A Golf Trip to Morocco

Golf in a different light

Morocco, Africa’s Kingdom of Light, sits just across the Strait of Gibraltar from Spain. A storied land of snow-capped mountains, desert camel rides, beaches on both the Mediterranean and Atlantic, and buzzing cities, it’s a tourism hot spot with a colorful culture that will wow you with everything from its art and architecture to its history and gastronomy. Not to mention, its history of great golf.

His Late Majesty King Hassan II was a golf devotee who founded the Hassan II Trophy in 1971—with the top prize of a gold dagger inlaid with jewels. Golf has continued to blossom in Morocco ever since, and today, the Hassan II Trophy is a PGA Tour Champions stop played on the Robert Trent Jones Sr.-designed Red Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam near the capital, Rabat. There, Jones fashioned a course truly fit for a king, plus 27 other holes. Updated since, it’s a tough but rewarding layout featuring Sahara-sized bunkers and raucously undulating (read: fun) greens.

morocco golf trip
Rabat (photo by Getty Images)

 

Morocco is roughly the size of California, and a north-to-south trip that generally follows the coastline can include the best of Moroccan golf. Start in Tangier, where the Med meets the Atlantic, at Al Houara Golf Club, a captivating 2021 Graham Marsh/Vijay Singh track that winds in and out of cork groves and along the shore. After golf, lose yourself in Tangier’s maze of twisted streets, where, as in all Moroccan cities, you’ll find a walled, city-center medina and riotous souks (marketplaces) where you can browse eye-catching works by local artisans and enjoy the tantalizing flavors of Moroccan cuisine, often served in clay tajines brimming with exotic spices.

Continuing south to Rabat, play both Royal Golf Dar Es Salam and The Montgomerie Rabat at the Plages des Nations Golf City, a hilly, mostly treeless, links-style track that’s one of two Moroccan courses designed by Colin Montgomerie. From there, head inland to Ifrane in the Middle Atlas Mountains, where you’ll trade the seashore for an alpine setting and take on the Jack Nicklaus design at the Michlifen Resort. Ifrane is ski country, and Nicklaus carved some tight turns on the ridges and valleys over which he routed this tree-lined course, where flat lies are few and the back nine’s a beast. Stay if you can: the five-star Michlifen Resort is mountain hotel majesty.

Back at the coast, after a stop in Casablanca to pay homage to Bogart and Bacall and tee it up at the Tony Jacklin Casablanca course bordering the Bouskoura Forest, travel south to El Jadida and Gary Player’s modern links at Mazagan Golf Club, Morocco’s longest course, where holes like the par-three 15th with its sparkling ocean backdrop are simply riveting.

Detour from the coast to vibrant Marrakesh, where no fewer than six impressive courses vie for your patronage, including The Montgomerie Marrakech and the Al Maaden Golf Resort. They’re both strong choices, but Niall Cameron’s Assoufid Golf Club, Nicklaus’s at Samonah Golf Club, the Steve Forrest course at Noria Golf Club with its three square greens and square lake, and the Fairmont Royal Palm Marakesh course by Cabell Robinson, with its clever design and acres of brightly colored flora, are the area’s most enticing.

Last, don’t miss Kyle Phillips’s three hilly nines at Tazeggout near Agadir, where the clifftop finish high above the Atlantic may well be the high point of your tour. Sadly, the acclaimed Palais du Royal Golf Agadir course sits behind palace walls and is reserved for the royal family and its guests. Should King Mohammed VI honor you with an invitation, take a bow. He’s sure to appreciate it.

 

Thank you for supporting our journalism. If you prefer to read in print, you can also find this article in the Winter 2025 issue of LINKS Magazine. Click here for more information.
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