Golfing in the Shadow of the Andes

Guests at River House Lodge in Argentina’s Patagonian region can tee off on several links around the nearby town of San Martín de los Andes.

The closest place to sharpen your driving and putting is the 18-hole, 72-par course at Chapelco Golf Club. With a backdrop of snowcapped Andes, dark-green forest, and several lakes, it would be hard to find a more scenic course anywhere in South America. And it’s just a half-an-hour drive from the lodge.

Designed by the golfing legend Jack Nicklaus and his son, Chapelco is a parkland-style course with deep greens and forest-flanked fairways. From the very start, the aim was making as few changes as possible to the natural environment, resulting in a course integrated into the Patagonian landscape that seems to have always been there surrounded by mountains, streams, ponds, vegetation and native fauna.

Besides the course itself, Chapelco features a driving range, putting green and chipping green, indoor golf, golf classes, clinics and a junior school.

Located in the heart of the property, the club house includes the Hoyo 9 bar and Puro restaurant, which offers traditional Argentine meat, pasta and fish dishes as well exquisite pastries and out-of-this-world homemade cakes.

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