Golf anyone?
This entry has been written by Charles Lund, an American traveller who stayed with us in October. An avid golfer, Charles wrote about his experiences in some of the golfcourses near by and within a daytrip from Sintra. If you understand anything about golf, his writing will be a great help in choosing the courses and planning your days around golfing activities.
Penha
Longa Atlantico
I was able to get an email reply and my
name on the tee sheet to play this Robert Trent Jones, Jr. course without
having to pay in advance or provide a credit card number to hold the time. I arrived at the course about an hour early
and it was part of a large hotel complex.
The area for the course and the hotel was in some undulating terrain which
was well forested, with lots of pine and oak trees. I’ve played a lot of Robert Trent Jones, Jr.
courses and his courses often have a large number of spectacular holes, with a
couple of quirky holes that don’t seem to fit, but are needed to make up 18
holes. Some might be related to the area
limits around a site where there is a large hotel and lots of expensive
housing. It seemed that this course was
built on a course with sufficient land that there were fewer constraints on the
routing. This time he did well and the
course doesn’t seem to have the odd holes here and there that seem to end up on
some of his courses.
The course started out with some modest starting
holes for the first few holes, not anything obviously spectacular or
brilliantly designed, but all well designed and requiring different kinds of
shots over varying terrain. The pattern
continued and either because of the absence of poorly designed or uninteresting
holes, each successive hole seemed to get better and better. I used a variety of different clubs on par
threes, ranging from a three metal to a seven iron. The four par fives included two which were
uphill or had portions near the green that were uphill. The other two were downhill and both
incorporated doglegs into the hole, with number 6 having a double dogleg with
water on the left the last 175 yards or so and a very old stone wall to the
right of the green with multiple arches.
The par fours made very good use of terrain and elevation changes and
fairway bunkering assisted with proving driving lines and hole definition. The 16th and 18th holes
were my favorite driving holes, with 16 being a
dogleg right, that starts from an elevated tee and goes over a lowland
with a fairway bunker on the right that invites someone to take a go at cutting
some yardage off the hole. If
successful, the next shot involves a two or three club elevation gain. Eighteen is downhill par five that returns
back to the clubhouse. Solitary cork
oaks are present close to the tee and a single oak is on the right hand side
about 225 yards from the green where the fairway doglegs right.
Although the course was a bit soggy from
either or both of heavy rain and heavy watering, the influence of soft fairway
areas did not detract that much from the overall playing experience.
The greens fee here is 120 euros on
weekends and 90 on weekdays. For an avid
golfer with a handicap of 18 or under, this course provides a lot of challenge,
but you need to be on a set of tees that work for you based on your ability.
Oitavos
Dunes
Oitavos Dunes is located on the Estoril
Peninsula and provides views of the Atlantic from many locations on the
course. The lush and well manicured
fairways and the Umbrella Pines planted years ago to stabilize the dune land
are reminiscent of some of the scenic courses along the California coast with
stunning ocean views which provide an inherently pleasing experience from an
aesthetic point of view. The course
strives to provide a links type experience, although the lush fairways and
receptive greens are more commonly found in parkland courses. The proximity to the ocean and wind
influences, as well as the sand base and undulating terrain would seem to endow
a links quality to the course.
Regardless of whether the course is or is not a true links course,
pondering the question while playing the many wonderful holes on this beautiful
course would deprive one of maximizing their potential enjoyment. The course provides buggies but encourages
walking, which minimizes the impact of play and assists in retaining the links
quality of the course. In terms of
respecting the setting, the course was named a Certified Gold Audubon Signature
Sanctuary and curtails access to many environmentally sensitive areas. Botanical information related to plant
species is provided along the course as vegetation is encountered. The combination of the considerations
mentioned suggests an approach to playing the course which respects the setting
on which play is conducted.
Arthur Hills was the designer and Golf World rated it in the Top 100 courses in
the World. It is the only Portugal
course on the list to my knowledge, which would make it the best golf course in
Portugal, at least according to Golf World’s system of standard rating
procedures.
