Ever
gone to a Golf course in UK, waited for hours
to get on the Tee, and then
had really bad weather?
Come
and play Golf, in the North of Portugal!
The
pressure on the course is not nearly as bad as you have,
or that of the
Algarve, yet we have so much to offer you.
If
you look at the Course information, you can see that you face
a variety
of challenges… with link courses and mountain
courses available in
the vicinity.
The
scenery will be great but don’t be fooled, the courses are
not as easy
as they look, with water hazards, trees, bunkers,
more trees, mountains,
gulleys, sand and more sand …
plenty to keep you in trouble!
With
our Individual Service in PortGOLF, we take pride
in getting you the
best programme for your Golfing Event.
We can normally arrange golf clubs for you,
if you do not want to bring your own!
If
the Family is with you, enjoying their Own Thing,
you can rejoin
them after your golf.
With
our 5 Star package, you are driven to each course,
passing on
some local knowledge on the way …
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Playing
on the courses around Porto we were never traveling for any more than
an hour, but experienced an array and mixture of many different
types
of golf courses. An assortment of mountainous terrain combined with links
and old established members clubs, this visit has something for
golfers
of all standards; and if you want to practice, every club provided teaching
facilities of the very best quality. It is quite apparent that there is
a very strong desire for all ages to learn to play golf in this area,
which in turn is typified by the provision of a training center and six
hole course
right in the middle of the city, ‘Golfe da Quinta do Fojo’
which can be played from a number of different tees, thus allowing players
to play either
6,12, or 18 holes.
The
first course of our visit came in the way of the prestigious links course
– Estela Golf Club, having hosted two European tour events including
the Portuguese Open in 1991 it is considered to be one of the top 10 courses
in Portugal. Built alongside the Minho coast throughout an array of
sand
dunes this had many similarities to many of our well-known links courses
in Scotland and around the coastline of the UK. The difference
here was
that with very pleasant temperatures and a light breeze this was golf
in the very best conditions, the searing heat of Spain or even the
Algarve
can be somewhat unbearable at times, this was just right. Personally I
didn’t play this course over well but the front 9 holes here are as
good
as anything we experienced all week, when the wind is blowing here this
is a test for any player.
Second
on the itinerary was a trip to the north of Porto past Braga and on to
my playing partners club, Ponte de Lima Golf Club. Set in the
foothills
of Monte da Madalena this is a typical mountain course that is adorned
with luxuriant vegetation and complimented with some wonderful
well re-stored
old mansions, that I am led to believe are available for parties to rent
whilst visiting the area. It was here that we were joined by a
number
of Dutch football followers, at that stage their team were still in Euro
2004 and they remained in buoyant mood, however their decision to
walk
this course may have been questioned later, take my word - a buggy is
required here, but don’t let that put you off, the scenery and views
over
the valley of the River Lima and the city of Viano do Castelo are extremely
impressive and well worth it. The first nine holes meander
throughout
the age-old oak, chestnut and cork trees whilst the second half of the
course is situated in the Quinta de Pias valley with its
surrounding vineyards
and cornfields. There are some stunning holes throughout this course with
the par 5 third hole-measuring 622metres; this
is the longest hole in
Portugal, albeit it is down hill and not quite so daunting as it sounds.
This was a joy to play, it is one of those courses I want
to come back
and play again.
As
it seemed everyone in Porto was there for either the football or golf
it is easy to by-pass the beauty and culture of this wonderful
city. Fortunately
we managed to make some time available to take in the surroundings, the
history of this city is immense but the quality of the
area is the one
memory that I will take away. The restaurants alongside the River Douro
with the traditional boats drifting by, or the sea front area
generally
known as the Foz are areas that any visitor should take time to visit.
However
it was soon back to the golf courses with a journey back inland and up
into the mountains again heading towards Viseu on the main
motorway towards
Spain, we were off to play the Montebelo Golf Course. At just over 6,300
meters this is a course that is a very good test of
golf, opened in 1997
a number of the opening holes dog leg through the pine trees. However
the strong part of this course is the finishing 5
holes, at this stage
you might have a reasonable scorecard in your hand, but don’t be lulled
into a false sense of security. From hole 15 to 18
there is a variance
of trouble waiting for the shot just off line, this is typified by the
16th a 369 meters downhill hole with a lake in front of the
green, all
of your course management comes into play here. Followed by a daunting
par 3 the final hole is an uphill par 5 that is three shots to the
green
for any player. Montebelo is well worth the visit, but take a buggy, again
the views of the countryside will stay with you for a long time.
On
the way back from Montebelo we booked in to play a private members 9-hole
course, Miramar Golf Club, dating back to 1932 this is a
delightful links
course that was originally designed by Mackenzie Ross and more recently
redefined by Howard Swan. Without being over
difficult the welcome and
friendliness of Miramar complimented a traditional course that was well
worth a visit.
With
the visit coming to a close and just two more courses to play we were
to travel south to the third Mountain course, Amarante Golf Club. It is
not easy to write about three different mountainous golf courses within
the same area, and try to define the special characteristics that separate
them. In this case it may help that I played my best golf of the week
and managed to take some wonderful photographs of a course set within
the
mountains Marao and Aboboreira. In addition the welcome and attention
of the secretary Mr. Jose Silva was second to none that we had
encountered
all week. [It must be the secretary in me coming to the fore again]. Hole
for hole I enjoyed Amarante, the first hole is not the best but
once you
get into this course it will be enjoyed by golfers of all ability’s. No
two holes are the same and the thick sward of Penn cross grass on
the
greens provided some super putting surfaces. Again the golf teaching element
is in evidence, this is the home of young Paulo Fedderio a 1
handicapper
who is presently training in the UK.
The
final round was to be played upon the oldest golf course in Portugal and
the second oldest in mainland Europe, Oporto Golf Club. In the UK
and
probably all around the world golfers are attracted to the traditional
clubs, their history and all that goes with them, Oporto is no exception.
The origin of this course dates back to 1890 when a group of British players,
mostly wine shippers formed a club in the town of Espinho with the
delightful
name of The Oporto Niblicks Club. The club retained this title until shortly
after 1900 when the name Niblicks was dropped and the first
AGM of the
Oporto Golf club was held in 1901. Just to enhance the history it is interesting
to note that the first golf balls for resale were made
available by the
club in 1907, the earliest were called Hawk, Swallow and Ace, obviously
along way from the Callaway and Titleist balls used
today. This was followed
by another milestone in 1908 when pressure by some of the members to put
the club on a better footing held an
extraordinary general meeting when
amongst other decisions a local rule was made ‘Handicaps are to be readjusted
to compare as nearly as
possible with those in England’. Having played
with one of the members from Oporto I’m not quite sure if that still exists,
however it was a most
enjoyable experience on what I can only describe
as a rugged and tough Portuguese Links golf course. For all its history
there are no frills here,
it is more like how golf has been played over
the years, it is not a long course but the wind coming off the North Atlantic
coast is one to do battle
with. If you want to play true links golf this
is your course.
Having
played six golf courses, visited a couple of others and stayed at the
most prestigious Oporto Cricket and Lawn Tennis club I can only
recommend
a visit to this fascinating area, it is not only an undiscovered area
for golf but also offers so much more. There is an element of
mañana
here but that only helps in providing the element of relaxation.
Finally
the man out here who is pulling the strings to put North Portugal on the
map is being undertaken by an Englishman, Mr Peter Evens.
He is now working
very closely with these golf-courses and hotels in an attempt to promote
golf in North Portugal,
if you want to know more email him at
portgolf@netcabo.pt
....
you will not be disappointed. |
