Tenerife in the spotlight

Spectacular tees at Costa Adeje.

The European Tour touches down this week in Tenerife – a volcanic Spanish outpost in the Atlantic where the golf’s as good as you’ll get anywhere within four hours flying time of the UK.

Mindful of the wariness of British golfers of spending 10 hours in a jet to sample golf in Florida, the Carolinas and the Caribbean, travel agents are looking to Tenerife – six excellent courses and two more on the way - to provide a shangli-la where you can take off from Luton at 7am and be on the course by early afternoon.

Within an hour of touchdown at Reina Sofia, one of the island’s two airports, golfers can be on the first tee with no jet lag to overcome, no immigration delays and no time difference.

The 27-hole Costa Adeje complex at Finca Los Olivos (00 34 922 710000) is the island's showcase this week when the tourist board hopes TV coverage of the Spanish Open de Canarias will attract new devotees to the island.

Sergio Garcia, Jose Maria Olazabal, Seve Ballesteros and Paul McGinley are among the names competing on this unusual course with its stunning sea views from every hole.

I was fortunate enough to play there last year and experience an odd local rule at first hand. Designer Pepe Gancedo has made subtle use of the shallow dry stone wall terraces, of agricultural origins, that dominate the landscape. Gancedo had these walls restored and blended into the fairways, and they are protected from damage with a rule which demands a penalty drop if you get too close.

Precise shot-making is also required if your ball settles in the black volcanic dust of wastelands beside each fairway.

Lift to practice range.

The toughest hole is strangely the par–3 seventh on the ‘A’ course, where the green is surrounded by a deep ravine. Even more bizarrely, a lift is provided for buggies up to the 25-metre tall driving range.

If you want to play there it will cost around 70 euro (between October and April, down to E40 May-Sept).

With six par-3, many believe the elusive 59 will be achieved this week.

Other courses recommended in Tenerife include Playas de Las Americas a drop dead gorgeous designed by John Jacobs; Golf Del Sur, which has hosted several European tour events; Amarilla, close to the island’s southern airport; and Golf Los Palos, a nine-holer in a banana plantation, designed by Olazabal.

The island’s oldest course, Royal Tenerife, is 100 kilometres to the north, set in lush vegetation at 1,800 feet and often veiled in low cloud.

Currently under construction is the 18-hole Isla Baja complex, designed by Seve Ballesteros, near Santa Cruz and still in the drawing board stage is an ambitious Donald Steel design on the nearby island of Gomera.

Mount Teide, the island’s volcano, hasn’t erupted for over 200 years but Tenerife as a golf destination is expected to explode as a mecca for both long and short golf breaks. Get there soon.