Stephen Vincent

Possibly my favourite beach holiday / golf resort. 18 idyllic holes with wonderful views of the stunning Indian Ocean throughout. The course has been a made a bit more player friendly over the years, it was a real brute when we first went just after it opened. That said it’s still a proper challenging golf course, with excellently designed holes, & whilst every hole is fantastic, in my view the 18th is the most memorable & difficult, with big carries off the tee and then hopefully a second shot played to a tiny ‘island’ green surrounded by mangroves. Only rarely made par on 18 in the all rounds we played but still loved it, despite all the lost balls and always came off the course smiling. Not been back for a few years but remember how wonderful it was to rise early to get the first boat to golf (how cool does that sound!) so we were first to tee off, nipping round in about 2 hours before returning for breakfast & spending the rest of the day by the beach. Magical memories.

My golf season is over in the most bizarre way. Tying a shoelace at the airport & caught finger on trousers. Turns out I’ve torn a tendon, have “Mallet Finger” & now have to wear a finger splint for 8-12 weeks. So frustrating but guess I’m grateful as it was the last (& not 1st) day of our trip & is the worst time of year for golf in the U.K. And a fair excuse to be a fair-weather golfer this winter..... still annoying though!

Ok, just waiting for our long flight home... Hope this is helpful & not too long or boring but for anyone who’s thinking of going I would say Argentina is an amazing country for a holiday & the golf is good but probably not world class. Buenos Aires is a fantastic city but golf is bland & unexciting. Mendoza & Bariloche regions are wonderful & the best golf we played by far. If I was booking a 2 week holiday, I’d fly to BA for 3 nights to see the city, experience the nightlife & maybe play 1 game to warm up. I’d then go to Iguazu Falls for 2 nights, Mendoza for 3-4 nights (2 games, lots of wine tasting & fabulous dining) & finally 5-6 nights in Patagonia with as much golf as possible. If I had longer I’d go back to the Salta region in a heartbeat but we only played once there. I’ve no idea what criteria or influences come into play for other golf ratings but Mrs Hacker (6 handicap) & I generally agreed on our ‘enjoyment ratings’ of the courses we played in the following order: 1. Chapelco 2. Tupungato Winelands 3. Llao Llao 4. Desafio Mountain (9 holes) 5. Arelauquen 6. Mendoza Country Club 7. Buenos Aires GC 8. Estancia de Cafayate 9. Jockey Club (Red) 10. Pilara

To be honest expected a little more from this famous McKenzie course. Amazing & very difficult greens but far too wide & open to say it was great in my view. Quite pretty, lovely mature trees, in wonderful condition & some cheeky protection around some greens but far too much about the putting for me.

Final game & victory on the last. Mrs V may be a little quiet on the long flight home.

Penultimate game of our trip. Best greens we’ve played, well maintained throughout but a flat & fairly bland course (especially compared to recent outings) but enjoying the last of the warmth before heading home. All to play for tomorrow

Very pleasant & private course. Fairly flat front nine, quite stunning back half with lots of evaluation changes. Nice.

After a poorly judged attempt to learn fly-fishing yesterday, or floating down the river as we now know it, delighted to be back golfing today. Although a 5&4 walloping too often by Mrs & I might try fishing again.

Picture postcard golf. An absolute delight around the lakes, beneath the mountains, amongst the wildlife. The 10th hole that bends 90 degrees around the corner of a lake being one of the most stunning holes I’ve ever played. A short course at less than 6000 yards (par 70) stops me giving it 5stars but as somewhere to play a holiday round of golf it’s hard to beat. Enchanting.

Wonderful day on a stunningly beautiful course. After days of seeing not a soul today it was packed, we waited on every shot & it took nearly 5 hours. Normally I’d hate this but today it just gave time for more photos! And a nice little victory over Mrs V too. A good day.

Only 9 holes today on top of a mountain at El Desafio. My golfing mojo was certainly missing so won’t record my awful score or humiliating loss, but wow what a place. It’s so remote I tried to ‘check in’ from the 5th green & was told I was 10km away from the golf course (maybe that’s where my ball ended up....).

An amazing 9 holes laid out near the top of a mountain by one of our favourite course designers, Greg Norman. Very fortunate to be allowed to play this private golf & polo estate today, especially as they ‘opened’ just for us. The course was in fantastic condition. Each hole is well designed & attractive on the eye, with jagged edged bunkers being a feature throughout. Views from up high are magnificent & it’s a good challenge, especially with a number of tricky semi blind tee shots. Who needs 18 holes when you can build 9 this good & can go round twice? Still never played a bad Greg Norman designed course.

