Best in Every Country
The best courses in Argentina
Chapelco Golf and Resort is situated in the Patagonia region of Argentina with a Jack Nicklaus design that sits within our top 10.
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During what’s considered the Golden Era of golf course architecture, Argentina was booming. The South American country quickly became one of the wealthiest places in the world as it incentivized immigration for Europeans. Not surprising, then, that golf was a part of that explosion for Argentina.
The Jockey Club attracted one of golf’s leading architects of the time, Alister MacKenzie, to its property after he finished Augusta National for one of his last projects. MacKenzie often hastily arranged associates to complete jobs in these remote locales, and in South America, Luther Koontz was his guy. Koontz continued to make a name for himself in South America, working at most of the top 10 courses in Argentina in addition to shaping the two courses at The Jockey Club, which received influence from Augusta National, fitting enough.
Argentina’s golf legacy deserves a strong appreciation considering not just the great champions hailing from the state, like Roberto de Vincenzo, Angel Cabrera and Emiliano Grillo among others, but its stellar golf courses—which are among the very best in South America.
We urge you to click through to each individual course page for bonus photography, drone footage and expanded reviews. Plus, you can now leave your own ratings on the courses you’ve played … to make your case why your favorite should be ranked higher.
Editor's Note: Our Best Courses in Argentina ranking is part of Golf Digest's rollout of the Best Courses in Every Country. Check back over the next few weeks for more of our rankings of the best golf around the world.
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The original Argentino Golf Club was designed in 1905 with Alister MacKenzie and Luther Koontz making renovations in the early 1930s before the club would eventually change locations in 1949. Koontz oversaw the creation of the course's permanent location in the Del Viso neighborhood in 1952 and since then Emillio Serra as well as Diego Caprile and Marcos Capdepont have been commissioned to remodel greens between the mid-1980s and 1990s. Argentino Golf Club is challenging with well-manicured greens and fairways—and the greens are known to be small, hard and fast. The course is also known for its challenging parkland-style layout featuring fairways protected by outstretched tree-limbs as well as small fast greens with challenging contours. The highlight of the front nine is the short par-4 fifth which requires a precise tee shot and approach to an undulating green protected on all sides by bunkers. The back nine is known for the difficult three-hole closing stretch highlighted by the long par-4 16th with a tight fairway and green protected by a water hazard.
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Club de Campo Mendoza was designed by the architecture firm of Sanchez Elias, Peralta Ramos and Alfred Agostini in 1974. The club is located in the northwest corner of Mendoza Province, 25 minutes from Mendoza’s international airport. The course is known for flat fairways protected by overhanging trees and large contoured putting surfaces with views of the Andes Mountains. The standout hole on the front nine is the difficult dogleg par-5 third that forces players into a tight window off-the-tee if they wish to reach the green in two. The back nine is more challenging than the front and features the signature hole Club de Campo Mendoza, the par-3 16th played over water and two deep bunkers short of the green.
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Located 10 minutes from Chapelco Airport in the Andes Mountains is the Greg Norman-designed Desafío Mountain Resort. The resort opened its first nine holes in 2015 with the remaining nine still under development. The course was conceptualized to appear as if it was naturally occurring in the vast mountain landscape and features low elevation holes cut through dense pine forests as well as higher elevation holes sprawled out across wide-open alpine meadows. Playing conditions feature generous fairways, rugged sandbelt-style bunkering, and well-protected firm and fast greens. The featured hole on the front nine is the downhill par-4 third with a wide rolling fairway and small green protected by native grass on the left and deep bunkering on the right. Surely, once the final nine holes at Desafío Mountain Resort are completed, it will jump up the list of best golf destinations in Argentina.
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On a former estate of a wealthy British family, Diego Caprile and Marcos Capdepont designed Martindale Country Club in Buenos Aires in 1989 on a site that features stunning mature trees flanking the edges of the fairways. The course is a mix of American-style design with British parkland elements resulting in wide driving areas, sloping fairways and large undulating greens. The highlight of Martindale Country Club is the reachable 529-yard par-5 17th with an 80-yard green protected by an enormous water hazard. Located just over an hour from Buenos Aires, Martindale Country Club is known for having some of the best playing conditions in the country.
