Travel bucket list idea:
You mightn’t need oxygen masks to play the world’s highest golf course, but a round at La Paz Golf Club might induce altitude sickness.
If you can handle playing shots at over 11,600 feet, your reward is a carefully crafted 18-hole design built into the dramatic landscape of the Valle de la Luna – the valley of the moon. The name is entirely fitting, as the lunar-like landscape, complete with deep valleys, is otherworldly, an eye-catching combination of barren browns and greys peppered with lush fairways and greens that are meticulously maintained.
The golfing challenge is also formidable, with lots of big carries (from the island tee box of the 12th you have to carry it 180 yards onto the fairway), but luckily the thin mountain air means you’ll hit the ball a lot further than you would closer to sea level.
La Paz Golf Course is in Mallassilla, 20 miles south of La Paz in the affluent Zona Sur and well removed from the chaos of the capital.
Tee times are easily gotten, but if you’re not bringing your own clubs your best bet is to arrange a package – tee time, club rental and transport to and from the club – with a local operator.
The course is open all year round, seven days a week, though May to October is the dry season with dry, clear skies.
Round-ups that include this experience
Multiple countries
Golf expert, journalist and avid player Fionn Davenport rounds up fifteen of the most extraordinary and unusual golf courses in the world, to play once in your lifetime.