Stunning day to get to go around again! Didn’t play so well today but another very tight match. Halving the 18th in triple bogies(!!) to end all square was a bit of a clumsy way to finish though.

A delightful place. So quiet, in fantastic condition, a really good challenging test. Forgiving off the tee but tough approach shots to often raised, narrow greens with well positioned bunkers making it really hard to get close to holes. A really nice place to swing your clubs.

A bitter, sweet day. Nice course, a stunning spring day & I hit it as well as I can ever remember. 4 up with 8 to go & Mrs shot 2 under thru the last 8 holes (including an eagle) to pip me on the last! It’s going to be a long evening, week, possibly even the rest of my life.....

Checked in & ready for golf tomorrow. Not seen one other person in the hotel since we arrived & maybe 6 people on the golf course. Said hello in the pro shop & was asked ‘Are you Stephen?’. Looks absolutely fabulous but just can’t believe how quiet the courses here are.

A nice track very near the centre of town. Kept in fantastic condition with excellent fast greens. A flat walk, but tight & not easy to score. Really enjoyed it. So hard to grade courses. Against others around the world 3* maybe a tad generous but anything less would be totally unfair.

Excellent morning although only stumbled to a victory on the last having been 4 up with 5 to play. Remarkably saw at least 5 other golfers on the course today!Time for lunch & maybe just a little glass of wine (or two) before we leave wine country.

Astonishing location for a golf course, amongst the vineyards and mountains. Loved it!!!

An astonishing place with a stunning course & once again they opened just for us!! A tarantula on the first tee was a tad unnerving but exciting... Sadly 2 birdies in last 4 holes still only got me a half with Mrs though.

Wonderful location surrounded by mountains playing through the vineyards. Excellent condition.

Busy today? Not so much, 2 players all day - Mrs Hacker & I. Pleased not to play the backs @7690 yards, including a 734 yard beauty! Great day surrounded by vineyards & mountains, just a shame to let Mrs halve the match on 18.

Stunning day for our first ever round in South America & not another soul on the course. Beware the injured golfer.... an unexpectedly good round & a 5&3 victory over Mrs V!! And a large capybara munching away in front of the 17th tee here - that’s a first for me too.

Superb course in the winelands with a tremendous variety of holes. Very playable & really enjoyable. Off the course it is excellent too for practice and lunch. I’d like to come back in the future but it was so busy both our rounds were far far too slow, so it would need to be an early tee time to get me out to play.

Totally & utterly spectacular. A mixture of Pebble Beach, Cape Kidnappers & Old Head - on steroids!!! PP has the most breathtaking views imaginable, making it almost impossible to concentrate on just playing a normal game of golf. The whole course is remarkable. Individually each of the par 3’s are up there with the most dramatic I’ve played, as a collection they’re almost mind blowing. It’s hard to put this remarkable course into words, however whilst we absolutely adored our 2 days here, that was enough. Probably the most spectacular course I’ve ever played and whilst I’d love to come back one day it’s not somewhere I could play every day.

A beautiful golf course, wonderfully maintained, excellent throughout but an utterly fantastic closing stretch of holes. One of the prettiest courses I’ve played & just a really enjoyable days golf. Very busy, and slow the times we played, so would recommend an early tee time if possible.

Absolutely fabulous. Easily our favourite course in SA. A stunning & tough test. Could happily stay & play here for a week.

Our 4 days at Barnbougle were without any doubt the golfing highlight of our time in Australia. Whilst I marginally preferred The Lost Farm course, Mrs V (the proper golfer in our family) has The Dunes as her favourite. Either way both are magical places & a real privilege to play. Harder in my view than the Lost Farm course, the front nine of this Tom Doak masterpiece is nothing short of sensational. The back nine is also great, & a proper test, whilst visually not quite the equal of what comes before. Barnbougle is a true Golfing Mecca with good facilities off the course too. Everyone there has come to play golf & I can’t remember seeing such a collection of happy golfers in one location ever before. Can’t wait to return.

Our 4 days at Barnbougle were without any shadow of doubt the golfing highlight of our 2 months in Australia. Wow, wow, wow, what a place. The 20 holes at Lost Farm were my favourite, mainly because the six par 3’s are just sensational, but the whole course is just magnificent. Absolute golfing heaven.