The Case for a Golf Trip to Morocco
Ask a Canadian golfer where they go for winter sun and you'll hear the usual names: Arizona, California, Florida, maybe Palm Springs. Morocco almost never comes up. That gap is the whole reason I'm writing this. Europe's golfers have been quietly flying to Morocco for years, and it's one of the most rewarding and least expected places you can bring your clubs. For my Canadian travellers, it comes with something Scottsdale can't match: a whole country worth exploring between rounds.
Morocco didn’t stumble into golf
The country built its courses on purpose, starting in the 1970s, and today has more than forty of them, many to championship standard and beautifully kept. The best known is Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, a 45-hole complex laid through a cork oak forest by Robert Trent Jones Sr., and the long-time home of the Trophée Hassan II on the European Tour. But the golf spreads well beyond the capital. Marrakech alone has around a dozen courses ringing the city, most with the Atlas Mountains standing on the horizon. Down the Atlantic coast, Agadir plays golf all winter long.
The quiet alternative
For years Morocco has been the understated alternative to Portugal and Spain: comparable courses, better value, and a fraction of the crowds. For Canadians there’s a further draw. You’re not flying all that way to golf and nothing else. You’re combining the fairways with the desert, the medinas, the food, and the history, which is exactly the kind of trip we’re built to create.
Where fairways meet imperial cities
This is where Morocco’s imperial cities come in. Marrakech and Rabat are two of the country’s historic capitals, and both happen to sit beside its best golf. You can spend a morning on a course framed by the mountains and an afternoon lost in a thousand-year-old medina. A round near Rabat, then the old city walls and the Atlantic at sunset. Serious golf and deep culture in the same day is hard to find anywhere else.
Our 7-day Imperial Cities & the Sahara journey is the natural home for this. It already moves through Morocco’s great cities and out to the desert, so adding a round or two is a small, natural adjustment.
A few of the courses
There are more than forty across the country. Here's a taste of what you'd be choosing from, by region.
Marrakech, the golf capital
Assoufid Golf Club, a desert course sculpted against the snow-capped Atlas, often rated among the best in the country.
Royal Palm Golf, lush parkland on the Fairmont estate, designed by Cabell Robinson.
Al Maaden, a Kyle Phillips layout threaded with water features and contemporary art.
Samanah Golf Club, a Nicklaus Design course, and The Montgomerie Marrakech, a strategic Colin Montgomerie design.
Royal Golf de Marrakech, one of the oldest courses in the country, plus Noria, PalmGolf, and Prime Golf Marrakech.
Rabat, the flagship
Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, 45 holes in a royal cork oak forest, home of the Hassan II Trophy, with a famous par 3 played to an island green.
Agadir and the coast
Golf du Soleil, three loops of golf between the ocean and the mountains.
Royal Golf Agadir, one of the oldest in Morocco, with the Tazegzout coastal course nearby.
Casablanca and El Jadida
Royal Golf de Mohammedia, dating to 1930 and still in the old Scottish tradition.
Mazagan Golf Club in El Jadida, a Gary Player links and the longest course in the country, along with the Tony Jacklin course near Casablanca.
Fes and Meknes
Royal Golf de Fes, looking out over the Middle Atlas.
Royal Golf de Meknes, nine holes set inside the royal palace grounds, the only enclosed course in Africa, floodlit at night.
Tangier
Royal Country Club de Tanger, where Moroccan golf began back in 1914.
If you want the full list, the Royal Moroccan Golf Federation keeps a directory of every course in the country. We'll help you choose the right ones for your trip.
One more reason it works
Sometimes one half of a couple has always dreamed of Morocco and the other needs a nudge. A few rounds on courses like these tend to do it. Everyone gets their trip.
How we do it
Like everything at Maple & Medina, a golf journey is private and built around you: your courses, your pace, your group, and everything else you want Morocco to be around the tee times. Bring your regular foursome, make it a trip for two, or fold a couple of rounds into a broader journey. We handle the bookings, the transfers, and the details. You just play.
If Morocco with your clubs sounds like your kind of trip, I’d love to hear from you. Reach me at kristin@mapleandmedina.ca or explore our journeys at mapleandmedina.ca.
Kristin
Maple & Medina