My sense in playing the courses was that
the routing emphasized beginning and ending near the clubhouse rather than the
more common approach of returning to the clubhouse on the ninth hole. This arrangement is common on many older
links courses in Ireland and the United Kingdom. One obvious benefit is that it permits more
flexibility in the routing and provides the designer with more freedom. I am going to infer that the designer looked
at the site and provided a routing which maximized the number of good holes
that were available, based on the physical characteristics of the site. The course has some characteristics that
suggest designing holes without much in the way of preconceived ideas of what
golf course design allowed. For example,
the ninth hole is a par three, something I have rarely encountered. Furthermore, the back nine has back to back
par threes, among the best holes on the course, each in the opposite direction
from the other and one being an uphill hole and one being a downhill hole. The first of the two is an uphill hole where
only the flag is visible and played into a wind on the day I played. The next hole visually looks like a slight
dogleg, at least on the day I played it with the pin in the back right portion
of the green. The back to back par
fives on the front nine are the other anomaly, but one which can add to the
character and uniqueness of a course if the holes are both memorable and
different from each other. The back to
back front nine holes, number 7 and 8, meet both of these criteria.
Other strengths of the course include many
challenging par fours, including a stunning opening hole, a slight dogleg right
on which the fairway slopes right, leaving shots on the right side of the
fairway partially obstructed by the pines along the right. Number five is the number one stroke hole and
well bunkered along the left. The right
hand bunkers can come into play for those players with extra length. For most players with adequate length but not
extra length, the challenge is a long second shot that can play into a strong
wind. The back nine begins with a long
uphill par four to an elevated green which demands a precise second shot and
the hole is the second most difficult stroke hole on the back side. The finishing hole is the most difficult
stroke hole and requires a well positioned tee shot. From the tee it appears that the hole calls
for a shot which ends on the right side of the fairway but a better location is
in the middle or on the left side of the fairway. The second shot to an elevated green has some
of the challenges of the second shot on number ten but the added length of the
hole increases the difficulty of the shot.
Bunkering has excellent aesthetic qualities
and can complicate play from errant shots.
Greens are deceptive. I found
myself seeing an uphill putt from one side of the hole and then looking at the
putt from the opposite direction and getting the opposite sense of the slope of
the green.
Course conditioning was very good for the
most part.
I was glad I was able to get a tee time and
fit in a round early in my stay. The pro
shop paired me up with a father and son who traveled to the area from
Finland. They originally booked the time
for me as a single and then emailed me to see if pairing me up would work
because the two wanted to play the course and the time I was allocated would be
the only opening. Although I appreciated
the thoughtfulness of the pro shop, I was happy to oblige them. Being a single on a Sunday behind a large
number of four balls isn’t my idea of fun.
The course is expensive. Weekend greens fee is 150 euros and weekdays the greens fee is 120
euros, as expensive and any course I played in Portugal. The expense is probably worthwhile if you are
a golf nut who wants to play as many of the better courses as you can. The people with whom I played Penha Longa
prefer it to Oitavos Dunes, so it is partially a matter of preference. If you like walking when you play, this is a
nice site to walk on.
Troia
Golf Club
Troia Golf Club is about an hours drive
plus a ferry ride from Setubal to the Troia Penisula, or you can drive around
the long way, which I did because the
ferry connection can be a hassle. The drive
down is complicated and a lot of the time as I was heading around trying to
find the highway route, I was concerned the GPS was going to take me on the
route back to the ferry. This speaks to
the benefit of having a detailed map or a good idea of the route. I got the ferry schedule at the golf course
and paid 11 euros for the ferry ticket and went by ferry back to Setubal,
probably saving me an hour to an hour and a half.
This
seaside course has everything going for it and is in a great setting. It’s picturesque, challenging, and
charming. I’ve played a lot of Robert
Trent Jones, Sr. courses and it has so many of the classic elements I have in
my own mental template of his design work.
It includes aesthetically attractive fairway bunkering, lots of sweeping
doglegs, the occasional tree that challenges you on iron shots to greens or
from the tee, challenging green elevations, and lots of variation in shapes of
the greens, including some that are long and narrow and angled to the line of
play. The pines growing in the area
provide fairway definition and have wide canopies. The natural sandy base of the area utilizes
this type of naturally occurring material in lieu of long rough and has some of
the appearance of the newly renovated Pinehurst #2 in the U.S. in North
Carolina, which uses grass on fairways and greens only, with no long grass for
rough. Instead naturally sandy waste
areas constitute an aesthetically attractive alternative to rough.
