Wow! Another look at S.A. Gormet Choice- Potrerillo de Larreta

[Randy Thompson]

I would bet not many expected a Gourmets choice to come out of South America and even though its in strong company, it proudly holds its owns. Lets just compare it surfacely to another gourmet choice, Shawdow Creek! No I havenīt played Shadow but what they seem to have in common is that the main focus was on golf and creating a golfie feeling from start to finish. One was created by man and all the modern technology applied to create such an enviroment and the other by mother nature, a father and his two sons. One cost 50 plus million dollars and the other I would guess in the 2.5 million dollar range! Heart and soul went into this family project and its evident from the first tee to the eighteenth green. It really is one of the best inland pieces of land for golf I have ever seen! I recently returned to have another look, my old brain works at about 3% of the speed of Tomīs and I needed to get another more in depth look. I returned a couple of weeks ago and was fortunate to find a cancelation and got into one of the seventeen bed and breakfast type rooms. The attention to detail on the course follows you into the rooming and dinning experience. A plus! I was fortunate to have lunch with the man with a dream, the 90 year old owner and his family, what a pleasure. He still drives and plays golf frequently! His two sonīs are quick learners. They all tell me how they all worked together making positive inter changes of ideas and basically did more clearing then they did earth moving. Dad follwed them around and constantly reminded them to not allow the human hand to alter what mother nature had done so well! I canīt speak for Tom but it wuldnīt surprize me if he was torm between a seven and eight. It is so close to an eight and just a few triming of trees, elimination of a few trees and maybe eliminating some pampas grass in play and it would become a strong eight. The bunkers are mostly the same style and all play flat with the same lie. My personal opinión is the property is so strong that a vast majority could be eliminated and never missed! Several seem to be forced and therefore left a human hand mark which is not evident in ohter parts of the course. What was done right also was the course was routed and constructed when they decide to add real estate and the land planning is the best i have ever seen in South America and the housing component is the best definition of non agressive! Another A plus for sure! Sorry for the poor quality of the photos, hopefully Santa will bring me a new camera for Christmas!








You can guess the ideal line of flight off the tee for this sharp dog leg right

[John_Conley]

Looks terrific!  Thanks for sharing the photos and story.

[MClutterbuck]

Randy, thanks for the pictures. I am hoping to visit next year.


So refreshing that somebody took the initiative of coming to South America and look beyond the obvious choices for best courses. Three Doak 7īs and all new courses! I hope Tom pointing out that some of the traditional courses are no longer the best due to bad maintenance practices and failed renovations leads to restoration of some of the older gems. I hear the Jockey Club is contemplating a serious restoration for the first time. Olivos and San Andres need clearing and Tomīs visit is already impacting decisions at some clubs. All good news for golf in South America.