The Algarve It’s time for another golfing adventure
After 18 months of lockdown, why not discover another golfing world with a visit to the Algarve? If you’re looking for value for money and great courses, Portugal’s southern coast should be your first port of call
Despite golf enjoying something of a UK renaissance over the past 18 months – with record numbers swelling to their local courses from Cornwall to Cumbria – there has never been a better time to start planning your next golfing getaway. With many travel restrictions lifted, UK golfers are itching to head out into sunnier climes. Whether it’s the annual golf tour or taking the family on a short break, packing the clubs and playing abroad should be on all golfers’ bucket lists for 2022!
And in the Algarve, you are spoilt for choice. From Lagos in the west to Castro Marim in the east, the southern tip of Portugal has become the golfing Mecca of continental Europe. Day after day, year after year, golfers from the UK continue to return. They do so, primarily, because they know there is an endless number of top-quality golf courses – all maintained in the finest condition – just waiting to be played. Quite simply, you are spoilt for choice in a region that has become the heartbeat of European golf.
Do you like coastal masterpieces that deliver stunning views out to the Atlantic like Quinta da Ria, Vale do Lobo or Palmares? Or perhaps you prefer inland classics, characterised by an eclectic mix of towering umbrella pines and stunning, man-made water hazards, like Monte Rei or Dom Pedro Victoria? Or maybe you want to sample some of the more established layouts, like the Old Course at Vilamoura and the region’s oldest track, the Sir Henry Cotton-designed Penina?
But there are so many other reasons to travel and play golf in the Algarve. Those sun-seekers looking for a break in the height of summer are blessed with an average of 12 hours’ sun a day, with temperatures tipping 30 degrees Celsius, while the milder winter months will offer a pleasant and welcoming escape from the freezing temperatures on home shores.
Fine wines, great food, the warmest of welcomes and great value for money – it’s all laid out across an
89-mile stretch of rugged, beautiful coastline with a number of characterful towns and cities where you can base your stay. Fly direct from the UK in just over two and a half hours and you could be playing golf within an hour of landing at Faro airport.
Over the following pages, we will look at some of the best courses to play, while also highlighting a number of new developments that have made the Algarve even more of a must visit.
oward Swan’s design at Boavista makes sublime use of the surrounding landscape and provides views of rare beauty over the Bay of Lagos to the east and the Monchique mountains to the north. The front nine climbs to the highest point of the layout and the 6th and 8th holes are played over a ravine. The second nine features various water hazards.
Espiche’s par-5 1st – dropping 80 feet from the tee before rising back to the green – serves as a fine introduction to the risk-reward nature of this track. It also introduces you to the challenge of its contours. For example, two holes later you are met with a 447-yard uphill par 4. Bunkers guard most greens, with the putting surfaces large and undulating, making it a test of your short game.
Palmares has three nine-hole layouts designed by Robert Trent Jones Jnr, who reckoned only once in every ten years would he get land as good as this to work with. The land tumbles towards the sea and a small tract of flat linksland, which provides four links holes on the Praia nine. Each nine has its own character, with the Alvor a hilly parkland course with fiendishly contoured greens, while the Lagos nine mixes parkland with dunesland. The resort includes a new and award-winning clubhouse, as well as a five-star hotel with another hotel in development.
West Algarve: A burgeoning collection of courses for all standards
Penina’s Championship Course is the oldest on the Algarve. It opened in 1966 and was designed by Sir Henry Cotton on what were once paddy
fields, to which he introduced thousands of trees and shrubs. The course boasts an array of raised greens, streams and water hazards. This par-73 layout has hosted the Portuguese Open ten times.
With 18 holes and 27 greens, Pestana Gramacho allows players to play the same course without it necessarily being the same actual layout. This follows a redesign of the original course by Ronald Fream and Nick Price, which still incorporates the natural stone outcrops, historical dry stone walling and ancient trees.
The first nine holes at Morgado are relatively flat, whereas the back nine is played over more hilly terrain. Both halves are noted for their deep bunkers, large greens and generously wide fairways. There are five par 5s – the shortest of which is 529 yards – and four par 3s to give an overall par of 73. This course has hosted the Portuguese Open.
At 6,244 yards off the whites and 5,583 from the yellow tees, the par-71
Alamos does not require big hitting, but places a premium on accuracy with narrow fairways and small greens. Your skills with the flat-stick are also firmly examined. There are superb views towards the hills of Serra de Monchique.
The Faldo Course at Amendoeira is a desert-style layout with strategic options on several holes. For instance, the drive on the stroke-index-one 8th
can be threaded between barranca and a fairway bunker to set up a shorter approach to a long, shallow green. Or you can aim for the more generous landing area right of the bunker, but this sets up an approach shot over a greenside bunker to a green sloping away.
The neighbouring course at Amendoeira O’connor is of a markedly different style. It is laid out through a fertile valley and the rich topsoil has been landscaped and planted with mature palm trees, affording a lush, ornamental setting. Water hazards and big greens with subtly contoured putting surfaces provide the bulwark of its defences.
Away from the golf, Lagos is an attractive town in the western Algarve. It boasts beaches and a historic centre with cobbled streets and a 17th-century fort. Lagos also has a vibrant nightlife, the focal point of which is the marina’s lively bars and restaurants.
The largest city in western Algarve is Portimao, popular for retail outlets and a relaxed atmosphere. The docks area is now a scenic promenade leading off tree-lined plazas. The Azulejo tile paintings in the Jardim 1º de Dezembro depict the history of Portugal.