Golf Break in Spain/Portugal

FixdePitchmark

Putt it there wrote: »

€700 seems expensive - we've already booked for next april in vilamoura and its €445 for 5 nights b+b with 3 rounds and transfers (flights usually about €110 return extra) If you have 8+ players theres currently an offer in oceanico courses when you pay for one less than whats playing , this will save €70-€140 per booking depending on what courses you play .
Theres nowt wrong with pinhal , laguana or millennium for golf hols although victoria and the old course are top notch . Further out from vilamoura you can play quinta do lago north/south and laranjal - deals on offer if you book those 3 also . Then you have vila sol and the 2 courses at vale do lobo .

Try teetimes.pt - we use them every year and you can see prices as you make up your own package deal .

Thanks for that.

Just to be clear, are you saying your total is 445 + 110 = 655 ?


What is your total all in ?

HighLine

Funny sometimes the different views people have about courses.Before going I was told by an avid golfer that "Laguna was a kip and not to waste your time".

Personally I thought Pinhal was fantastic (pics below) and Laguna was nice as well. My perception may have been skewed by a severe hangover but I found Victoria to be overpriced. A few great holes but many bland ones also.

Putt it there

Just to be clear, are you saying your total is 445 + 110 = 655 ?


What is your total all in ?[/quote]

Or even 445 + 110 = 555

Thats it and we use clubs to hire which works out inc insurance at €50 per set per week .

Its about €80 onto the flights if you bring your own . I see clubs to hire will now drop at your hotel and collect for €20 per booking wether you book 1 set or 20 its still €20 .

€600 for flights , clubs , 5 nights hotel , transfers , 3 rounds each is great value .

Also with the crowd we deal with its 3 payments spread out over the few months before you travel so you dont have to stup it all up in one go

Putt it there

HighLine wrote: »

Funny sometimes the different views people have about courses.Before going I was told by an avid golfer that "Laguna was a kip and not to waste your time".

Personally I thought Pinhal was fantastic (pics below) and Laguna was nice as well. My perception may have been skewed by a severe hangover but I found Victoria to be overpriced. A few great holes but many bland ones also.

Agree 100% . Love pinhal , great course

DuckSlice

Putt it there wrote: »

Agree 100% . Love pinhal , great course

Also agree, pinhal was a fantastic course and in much better condition than Victoria.

Silver-Tiger

Hi Lads.

Thinking if hitting Portugal with 12 lads. It has to be around mid February though. Is the weather very chancy at that time?

First Up

Silver-Tiger wrote:

Thinking if hitting Portugal with 12 lads. It has to be around mid February though. Is the weather very chancy at that time?

Not really. It will be a lot better than here. The further south the better your chances. I prefer the Lisbon area but the Algarve is likely to be a bit warmer. But it is still February so don't expect the get sunburn.

FixdePitchmark

Lads

anyone got any ideas or recommendations for 3 days club hire in vilamoura - how does it work ?

Not looking for any fancy clubs - just 3 days - coming into Faro Airport.

thewobbler

FixdePitchmark wrote: »

Lads

anyone got any ideas or recommendations for 3 days club hire in vilamoura - how does it work ?

Not looking for any fancy clubs - just 3 days - coming into Faro Airport.

When you bounce off a plane in Faro, the first thing you'll see when you get through arrivals is a Clubs To Hire shop.

If you order in advance with them online, your clubs willl be sitting waiting, and you just show ID and sign a few waivers.

They'll do hotel delivery and pick up for a smal fee too.

I'd expect you'll find somewhere a little cheaper than them, but you won't beat them for convenience

searay

thewobbler wrote: »

When you bounce off a plane in Faro, the first thing you'll see when you get through arrivals is a Clubs To Hire shop.

If you order in advance with them online, your clubs willl be sitting waiting, and you just show ID and sign a few waivers.

They'll do hotel delivery and pick up for a smal fee too.

I'd expect you'll find somewhere a little cheaper than them, but you won't beat them for convenience

If you are going with clubs to hire.com, You have to book the clubs online in advance. One of our guys didn't and they had no sets available in the shop. Cost him a fortune in the first club we played. Have to agree about them for convenience.

Ronney

searay wrote: »

If you are going with clubs to hire.com, You have to book the clubs online in advance. One of our guys didn't and they had no sets available in the shop. Cost him a fortune in the first club we played. Have to agree about them for convenience.

