Towards the end of last year, Golf Monthly was lucky enough to be invited to the Olazábal & Friends Charity Pro-Am at Costa Navarino in the Messinia region of Greece.
It was great to not only chat to two-time Masters-winning Spaniard, Jose Maria Olazabal, about his career, but also, more pertinently, to ask him about the two fantastic new golf courses he has designed at the Greek destination to help elevate its status and reputation yet further.
The Hills Course plays past olive groves and ancient rock walls
(Image credit: Jacob Sjoman)
Golfers really are now spoilt for choice at Costa Navarino following the opening of those two new layouts last February – the Hills Course and the International Olympic Academy Course. Their arrival no doubt contributed to Costa Navarino being named as the ‘World’s Best Emerging Golf Destination’ at the 2022 World Golf Awards.
Situated on Greece’s southern Peloponnese coastline not far from Kalamata International airport, Costa Navarino has come a long way since opening in 2010, when ship owner and keen environmentalist, Captain Vassilis Constantakopoulos, fulfilled a lifelong dream to create a sustainable tourism destination and introduce his homeland Messinia to the world.
Bernhard Langer’s Dunes Course was the first to open in 2010
(Image credit: Costa Navarino)
It was Bernhard Langer’s Dunes Course that set the Costa Navarino ball rolling in this fledgling golfing nation that year, with Robert Trent Jones Jnr’s Bay Course arriving a year later. Three luxury hotels complement the four courses – the Westin, Romanos and W Costa Navarino – with a fourth, the Mandarin Oriental, set to open in summer 2023.
The 2nd on the Bay Course hugs the shore closely
(Image credit: Costa Navarino)
Olazabal’s two layouts contrast beautifully with each other, with the International Olympic Academy Course enjoying a particularly stirring back nine run along an inland cliff edge with mesmerising ocean views. More than half the course’s holes play close to this ridge overlooking the Bay of Navarino and the Ionian Sea, providing spectacular sea views even though a little way inland.
The 16th is one of two superb cliff-edge back-nine par 3s on the International Olympic Academy Course
(Image credit: Jacob Sjoman)
The par 3s at 12 and 16 excel, the former in particular demanding nerves of steel if the wind is up (and the flag is on the left of the green!), as it plays across a cliff-edge gully, a bit like certain holes at Old Head…
Click Here to Read the Full Original Article at Golf Monthly RSS Feed…