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Nestled among the Andes Mountains in the northern part of Argentina’s Patagonia region, the Nicklaus-designed Chapelco Golf Club and Resort opened in 2004. Protecting the natural environment was an extremely important part of construction, and as a result the course features mountain-fed streams, deep lagoons, native vegetation and breathtaking views of the Andes. The club is known for its undulating greens as well as tee-shots guarded by large coniferous trees flanking the fairways. The front nine features the winding par-4 fourth that plays to a fairway pinched in all directions by fescue grass and then to a downhill three-pointed green protected by a wide waste area covered with sprouts of native grasses. The back nine is highlighted by the par-3 11th playing over a large water hazard with the Andes in the backdrop.
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Tiger Woods and David Duval won the World Cup of Golf here in 2000, defeating the home team of Angel Cabrera and Andres Romero, giving the club worldwide popularity and the reputation as being one of the best courses in South America. The 27-hole Buenos Aires Golf Club was designed by Robert Von Hagge and opened in 1994. The championship layout at Buenos Aires consists of the Green and Yellow nines, which are characterized by beautifully conditioned greens with large breaks as well as sprawling water hazards. The Green course features the 418-yard par-4 seventh with a large hazard on the left side of the green, which visually shrinks the putting surface. The Yellow course is home to the most famous hole on the property, the par-4 eighth with water on the entire right side as well as a small three pointed island green often protected by gusty winds.
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The Blue (Azul) course at the Jockey Club was also designed in 1930 by Alister Mackenzie as a complement to the Red (Colorada) course. Similar to the Colorada, the Azul features a flat layout bolstered by mounding, undulating greens and large trees that overhang and protect many fairways and greens. The front nine is known for a four-hole stretch played across the street from the rest of the course and adjacent to the horse racing track, with each hole featuring a distinct and difficult water hazard. Mackenzie designed the Jockey Club with Augusta National in mind as the second nine features the par-3 seventh modeled after the 12th hole at ANGC. Located 45 minutes from Buenos Aires international airport, the Jockey Club should be on the bucket-list of any golfer playing in the region.
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In 1992 Ronald Fream designed the Red, White, and Blue nines at Pilar Golf Club located in Buenos Aires. The club hosted the first-ever Latin American Amateur Championship in 2015 using a composite of all three courses. Designed to be challenging and playable for all skill levels, the courses feature wide fairways, large undulating greens, snaking water hazards and a plethora of difficult bunkering. The standout hole on the White course is the opening par 5 that plays 587 yards and forces players to carry a snaking 135-yard cross bunker on their approach. A round at Pilar Golf Club is truly unique as the Red course features the only par-6 in South America, a 656-yard hole forcing players to contend with two water hazards cutting through the fairway before hitting an approach to a challenging green.
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Alister MacKenzie’s work in Argentina is well-documented, as he arrived at The Jockey Club to build 36 holes for the equestrian club after completing his work at Augusta National. One of MacKenzie’s main shapers, Luther Koontz, accompanied The Great Doctor in Argentina, and kept impressing to get work at other clubs in the area—and Olivos Golf Club is his most highly ranked course. The White (Blanca) and Red (Colorada) nines constitute the club’s championship course. Accuracy off the tee is necessary at Olivos Golf Club, as many holes change direction and are lined by dense trees blocking access to certain pin positions. The featured hole at Olivos is the downhill dogleg right par-5 15th—once ranked by a competitor as one of the top 500 holes in the world. The members-only club is located an hour from the international airport and 45 minutes northwest of Buenos Aires.
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South America’s best golf course came thanks to a special call from Argentina’s prestigious Jockey Club, which decided to add golf to its sporting activities on land adjacent to its race track. The club called the USGA for advice on creating unique golf, and the association recommended Alister MacKenzie, having just completed work at Augusta National Golf Club. MacKenzie stayed in Argentina for a few months to oversee the work on the Jockey Club’s two courses, the Red and the Blue. The final three holes are fantastic: The 16th is similar to Augusta’s eighth hole, though a par 4, but with no greenside bunkers and hillocks and bumps to navigate or utilize on your approach. The par-3 17th hole is a memorable slight dogleg left one-shotter that mandates you clear a tree protecting the green. The Great Doctor paid homage to the Old Course at St. Andrews with his green at the home hole, with a valley of sin gobbling golf balls off the front of the green.
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