Tierra del Sol Aruba

My wife and I played on a Sunday morning, with our own clubs, for $170 p.p.

A buggy with coolbox and GPS screen for distances was included.

The 18 hole course is on the most Northern part of the island, very close to the sea and surrounded by dessert area. Large areas on the course, between holes and next to the rough is also dessert. Water on Aruba is extremely expensive and it hardly rains here. Every day is very hot with a steady wind force 5, every day, same direction. So it’s a challenge to maintain a golf course with these conditions.

The driving range was a poor experience. Not a single green grass to be seen, only a dead brown field. The range balls are old and worn and the matts have seen their best times long ago. On the range there are only a few distance markers. Some of the bays have a welcoming shade. The only good thing is that you can test the wind effect.

There are 4 t-boxes to choose from: Gold for professionals, Blue for hcp 0-9, White for hcp 10-36, and Red for Ladies. As I'm used to play in Europe from Yellow and the faded "Gold" markers looked to me very yellow, I only noticed after 11 holes that I was playing the Professional t-box... Anyway, the t-boxes are okay, especially the "gold" t-box, and the red t-box, I expect both are not much used as most of the players are male and from US. However, maintenance can be improved as there where very many broken tees laying around, from many days playing.

The fairways are okay, although there are quite some waste areas and patches, stance is mostly horizontal, and not too much ondulation.

The rough is a thick grass layer that keeps your ball on top, next to the rough is desert, sand and rocks.

Most bunkers are well maintained, although some bunkers are missing a rake.

The greens are firm, not too fast, not many pitch marks and have not much ondulation.

The course routing is not very obvious and no signal markers are used.

Most holes are wide, fairly straight with a slight dog-leg left or right. The strong wind is steady and an important factor. When from the side, you can anticipate your ball flight (a bit). Wind against, take at least 2 clubs more and keep it low, wind in the back is 1 club less. The course plays like a links course, so land your approach shot well before the green. Or you will run over it. Hole 15 is a 205 yards Par3, over desert (the water was gone) side wind, and only the green to work with. In my view the signature hole but also most difficult.

In summary : I can understand that maintaining a course in this location is a challenge and expensive, but general maintenance like range balls, mats, clean-up rubbish, rakes, course routing, etc. they simply must and should have in order. A complementary water for in the buggy, not included. Apparently they don't care. The $170 pp is too expensive for what you get. They drain the holiday guest who is likely to play only once... Locals pay around $45 and that is a much more realistic price tag.

Geweldige baan goede fairways zeer goede greens meer dan prachtige ligging en uitdagend vanwege oa de wind.

Bij aankomst alles goed geregeld. We hadden clubs gehuurd en die zaten klaar op de buggy, goede kwaliteit titleist clubs met fatsoenlijke flex. Ondanks de teetime konden we gewoon de baan in, het was niet te druk.

Op hole 1 gelijk mijn afslag tussen de geiten in. Leuke ervaring, de hele eerste negen lopen er geiten over de baan. Maar he hebt er geen last van, kom je bij ze in de buurt dan lopen ze rustig weg.

Belangrijkste onderdelen van de baan zijn wat mij betreft altijd onderhoud greens en layout van de baan. Beide waren hier top, maar de rest van het onderhoud was minimaal. Ol het oog lijkt het daarom een mindere baan dan Divi, ondanks dat het qua golf beter is.

Verder lekker spelen met de wind!

Prijs kwaliteit moet je niet naar kijken het is hier vakantie...

Service could be better. More pro-active. Despite the harsh terrain, the course is well kept.

Campo molto vario in un luogo spettacolare ad un costo elevato, l'ospitalità che ad Aruba è ottima non l'abbiamo trovata al golfclub.