The fairways provide nice lies and hitting
a solid iron from the turf there was pleasant and enjoyable. The free stroke saver is invaluable on some
of the holes, although the overall shape of the hole is fairly easily detected
from the tee. The greens are receptive
to iron shots and the bunkers had lots of soft sand, probably from not that far
away. Pace of play was very good and I
finished my round in a little over three hours, getting through three groups on
the back nine.
The course had 18 very good holes which
were a good mix of short and long par fours.
The par threes were challenging, with one longer, two about the same
length, and one shorter. Par fours
including a couple of shorter par fours, leaving a wedge for the second shot,
as well as some much longer two shotters requiring a fairway metal. Effective bunkering and green elevations made
the second shots challenging on remaining par fours. The par fives included three doglegs right
and one dogleg left. From the tees I
played from, the par fives left wedges with well struck tee shots and fairway
metals.
One of the course rankings published listed
Troia as the number four course in Portugal.
The course has a classic feel to it and even though it is short by
modern standards, there are many challenges for players of all abilities. I considered it to be one of the most
enjoyable courses of my trip so far.
The greens fee on the day I played was 60
euros so it is less expensive than the courses closer to Lisbon. If you know who Robert Trent Jones, Sr. is
and like his work, the drive is well worth the time and you are compensated for
the time and fuel cost with a quality experience at a lower cost. I’d consider this course to be one of the
best values in Portugal.
Praia
del Rey Golf Resort
Praia del Rey Golf Resort is located about
an hour north of Lisbon, on the Atlantic Ocean, in a development that seems to
have grown without intruding in major ways into the course itself. Designed by Cabell Robinson, who also
designed Finca Cortestin and La Reserva in Spain, Praia del Rey is a scenic and
well manicured and maintained course where you can enjoy the breathtaking
beauty of the Atlantic Ocean along several holes and view the ocean from
others. The holes that wind through
pine forests away from the ocean are also gorgeous and seem to fit the land from
which they were carved. The course
included 18 well designed holes with an assortment of doglegs and moderate
changes in elevation. Greens are in good
condition and challenging. Three of the
par fives (#7, #10, and #17) encourage you to hit it long and straight from the
tee box and the wind can be a factor which extends or attenuates their
lengths. The three holes include a
straightaway hole (#7), a dogleg right (#10), and a dogleg left (#17). Number 17 sets up with a tee shot over a
small mound which obscures an otherwise open fairway. Similar mounding is present from 100 yards
in. The course makes good use of short,
long and medium par fours. One of the
more spectacular par fours is number four, which has a massive bunker left
which can come into play with an errant tee shot but is easily taken out of
play with a club which leaves one back 80 to 100 yards. The green is protected on the left by the
large bunker but there is a massive dune out to the right. Number five is a challenging uphill par four
and the number two stroke hole. Number
15 is the number three stroke hole and played extremely long into the
wind. The views to the oceanside of
number 12 through 15 are stunning.
This was the 100th course
outside of North America that I have played since beginning overseas golf
travel four years ago. Praia del Rey was
included in Planet Golf as the only course in Portugal described in this
colorful collection of golf reviews and accompanying photographs.
Greens fee was 100 euros for non-resort
guests. I found the course to be quite
walkable, but noticed some cart use. The
drive time up is less than the drive time to Troia. Like the other courses in Portugal I played,
this course reminded me of courses I have enjoyed in the Monterey Peninsula
area in the U.S. on the west coast. The
latitude and climate and ocean presence is similar to that of the Monterey
Peninsula.
Other
courses
My play around Lisbon was limited to these
four courses. You can buy an Estoril
Peninsula golf pass and pick other courses to play and pay less per round. I elected to spend time on the courses that
interested me the most, which is what I do on golf trips. Had I spent more time in the area, I am
certain I would have found courses I enjoyed that are often played by locals
like myself in areas where I spend a lot of time and am therefore a local. As of the end of this trip, I will have
played 108 courses outside of North America, including 30 or so which are
ranked in the top 100 in the world outside the U.S. So I don’t intend to discount or diminish the
enjoyment someone might get from a course they like and I have my own set of
favorites close to home that are off the radar of many of the ratings of the so
called experts.
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