Palmares (Praia & Lagos)

“Palmares blends easily into its rural seaside environement, offering wonderful vistas of the coastline around the Bay of Lagos and, from the higher ground, the mountains of the Monchique inland.” Wrote Michael Gedye in his Golfer’s Guide Portugal. “The location presented Pennink with a unique situation – a hilltop dotted with flowering shrubs, almond and acacia trees, cascading down to a sandy stretch of linksland with dunes bordering the sea. He gasped at the challenge of combining links with parkland golf and produced a truly interesting course of wide variety that never ceases to charm and challenge. The spectacular views come as a natural bonus.”

Robert Trent Jones Jnr upgraded Palmares in 2010, dividing the property into three nines, “Lagos,” “Praia” and “Alvor”. Four holes on the Praia nine (two pretty par threes and two tough par fives) run along the shoreline and the second last greensite on this circuit is shared with the penultimate hole on the Lagos nine (where the only two water holes on the complex are featured).

The Alvor nine occupies the more hilly terrain at Palmares. The opening trio of holes on this loop sit on the least appealing part of the property, followed by three fairways that are laid out across a road in a lovely valley. After playing a fine par three near the water’s edge, the final two holes face directly uphill to the clubhouse.

Commenting on the Palmares project, Robert Trent Jones II: “Palmares Golf Course is special on so many levels. The expansive ocean vistas, dramatic elevation changes, quintessential Mediterranean intimate valleys, and expansive dunes land have blessed us with the environment to craft a golf course with an enormous depth of character and challenge.“