The Crete Golf Club

Overview: The Crete Golf Club is an 18-hole, par-71 mountain course near Hersonissos and the only full-size course on the island of Crete. Bob Hunt designed the layout to preserve the rugged Cretan landscape, with rocky ground, olive and carob trees, ravines and open slopes shaping the playing corridors. The club's current course page lists 5,740 metres, approximately 6,280 yards, and describes a desert-style layout in which each hole is sculpted around the existing terrain. The elevation, dry ground and views toward the Lasithi Mountains give the course a character unlike the greener resort layouts elsewhere in Greece.

History: The course was originally designed in 2003 as Crete's first 18-hole golf project of international standard. A major expansion and renovation between 2014 and 2015 refreshed the layout and helped turn it into a year-round Mediterranean destination. The club now combines the course with the Aegean Golf Academy and a small hotel, while keeping the original idea of golf integrated into the landscape rather than separated from it. Its development gave Crete a serious golf venue close to Heraklion International Airport and the historic resort towns of the north coast.

Did You Know? The sixth hole is the club's signature par 3, with a ravine crossing the line of play and making the tee shot look more intimidating than its measured distance. The eleventh offers a different kind of landmark: its approach opens toward the Lasithi Mountains and the Cretan countryside. Those two holes show the course's central design idea, using the island's natural relief and wide horizons as active parts of the round.