THE INSIDER’S GUIDE TO...
manages seven of the region’s courses, including the outstanding Quinta do Peru Golf & Country Club, Aroeira 1 and Ribagolfe 1, the latter two part of 36-hole complexes. All three courses provide different tests of golf in stunning surroundings, and the wonderful Rocky Roquemore-designed Quinta do Peru has established itself as one of Portugal’s leading parkland layouts.
Created by Frank Pennink, Aroeira hosted the Portuguese Open in 1996 and 1997 and has been labelled a ‘Portuguese Wentworth’, meandering as it does through ancient woodland. Together with sister course Aroeira II, it sprawls across a 350-hectare estate that would not look out of place in the Home Counties. Another must-play, an hour’s drive from
Lisbon, is Troia, a superb Robert Trent Jones Snr European Top 100 layout with tight fairways flanked by sandy dunes and rows of pine trees. It’s actually an experience in itself to get to the laid back beach retreat – Troia sits on a peninsula and is reached via a short ferry ride across the river from Setúbal.
About an hour in the other direction you’ll find three courses that easily fall into the ‘must play’ category. The sensational Praia D’EL Rey Resort boasts two of Europe’s Top 50 courses, including West Cliffs which has taken the golfing world by storm since opening last summer. It was voted the World’s Best New Course at the 2017 World Golf Awards and is a worthy neighbour of the ever-popular Praia D’EL Rey, a superb links-parkland combo. West Cliffs incidentally backs on to Royal Obidos, the last course created by Seve Ballesteros and a wonderful, worthy legacy.
And finally, an hour west of the airport, the lively town of Cascais is home to two cracking layouts popular with Brits, Quinta da Marinha and Oitavos Dunes. The former provides fun but fair holiday golf, but Oitavos is in a different class; a clifftop layout with wide open fairways, but some lovely driving holes and amazing views across the Atlantic. The on-site hotel is well worth looking at for a Lisbon base.