La Junquera Municipal Golf Course (Spain) – Executive

de Cudeyo
La Junquera
29130 Pedrena (Cantabria)
Spain
(942) 50-10-40

9 holes (par 32)

Yardage: 2,212 yards

Hours: not known, call club for info
Green fees: 14 Euros, 8 Euros if you are under 18 years old

La Junquera is a 9 hole executive golf course in the northern Spain town of Pedrena. Pedrena is on the Bay of Biscay and just across from the city of Santander. Pedrena is known as the home of Seve Ballesteros. Seve grew up and lived in this village. I understand that his body was laid to rest in the local church.

Water hazard with reeds, hole 4

The course has 5 mid-range par 4’s and 4 par 3 holes. The designers really did a great job to fit such an interesting golf course in such a small area of land by the coast. The course is very tricky and probably the most challenging I have played to date. Every hole has hazards whether it be bunkers or water. There are 20 bunkers on the course and several pounds containing long reeds. In fact only 2 of the 7 holes have no water in play. In addition to all of the hazards you have to contend with the wind. The course is right on the coast and the wind from the Bay of Biscay can be pretty tough to navigate. On a couple of holes I hit a straight shot, then a gust of wind would take hold of the ball and send it 30 yards to the left.

The starter was very friendly. As I was there on vacation and did not have my own set of clubs, she gave me a bag to carry around for free and I shared by brothers clubs. The course was pretty quiet. We played at 5pm on a Friday. There were a few people ahead of us playing at a very good pace. We had about a 2-3 hole break behind us to the next group. Which made for a very nice relaxing round. It took about 2 hours to complete the 9 holes.

I found that holes 2, 3 and 4 were a real tough stretch of the course. These 3 holes border the ocean and they were hard to play. One of the highlights on the course was hole 7. It is a 118 yard par 3. You have water in front of the green and directly behind it. There are no ball washers on the course, but each tee has a nice sign with a picture of the hole and yardage (or meters as it is in Europe).

The course is in good condition for a municipal course. The greens are nice, although not excellent. The tee boxes are in good shape. My only gripe would be that the grass on the fairways should be cut a little shorter. Apart from that the course is in good shape. It is obviously very green from all of the rain.

If you are looking to play some golf in the Santander area then I highly recommend this course. The holes are interesting with lots of hazards to make you think about every shot.

View of the ocean from the golf course

Richie says… “Really nice find of a golf course. Most challenging I have played – plenty of hazards on every hole. Also being on the coast, there can be a lot of wind to contend with.”