Situated on the west side of the Iberian Peninsula with a long Atlantic coastline, it’s not surprising that Portugal has a rich seafaring heritage. In 1415, the Portuguese discovered new ocean routes and they set sail to conquer new continents.

An independent kingdom since the 12th century, Portugal is one of Europe’s oldest nations and their way of life is still gloriously simple and relaxed with honest food and world famous Port and Madeira.Thanks to great weather, Portugal is also one of Europe’s popular golfing destinations and this is despite the fact that there are only 75 golf facilities in the country with approximately 15,000 registered Portuguese golf club members.

Fortunately, more than half of Portugal’s courses are high standard and they can thank the British for introducing the game of golf to the country in the 19th century when a group of British wine exporters formed Oporto Niblicks Club in 1890 (renamed Oporto Golf Club in 1901). Sir Henry Cotton started the Portuguese golf boom with the remarkable Penina which is the oldest course in the Algarve, dating back to 1966.

Our rankings of the Top 50 Golf Courses of Portugal were last updated in January 2020. Click the link to read the story.