Assoufid Golf Club

Desert golf across the dry riverbeds.

Assoufid is the Marrakech course for golfers who want the landscape to do the talking. It opened in October 2014 on the Guemassa road south-west of the city, about 20 minutes from the Medina, and it looks nothing like the green parklands of the older clubs. Only 45 per cent of the site is planted, so fairways run between stony desert ground and dry riverbeds, with the High Atlas to the south. It has collected the World Golf Awards title of Africa’s best golf course six times. Expect a long, firm test rather than a gentle holiday round.

Assoufid Golf Club green fees and tee times.

Tee times are requested through a form on the club’s website: you give the date, the number of adults and juniors and the rate type, then wait for the club’s reply. The form does not state a booking window. You can also phone +212 524 37 48 00. The maximum handicap is 35, and you must show your handicap certificate at reception before you pay the green fee, so bring a digital or printed copy. Prices run on a season from 1 October to 30 September. The MAD 750 rate is for residents of Morocco, so overseas visitors pay the standard fee. Practice balls are included with the round. Caddies are available on request for MAD 250 over 18 holes, and golf cars cost MAD 450.

The round, in perspective.

This was the first course designed by Niall Cameron, a Scottish former European Tour player. It measures 6,440 metres (7,042 yards), par 72, and the club says the brief was to sit lightly on the land and limit water use. Native trees were kept, and palms, cactus and olives added. Dry watercourses, which the club calls shaaba, cross the routing and decide several holes. The opener is a gently curving par four facing the Atlas, and the 2nd a long, straight par five. At the 10th your second shot must carry a dry river, and the 14th is a par five with a split fairway. The club’s signature is the 17th, a par three played across the shaaba to a raised green, with bunkers front and back. The 18th bends right and climbs to the green through an avenue of olive trees. Besides the six Africa awards (2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021–23), Leading Courses named it Morocco’s best golf club in 2019, and IAGTO gave it Morocco’s best golf experience in 2020.

Know before you go.

Handicap

Maximum 35; show your certificate at reception

Booking

Online request form or phone; club replies

Range balls

Included with the green fee

Golf cars

MAD 450 for 18 holes

Make the trip work.

This course is long and exposed, so a golf car (MAD 450) is worth booking if you are playing in the warmer months. Club hire costs MAD 400 for 18 holes. The clubhouse serves a brunch every Sunday, booked separately, and the Pavilion beside it takes private groups of up to 15. Download the club’s rules and etiquette notes before you go, and look at the interactive hole map on the website: the dry riverbeds are easier to plan around if you know where they cross.

Marrakech Menara Airport (RAK) is the gateway. Assoufid lies at kilometre 10 of the Guemassa road, on the south-western side of the city, about 8 km from the airport in a straight line; the club puts it 20 minutes from the old town. Taxis and hotel drivers know the road. There is no public transport to the gate, so arrange your return pick-up in advance.

Where it is.

Nearby: 1. Royal Golf Marrakech (13 km) · 2. Al Maaden Golf Resort (14 km) · 3. Amelkis Golf Club (15 km) · Compare all Marrakech tee times

Somewhere to settle in.

Assoufid has no hotel of its own, so plan to stay in the city or in one of the resort hotels to the south-west. A riad in the Medina puts you about 20 minutes away by car. The Hivernage and Agdal districts have larger hotels with easy road access to the Guemassa road. If golf is the main focus, the resorts around the Royal Palm and Samanah courses, further out in the same direction, keep the daily drives short.

Make a trip of it.

Several courses lie in the same south-western sector, including Noria Golf Club, The Tony Jacklin Marrakech, Royal Palm and Samanah Country Club, so a two- or three-course week with little driving is easy. For a contrast, the tree-lined Old Course at Royal Golf Marrakech dates from 1927. Away from golf, the stony Agafay plateau, popular for camel rides and desert camps, starts beyond the city’s south-western edge.

Find your season.

The club’s rate year runs from October to September, and October to May is the best time to play. In midsummer, desert holes with little shade are hard work after mid-morning. Winter brings clear mornings with snow on the Atlas, which is the backdrop the opening hole is built around.