Five Great Courses You Should Play During Golf Holidays In Portugal

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For many Europeans golf holidays in Portugal have overtook the British Isles as a desirable golfing destination. For a faultless golf holiday Algarve, Estoril and Oeste have the sunshine and variety of courses to permit year round golf on championship courses. The 5 clubs listed here are a nice selection that shows the breadth of courses in these regions.

Parque Da Floresta: Starting with the Algarve’s most westerly course the Parque Da Floresta is more notable for its high elevation and panoramic sea and countryside vistas. On the course the fairways traverse the steep hillside resulting in trick above/below feet shots off the fairways.

Oceanica Old Course: The Old Course in Vilamoura is one of the few truly mature courses in this popular resort town. The undulating fairways can result in some cruel bounces when driving off the tee. And the silky smooth greens provide a challenge when pitching in, partly due to the placement of bunkers (which they’ve perfected over the years) but mostly due to the greens fast surface.

Oitavos: This is possibly one of Portugal’s lesser known courses for golf holidays but the fact that it formerly hosted the Portuguese Open is a good indication of the quality of holes. The design is still challenging by modern standards and the reasonable green fees make it popular with tourists and locals alike (always a good sign to see).

Estoril: Day-trippers from nearby Lisbon adore playing the compact Estoril Golf Club. At only 6000 yards it may seem, on paper, to not offer much of a challenge. But in truth your course management skills need to be good to navigate the dog-legs, fairway bunkers and fast greens that epitomize this course.

Quinta Do Lago: Of the two courses co-located in this resort it is the more mature south course which is the one to play. This links style course has magnificent Ocean views and consequently plays differently depending on the direction & strength of the Atlantic breezes. It is also a regular in any Top 20 lists of European courses which is a real seal of approval.