Second that suggestion of clubs to hire, Pre book and they will be waiting there and all you do is select your putter.

FixdePitchmark

Lads have a chance to play Old course Vilamoura-

a couple of things I'm reading about it.

A few of our golfers wouldn't be great 24/25 handicap- is it that hard and is it true some places will ask you for handicap certs ?

I find that hard to believe in Vilamoura - as are most lads not from societies etc there ?

Thanks for all the info on here that has helped immensely.

First Up

The more serious courses often look for h/c certs and the Old Course is a serious course. But in any case I wouldn't recomend it for society golf hackers. Its not super long but its tight and tricky. It is also expensive. I've played there and Pinhal and unless you know what you are doing you can get into a lot of trouble.

bmay529

Vilamura old is a cracking old style course and one of my favourites in Portugal... expensive though. I have played it several times and on one occasion they insisted on h/c cert and luckily I had one. I was with a group at the time and as I recall they also had a h/cap limit, so worth checking both in advance. While there are a lot of trees I would say it is no more difficult to play off forward tees for a high h/cap than other good courses as long as they don't spray it too much/

thewobbler

Fixd, almost every course of repute in Portugal has a handicap limit. But it's not there to keep poor golfers away, it's there to protect themselves from people who've no idea what's going on.

As a rule of thumb. If you are dressed properly and look like you've half a clue about what's going on, you'll not be asked.

Turn up in bermudas and trainers, and stand beside the first tee shouting loudly about who's round it is, and they won't be long asking.


The Old course in terms of difficulty is in the same bracket as any shortish tree lined affair in Ireland. Trees can be frustrating if you kee finding them but the course isn't long enough for it to become a slog.

If you think your mates would get around Headfort Old okay, then they'll get around Vilamoura Old just fine too.

First Up

thewobbler wrote:

The Old course in terms of difficulty is in the same bracket as any shortish tree lined affair in Ireland. Trees can be frustrating if you kee finding them but the course isn't long enough for it to become a slog.

Plenty of trees all right but there is more trouble around (and on) the greens at Vilamoura.

thewobbler wrote:

If you think your mates would get around Headfort Old okay, then they'll get around Vilamoura Old just fine too.

Headfort doesn't cost €180-€200 a pop.

FixdePitchmark

thewobbler wrote: »

Fixd, almost every course of repute in Portugal has a handicap limit. But it's not there to keep poor golfers away, it's there to protect themselves from people who've no idea what's going on.

As a rule of thumb. If you are dressed properly and look like you've half a clue about what's going on, you'll not be asked.

Turn up in bermudas and trainers, and stand beside the first tee shouting loudly about who's round it is, and they won't be long asking.


The Old course in terms of difficulty is in the same bracket as any shortish tree lined affair in Ireland. Trees can be frustrating if you kee finding them but the course isn't long enough for it to become a slog.

If you think your mates would get around Headfort Old okay, then they'll get around Vilamoura Old just fine too.

Yes we are all sensible enough - sure I'll be there to keep things right , the courses I've played over there are a joke (I know Old is a step up a little harder) - but they are very short and open in rough.

But looking at photos - under trees you find ball and have some sort of shot.

I was a bit suprised at the whole handicap thing, because I would have viewed Vilamoura as packed with societies / pub societies etc. And you get your tee time from a 3rd party - not sure how they can apply a cert requirment.

Anyway , the more you learn about Vilamoura , the more you can see why people go away from it.

The courses are too full, the cost is too expensive, the golf is too slow. At least it seems to have a bit of a suitable night life.

thewobbler

What's the price got to do with it first up?

He's asking if social golfers would find it too daunting. It's less than 6,000 yards and, has almost no water hazards, and minimal rough.

By the way, in my experience social golfers don't give a damn if the greens and fringes are a little tricked up; they don't expect to get up and down. 200 yard carries and unforgiving rough are the things they'll avoid.

First Up

FixdePitchmark wrote:

I was a bit suprised at the whole handicap thing, because I would have viewed Vilamoura as packed with societies / pub societies etc. And you get your tee time from a 3rd party - not sure how they can apply a cert requirment.

Its a bit more serious and upmarket than that. There's a variety of courses to suit all standards but you won't find any pub societies at the Old Course.

