This week’s Hassan 11 Trophy host Royal course in Agadir has to be one of the most exclusive in the world.
It would be easier to get a game at Augusta National than to find your way onto the first tee on this course laid out on the Alantic shoreline.
You could easily get a member to sign into Jack Nicklaus’ Bears Club in Florida while you could probably sneak onto the ultra-exclusive Greg Norman designed Ellison Course in Australia that was built for just one man, the late media magnate Kerry Packer.
Thorbjorn Olesen tees off the first with the security walls of the Royal Palace immediately behind the Dane. (Photo - www.golfbymiss.com)
But the immaculately maintained Royal Course was designed for one man – the late King of Morocco, Hassan II.
It’s now for the exclusive use of his son, His Majesty King Mohammed V1 who is also Honorary President of the Moroccan Golf Federation.
It is understood aside from the King and his brother only 30 people have played the 6,258 meters Robert Trent Jones Snr designed course in the 12 months since England’s David Horsey captured last year’s 38th Hassan Trophy.
The 30 were all doctors and were specially invited by the King to play his own private 18-hole golf course.
In fact, the pin placements that saw him defeat 2010 Hassan 11 Trophy winner, Rhys Davies and South African Jaco Van Zyl were still the same when the first of the European Tour players arrived on Monday.
As mentioned, the course is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on one side but all around is 12-foot high fortress walls with a road running all the way round the course.
Alongside the road is a high barbed wire fence with guard boxes housing armed Moroccan military personnel posted some every hundred yards.
Also official photographs and SKY Sports have been informed they are banned from photographing or filming the Royal Palace within the walls.
Scotland’s Scott Jamieson was first out on the course at 8am playing in Tuesday’s Pro-Am.
And the Jacksonville-based Jamieson was literally pinching himself to be playing a golf course where there was not one divot.
“It’s a fabulous golf course and being the first out I was lucky enough to be the first guy on the Tour this year to play the golf course,” said Jamieson.
“It’s very much like we’ve been granted ‘Royal Approval’ to play this week.”
