To the uninitiated, a golf course may well seem like little more than an enormous green field, with dollops of sand around the greens, maybe some water hazards and a fair proportion of trees scattered around the place. To a golfer, a great course is packed with difficulties to trap the unwary, but forgiving enough to allow the brave and thinking player to master all its intricacies. Such is Oliva Nova Golf on the Costa Blanca.

It’s a links course, set right beside the Medietrranean, 6,270 metres in length off the white tees and a par of 72 (SSS 73), designed by Severiano Ballesteros, who has turned out to be as good at designing courses as he was at taming them in his heyday. The club also has a comprehensive driving range, pitch and putt area and a practice putting green.

Wind and water are the keywords at Oliva Nova, where 15 of the 18 holes have water features running alongside them, around them or across them, or a combination of all.

In Seve’s own words.” Oliva Nova Golf has been designed to host the most prestigious international tournaments on the European circuit, yet it is a fair course, whether you are professional or amateur.”

It’s a massive course in every sense of the word, with some greens as large as 750 square metres and long drives off the tee.The clubhouse is just as impressive as the actual course. It’s a 3,000 square metre building, overlooking the tees of holes 1,8 and 10 and the greens of holes 7,9 and 18. On the ground floor are pro shop, changing rooms, club store and buggy parking. On the first floor, there’s a cafeteria, restaurant and lounge area all, naturally, with large terraces.

But Oliva Nova is much more than just a golf course. The Beach and Golf Hotel comprises 237 rooms, with direct access to the beach and just 150m. from the first tee, and all the facilities that one would expect from a luxury, four-star hotel. If the hotel is not for you, there is a selection of apartments and villas for rental. In fact, Oliva Nova has got pretty much everything you could wish for.