Maybe do a bit more research.

FixdePitchmark

By the way on the price.

Most ok courses 80 to 100 euro anyway. Laguna - a poor course is 100 euro .

Most of the guys are golfers - so you may as well pay the extra and play old for that 120 to 140. In for the penny in the context of the trip and you want golfers going away going, class course.

It is mad money - but all of Vilamoura is mad - sure you can play very bad stuff for 90 euro.

FixdePitchmark

First Up wrote: »

Its a bit more serious and upmarket than that. There's a variety of courses to suit all standards but you won't find any pub societies at the Old Course.

Maybe do a bit more research.

Thanks First up will take on board your comments.

First Up

thewobbler wrote:

What's the price got to do with it first up?


He's asking if social golfers would find it too daunting. It's less than 6,000 yards and, has almost no water hazards, and minimal rough.

Its more like 7,000 yards and there is hardly a straightforward shot on it. You don't need rough if you have a few hundred thousand cork trees to make it interesting.

I don't think 24/25 h/c society golfers would get value from the challenge. There's plenty of places to have nice walk in the sunshine on an open parkland course for half the price.

First Up

FixdePitchmark wrote:

Thanks First up will take on board your comments.

Don't get me wrong; its a great course. I just think its too hard for such high handicappers.

I think you've played Pinhal. Well the Old is of similar style only more so - tight, lots of dog-legs and well protected greens.

If the lads were serious golfers I'd go for it but they need to know what they are letting themselves in for.

searay

I think you'd need to be a decent player and play the old course a few times to like it. What looked a good choice of drive off the tee can be blocked out by overhanging trees when you go to play your second.

If you are getting it for a similar price to Pinhal, go ahead. If it's more than 25% more, I wouldn't bother.

I preferred Victoria, but each to their own.

On nightlife, we were disappointed with Villamoura and ended up going out in old town Albufeira instead.

razorblunt

I've played in Portugal on 3 separate occasions, never been asked for a HC cert.
Regarding the price of golf, if you're renting a car and don't mind a 30 minute drive, Boavista offer great deals.
It's down by Lagos.

Bacon roll, 30 balls for the range, cart, and soup & sandwich afterwards for ~€85.

Dbu

razorblunt wrote: »

I've played in Portugal on 3 separate occasions, never been asked for a HC cert.
Regarding the price of golf, if you're renting a car and don't mind a 30 minute drive, Boavista offer great deals.
It's down by Lagos.

Bacon roll, 30 balls for the range, cart, and soup & sandwich afterwards for ~€85.

If you dont mind a pitch mark repairer inspection on the first tee, by a retired army general from Leeds. wouldn't be rushing back there and the course was only ok. too many blind shots imo

razorblunt

Dbu wrote: »

If you dont mind a pitch mark repairer inspection on the first tee, by a retired army general from Leeds. wouldn't be rushing back there and the course was only ok. too many blind shots imo

Really? Last year we were asked about the repairer, 2 lads turned to get theirs from their bags and he just gave us 4 anyway.

I wasn't too fond of the course first time I played it, much preferred it last time out, I guess knowing where the blind shots should go helped.

San Miguel from the beer cart at €2 a bottle too!

It's the closest to the place we have out there so might explain the fondness.

searay

razorblunt wrote: »

I've played in Portugal on 3 separate occasions, never been asked for a HC cert.
Regarding the price of golf, if you're renting a car and don't mind a 30 minute drive, Boavista offer great deals.
It's down by Lagos.

Bacon roll, 30 balls for the range, cart, and soup & sandwich afterwards for ~€85.

Must be great sandwiches!, Boa Vista is more like an hour from Vilamoura and you'd pass a lot of better courses to get there. Play Palmares, on the other side of Lisbon, the next time you are there.

razorblunt

searay wrote: »

Must be great sandwiches!, Boa Vista is more like an hour from Vilamoura and you'd pass a lot of better courses to get there. Play Palmares, on the other side of Lisbon, the next time you are there.

Ah it's shorter than one hour on the A road, Luz to Faro Airport last Sunday was 50 minutes.

Thanks for the heads up on that, heading over in April with 3 days of golf to fill up, will add Palmares, haven't played it before.

Dublin72

Palmares is a great course. Definitely a step above Boavista.