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Portugal is widely regarded as one of the best locations in Europe for golf breaks. While it may not have the same heritage and golfing tradition as the British Isles it still has enough world class courses to make choosing a top 5 list as challenging to compile, as the courses are to play.
For this reason, this list is the culmination of personal experience of several golf holidays in Portugal and a variety of forum surveys. The courses chosen are selected for their location, quality of greens & fairways and the sheer variety of game play they can offer through 18 holes of golf.
On a hot summer’s day the 6000 yard Estoril course is an enjoyable treat. The course requires skill around the 18 holes to navigate the well placed bunkers and difficult rough.
The Penha Longa course is one of the championship courses in Portugal to really savor. In 2010 considerable work has been ongoing to make the greens play true and to add enough variety and difficulty on each hole.
The south course in Quinta do Lago is the more mature of the two courses available to play at this resort. Some holes prove challenging due to the stark Atlantic Ocean breeze, while other holes are sheltered by lush vegetation and forestry. Given the courses maturity, the greens play exceptionally true and fast as one would expect.
If championship courses are your preference then the Oitavos Golf Club is one you must play. The course design and challenging greens have played host to the Portuguese Open in recent times and keen amateurs will find the course plays long due to the long par 4′s and par 5′s.
No golfing holiday to Portugal could be complete without experiencing the Vilamoura Old Course. The steep fairways and strategic bunker placement can quickly punish what would initially appear to be accurate drives. The course architecture is sympathetically surrounded with pine trees especially on dog-legs which add to the courses difficulty.
It is fair to say that this list cannot be considered as fully comprehensive and no doubt misses out some other charming courses. Hopefully though, it provides a guide to the sheer variety of championship courses of offer in Portugal.
Tags: Europe
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