One of the greatest attractions of Quinta do Lago is its golf courses. In fact, this resort town was created around the Quinta do Lago golf courses and today it is one of the most premier golf resorts not only in Portugal but also in whole of Europe.
Important tournaments are held here and the place offers a chance for playing golf all year through thanks to the pleasant weather of the place in summer as well as winter. If all this has spurred the interest of playing a round of golf in Quinta do Lago, here are some more details that will be useful for you:
- Spread over an area of 550 hectars, there are three golf courses within Quinta do Lago. In each course, golfers can experience lush, generous fairways that are sporadically with clusters of heather, pine, wild flowers and broom. The greens are carefully tended making the golf courses some of the best Portugal has to offer. The courses offer enough challenge to golfers in form a natural water bodies as well as bunkers that break the landscape now and then. As for the three golf courses, each offers in them a challenge that is unique to it only.
- The North Course was designed by two architects and is one of the first golf courses built in Quinta do Lago. Holes 1 to 5 was designed by William Mitchell in 1974 along with hole 15 to 18. As for holes 6 to 14, they were co-designed by Rocky Rocquermore and Joseph Lee. Both of the designers are from USA and this part of the golf course was opened in 1989. There is quite a difference between the designs of these two architects; William Mitchell designed a terrain that was typical for Quinta do Lago. The area is sandy and strewn around with trees like heather, gorse, pine and wild flowers. The later two designed a more superb terrain, sandy but littered with umbrella pines. The North Course specially looks great in spring when wild flowers cover the rough. Penn Bent Grass was used for creating the greens which made it possible to play high quality golf all year through. As for the tees and fairways, Bermuda 419 hybrid was used to produce swards that are top quality and playable all throughout the year.
- The South Course is the oldest of the golf courses of Quinta do Lago, and totally designed by William Mitchell of USA. It was opened in 1974 and since then has hosted “Portuguese Open championship” more than eight times. For tour players, this is the favorite golf course of Quinta do Lago and it is par 72 course with 6,500 meter with a beautiful natural setting. In its backdrop is the natural reserve of Ria Formosa while lakes, wild vegetation and umbrella pines surround the holes in the South Course. In each hole, golfers get a generous landing areas off the tees and the woodland pines’ setting provide a perfect routing.
- The last and the newest golf course in Quinta do Lago is Laranjal. Built in 2009, this course was designed by Jorge Santana da Silva. It was originally an orange grove which has now been turned into a challenging golf course. It is spread over an area of 6,480 with five par 3s, eight par 4s, and five par 5s amongst cork oaks, umbrella pines and orange trees. The course also has natural water bodies and 5 really spectacular lakes. To guarantee good putting all year through, Penn A4 grass has been used on the greens and Bermuda on the fairways.
The whole Algarve region, in which Quinta do Lago is situated is known for its golf courses. The great thing about golf courses in Quinta do Lago is that, they were the ones that put the region in the maps of golf enthusiasts.
