat disjointed layout, the opening nine plays along a more level piece of property in very much a parkland setting. Maybe too parkland, as there are a number of places that could be improved by opening playing corridors with selective tree trimming. The back nine is much hillier, tight and narrow, in places making the routing feel forced and confusing. Overall, the raters thought it included some holes good and some not-so-good, but all set in a breathtaking Andes backdrop.
Lastly, the raters teed it up at the Llao Llao (translates to “very sweet”) course located right out the front door of the hotel. Surveying a lakefront site, Llao Llao is a tale of two distinctly different nines. The outward half runs through an open, more heathland setting below the hotel, while the back explores a more rugged wooded site, featuring stands of ancient coihue and cypress trees.
The general consensus was that the highlights of Llao Llao were the par 3s. From the drop-shot seventh to the perilously sloped 11th to the heroic and long 18th, the one-shotters were quite good, as was the cape hole 10th and fish-hook par-4 15th with its elevated but hidden green. A word of warning: This course could tax a mountain goat. Golf carts (and they don’t have many) are highly recommended.
Arrangements were made to spend the last evening in Argentina at a unique dining establishment. Imagine going out to dinner by first driving to a nondescript parking lot, being met by a half dozen 4X4s decked out in knobby oversized tires, each with associated grizzled gaucho drivers, and whisked up 5,000 feet along a dirt switchback, more trail than road, to a mountaintop cabin that easily could be mistaken as a large treehouse. There you would find El Refugio.
Perched on the summit of Cerro Otto, there are few restaurants in the world with better dining views. What was on the menu? Steak!
“Our Rater trip to Argentina took us to a country where most of us never thought we would have an opportunity to play,” said Golfweek events director Armand Cimaroli. “It was a special experience with great golf, amazing beauty and fantastic food and wine,“.
Ranking the courses
So how did the raters rank the 18-hole courses they played? Here’s their consensus.
- Olivos Golf Club – Blanca/Colorada
- Buenos Aires Golf Club – Green/Blue
- Chapelco Golf & Resort
- Jockey Club – Cancha Colorada
- Pilara Golf Club
- Llao Llao
- Arelauquen Golf and Country Club
And yep, it is confidently reported that not a tear was shed the whole trip. Raters departed back to the U.S. the next day with smiles on their faces and a hearty “Nosotras volveremos Argentina.” (We will be back, Argentina).
