Description

Quinta do Lago North

Quinta do Lago North Vale do Lobo, Algarve, Algarve PORTUGAL

To play golf at Quinta do Lago is a joy for visitors and maybe more a way of life the ones who decide to become members of this exclusive community.

In keeping with its heritage, Golf at Quinta do Lago enjoys the full spectrum of nature’s bounty. Each course has been designed in harmony with its environment and successfully crafted to take their position among the Top 25 rated golf courses in all of Europe. It has played host to several Portuguese Opens and continues to be a venue of choice for national and international competitions.

Each course is an experience of Augusta type fare and generous, lush fairways are intermittently decorated with clusters of pine, heather, broom and wild flowers and the carefully tended greens, considered among the best in Portugal are fast, true and sometimes humbling.

Natural water features are sprinkled throughout and bunkers break the landscape almost as a constant reminder, to golfers of all experience and ability, of the great challenge that lies ahead.

Quinta do Lago North course has two architects. William Mitchell designed holes 1 to 5 and 15 to 18 in 1974. These holes (as with the other course) share a unique character. The terrain is typical of the area: sandy and strewn with pine trees, heather, gorse and wild flowers. Holes 6 to 14 were designed by Joseph Lee with the collaboration of Rocky Roquerome, both from the USA, and opened in 1989. The terrain is superb, sandy and littered with umbrella pines. In the spring, the rough is covered with a blanket of wild flowers. The greens are sown with Penn Bent Grass guaranteeing high quality putting surfaces all year round. Fairways and tees are covered with Bermuda 419 hybrid, which provides year-round, top quality swards.

Quinta North is an enjoyable challenge to golfers of all standards, the natural woodland, pine setting, the combination of undulating greens, well positioned bunkers and water hazards ensure a unique golf experience.

Walking off the 18th, the course may leave you with a sense of accomplishment or thoughts for what might have been - but always a longing to address the tee on the first green and do it all again.

1st Jun 09 - 31st Aug 09	18 Holes	~~138.00 EUR~~	75.90 EUR
1st Sep 09 - 31st Oct 09	18 Holes	~~176.00 EUR~~	96.80 EUR
All prices Per Person and are inclusive of local taxes

Year Built	1974
Designer	William Mitchell, Joseph Lee
Par	72
Length	6126 Yds
Handicap	Required
Holes	18
Buggy Hire	YES
Trolly Hire	YES

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Hole Details

Not a long Par 4 to start with, but requiring precision from the tee. A bunker on the right at 215 metres catches many drives as do the trees eating into the fairway on the left. The right to left and downhill slope rewards a well-struck draw shot, hit down the right half of the fairway.

The second to a green, which falls slightly front to back and left to right, must be flown over bunkers at the front both left and right.

A straight forward Par 3 with a long or mid iron, requiring a good strike to fly the trap at the front of the green. Another bunker on the left catches the player who tries to bounce in off the left to right slope near the green.

A very well designed driving hole. The fall of the land is left to right and bunkers on the right at 215/240 metres catch the ball hit in the centre of the fairway. Driving too far left makes a very testing second shot across the left to right lie of the land. The perfect tee shot finishes just left and past the bunkers, leaving a straightforward second. The approach is uphill to an elevated green with bunkers on the left and right.

Following the same contour lines as QL North 3, this hole has a left to right slope on the tee shot. A ball started a little too far left cratches a fairway bunker. Yet one too far right (while it will lie well) is blocked out by a clump of pines on the right. The second is to green with bunkers left and right and a severe slope from the right side of the green.

A slightly uphill tee shot has a very well placed trap at the corner of the left-hand dogleg. Trees on the right catch the player who dislikes the look of the sand on the left. The slightly uphill is a little longer than it looks, bunkers at the front left and right catch those who under club.

Great examples of the short, yet testing, Par 4. The drive must be struck between a cluster of fairway bunkers on the left and pines on the right. The fall of the fairway is left to right. Many do not attempt the driver here. The second shot to a green-bunkered front and back, and with another tantalising tier running across it, is a test of length judgement. It is easy to over hit the green. A safe entrance is on offer on the left side, which then leaves a testing putt.

One of the best Par 5 holes in the world of golf. The drive across a shallow depression, is an ever-narrowing gap the further you hit. Bunkers left and right at 220 metres demand accuracy from the see. The second shot, slightly downhill, is again threatened by bunkers left and right at 410 metres. The third shot, slightly uphill, is to a long green, bunkered left and right and with another tier running across the centre of the putting surface.

A slightly downhill Par 3, usually against the wind. The green is raised slightly above fairway level and is surrounded by bunkers left, right and at the rear. Less testing than QL North 14, this still demands a well struck accurate shot.

A testing Par 4, usually against the wind. The drive from an elevated tee must be placed between fairway bunkers on the left at 200 metres, and trees on the right, positioned on a ridge, which can leave an uphill lie for the second shot. The green has an easy approach, but is bunkered to the back left and has a fall from the back edge. The slight tier across the centre of the green ads zests to the putting.

A friendly tee shot with bunkers to the right at 200 metres and a fall slightly away to the left, sets up a test of distance judgement for the second, with a short iron. A large trap at the front of the green, another on the left and a bank on the right, make a high soft approach a must. The green has subtle, interesting contours.

This is fine Par 5, just in range of two long, well placed shots. Bunkers left and right at 210 metres make accuracy a must on the drive. The fairway offers plenty of room for the second shot, but clusters of bunkers left and right catch the wayward strike. The green is surrounded by traps in front, left and rears, and has a 2 metres bank to the right. The green has a tier running from 8 oíclock, left to right across the green, necessitating an approach from the correct angle.

The lake begins at 150 metres out from the tee and extends along the left side of the fairway and along the left edge of the green. A bunker at the right centre, extreme end of the fairway, is the driving line ñ usually with a fairway wood or long iron. The second shot is intimidated by the water hazard on the left and a large trap, along the right of the green. Aquaphobia often makes the unwary over hit the second, leaving a long putt across a large undulating green.

A drive of over 200 metres is needed to see the bottom of the flag on this testing driving hole. A bunker on the right, at 210 metres, makes length and accuracy a must to set up a short iron approach. A trap on the left and banking to the right make this long green no ‘give-away’ to hit.

A great Par 3 hole played from an elevated tee, giving exposure to the wind. This medium length Par 3 features a figure ìeightî ñ shaped green with a tier across the waist. Bunkers left and right, and banks front and rear, make this very good test wherever the flag is positioned.

A 90-degree right dogleg, which does not always require a full drive, shot. A bunker centre left, at the corner of the dogleg, catches the over hit drive. The second uphill to an elevated green with trap on the right is, again, slightly further than the player sees.

A slightly downhill Par 3 from an elevated tee. The green is set in a bowl on a bank and once enough length is achieved, many balls will roll into the green from the left, right and rear.

A short dogleg left Par 4 which, again, demands a precise tee shot. Many hitting a drive slightly right or too long end up in semi rough. Those going too far left can catch a bunker or roll over the banking left of the fairway into an amphitheatre of pine trees. The second to a green bunkered left and right needs to be well flighted and, woe betide the player who is long or left.

This time across a lake which is a 190 metre carry from the championship tee. The fairway, sloping right to left, can lure the player into the left-hand fairway traps at the point of the right-hand dogleg. The second down into a dip and into the steep slope up to the green offers a generous fairway but trees catch those who miss it. The approach up a steep bank, to a sloping double tier green, must be well thought out, as putting down the slope is never easy.