Golf, steaks, the tango and more for Golfweek’s Best raters

The Red Course at The Jockey Club (designed in 1930, along with the sister Blue Course, both by Alister MacKenzie) is characterized by a network of shallow ditches dug to drain water from a flat piece of property. The ditches double as playing hazards – to the degree that MacKenzie originally suggested they were hazardous enough and the course did not require sand bunkers. The club management thought differently and instructed Mac to add at least a modest number. 

MacKenzie used the dirt removed from these ditches to build the course’s green pads, some resulting in significant rises with stern associated slopes. It’s these complexes that give The Jockey Club much of its character. The half-horseshoe 10th (a tribute to the Road Hole at St. Andrews) and punchbowl 16th greensites are examples of his use of stern contouring, bold mounding and precipitous drop-offs, all making the Red a study of your approach-shot prowess.

Back to Buenos Aires for showers and drinks (such as refreshing locally brewed beer such as Quilmes and Patagonia and an array of delightful Malbec wines) before dinner. Like many European dining establishments, most of the restaurants of Buenos Aires don’t open until 8 p.m., so later evenings quickly became the norm. All OK, since the golf courses also generally opened later, most not until 9 a.m.

Next up for the raters was The Olivos Club – designed by MacKenzie’s Argentinian associate, Luther Koontz, and open for play in 1950.

Luther Koontz? 

“Turns out he was an architect … who was involved in five of the golf courses played during the rater trip,” observes veteran rater Steve Backstrom. Koontz was an American who became the most prolific architect in South American with around 25 designs to his credit.

The Blanca and Colorada nines at Olivos are generally considered the championship pair in the three nine-hole complex (Azul is the third). A parkland setting featuring gently rolling terrain, ponds, mature conifers and hardwood, the Blanco/Colorada eighteen will remind you of venerable classical courses in the U.S. and U.K. A longer course with sprawling undulating greens and shallow sweeping greenside bunkering, it’s easy to see why Olivos has hosted many prominent tournaments, including the Argentine Masters and Open.

Standout holes at Olivos include the 15th, a striking dogleg par 5 sweeping through a tree-lined corridor, culminating with a…