Ayla Golf

Greg Norman designed Ayla in 2016 and it is not entirely typical of most of his other work, which can often seem stringent to the casual player.

That is often especially the case off the tee, with the Australian perhaps forgetting his ability to drive the ball with consistent brilliance isn't shared by all of us.

Here, though, he and his design team have presented wide fairways and beyond the short grass are sandy areas where you will never lose your ball unless you find a clump of the marram-like grass that can survive this intense heat.

There is a decent amount of water too, but rarely are you sweating over where to try to place your ball off the tee.

The challenge instead is on second shots as well as on and around the green. And in this often breezy coastal location, the challenge on the long shots naturally increases significantly when the wind picks up.

The bunkering is not excessively heavy but often penal if you find sand; for all but the most skilled bunker players, finding the fairway traps is at least half a shot gone while the greenside equivalents require deft touch.

The 1st, a mid-length par 5, is one of the notably well-bunkered holes, and after a pretty short hole over a centre bunker to an amphitheatre green – not the last of those at Ayla – come three par 4s that illustrate the variety of the course.

While the 3rd encourages you to think of a run at a birdie putt – it's 353 yards off the whites to a small 'infinity' green – with the mountains glowering behind, the 4th is all but 400 yards off the same tees and asks different questions if your approach, which is to a benched, elevated green.

Then comes another different but strong par 4 to a smaller, flatter green which has unforgiving run-offs around it. The mountain range is possibly at its most breathtaking behind this green.

That brings you to the toughest and probably the best of the short holes. The 6th plays slightly downhill but that is where the assistance ends; water lurks left and front-left and even if you find the target the green is so huge that three putts are a threat for even the usually sure-handed.

There are two short holes on both nines, with the 12th played alongside the hotel - and more importantly a stream with bunkers right and left - while the 16th is a strong par 3 in something of a mirror image of the 6th.

The front nine, 100 yards longer than the inward half, ends as it started with a par 5. This one plays into the north-south prevailing wind as it snakes alongside a ditch towards an amphitheatre green, where the bail out to the right leaves a very awkward chip from a steep bank with a tree likely blocking your path.   

The 5s coming home comprise the 13th, which has what seems the most narrow fairway on the course and a tempting approach to a green tucked on the left over sandy waste, and the gettable downhill, beautifully-bunkered 17th.

The 11th, along a narrow fairway to a green beyond a ditch, vies with the 18th for the title of toughest par 4 on the course – the 8th is another candidate – but the holes that stick most strongly in my memory are the two sportier two-shotters in the middle of the nine.

You can really attack the 328-yard 14th, 270 off the whites, which has a bunker on the right but whose small infinity green is waiting to be peppered with a wedge. And then you can have a crack at getting close to the next, with trouble awaiting on the right but where a fade at the left edge of the green will keep you safe.

Two good scores are entirely possible there and a tidy scorecard throughout is within the grasp of all – as 'resort' golf surely ought to be.