Spain or Portugal golf packages?

Allo chaps and chappettes.

I found one thread on playing in Spain, but thought I'd give the idea a little bump.

Can anyone recommend courses in Spain or Portugal, preferably not tooo far from the airports and the towns for a few nights away? We're a small group of lads, not party animals, but wouldn't mind a lively night life either. The quality of the courses would probably be more important.

So where's your fav? I like La Cala in Southern Spain, but need more options to take to a holz strategy meeting this week Reading the flipping course descriptions on the websites you'd think they're all tournament standard!! Rather have some real life assessments.

Cheers pals. David.

Dont think you can go far wrong with Golfbreaks.com tbh.they have a repuation to protect.the Villamoura Oceanaica courses will ferry you around by minibus FOC.
A good hotel in Spain if you are doing your own thing is Atalaya Park few mins from Peurto Banus and tons of decent courses within a few mins.
We have found on these trips its best not to be spending a lot of time travelling interferes with the golf and drinking time.let someone else do the organising and just enjoy

Depending on when you are going I'd recommend either La manga in Spain or Estoril in Portugal. La Manga has got 3 courses on the resort, more round the area, and it's a nice place. I've done a lot of the Algarve courses in Portugal, and nice though they are, they are a bit expensive and some of the courses are not great either. In Estoril there aren't as many courses, but they are mature, and good quality, and you can get to Lisbon when you want a day off.

Also you won't feel like you are personally boosting the Eurozone bailout fund which is what the prices on the Algarve and Marbella areas are like.

Don't go to either La Manga or Estoril before mid April though, the weather isn't reliable enough. From mid April onwards it's generally good, and not too hot.

One more thing is that Spain is on Central European Time, and Portugal is 1 hour later. In Spain, after the clocks change in March, there'll be the early birds queuing up to play at dawn (literally), whereas in Portugal it's a bit more leisurely since dawn is about 7.00am rather than 8.00am. Late afternoon golf in Spain is much more pleasant because it's light for an hour longer, whereas in Portugal it's a bit of a rush in the later afternoon because it gets dark sooner. So if you like afternoon golf, then go for Spain.

I go every year with a group of lads to Spain or Portugal. We go in October time so I can only say that the weather then is still mid/late 20s then.
Vilamoura - Good nightlife and a good selection of courses from average (Laguna, Millenium) to really nice (Old Course, Victoria, Faldo). There are others as well. The best thing with Vilamoura is all the hotels are walking distance from the bars and they have fleets of mini buses to ferry you to the courses which are generally about 10 minutes away.

La Manga: I wasn't a big fan, partly as the courses were being hollow tyned which was a one off. The other thing is that there is a limited choice of where to go and it is very English. This may not be a problem and a lot of the boys loved it. There are buses that run like free taxis but walking around was a bit much as its quite spread out.

Peurto Banus - Very lively nightlife. Also pretty pricey but go one street back and avoid Sinartras and its a bit more reasonable. Atalya Hotel is a short taxi to the centre but is a decent big hotel. We are staying in a place in the centre this year. There are loads of choices but it seems to come down to a couple of styles. By the sea they are wider and flat then as you go inland they are much more narrow and I would say tougher. I loved Monte Mayor just for the spectacle but you will need a lot of balls. The courses at Atalaya were OK, Old better than new from memory.

A friend went to La Cala. His report was good courses, decent nightlife but you are quite a way out of town so you end up staying in the resort.

We have always used Golfbreaks and can recommend them highly. I know what you said about trying to work out what courses are good. We are trying three new ones this year in Puerto Banus which was tough to figure. Flamingos looks good and we are doing Santa Clara and Los Naranjos around them.

Final thing is that I would get the operator to organise your transfers to the golf courses. One year we tried to do it ourselves with taxis and it was a nightmare. When a bloke arrives in a Peugeot 406 saloon and can only get three of you in with clubs the fun has just started!

When we went to Costa del Sol, we used 3dGolf, but lately started using YourGolfTravel. In the Costa del Sol, we stayed in Fuengirola. This has an abunadancy of bars & restaurants that will meet your needs. Also plenty of courses in the area to play within easy reach; using taxis or driving yourself: Mijas (2 nice easy courses to start off with), Torrequebrada for a harder challenge, to the more challenging but great course in the area La Cala . There are also plenty of courses down near Marbella also that are mostly good.

As for Portugal, stayed in Vilamoura at the Beach Hotel near the casino. Plenty of bars & restaurants around the marina. Most of the Oceanico course are good though my least favourite is Pinhal. The best I've played around Vilamoura is the Victoria, with the Old Course just behind. You can also play LA Quinta & Vale de Lobo that are slightly further outside Vilamoura.

Hope this helps.

Id agree with missing out Pinhal.beauty of Villamoura is plenty to do around the marina walking distance and no need for cars as the Stig has a job running you around by minibus.When youve finished golf take your time in the clubhouse(where they will clean your kit) and ring for a pickup when you are ready.If you are on a three day trip need the transport side to work and not waste to much time.

I concur - if you go to Vilamoura then miss out Pinhal. It would be a nice course if someone took a chainsaw and cut those trees back a bit.

I'm all for strategic positional play but Pinhal isn't that, it's just a path through the trees.

I quite liked Pinhal as I liked being in the trees but then given that I am in there a lot its just as well!!

I haven't played it for a few years though and I can understand what people are saying. For me the order of good to bad in Vilamoura are
Victoria, Old, Millennium, Via Sol (first 2 nines), Pinhal, Laguna.

The Faldo course which is part of the same group is about 30 mins away. Its a good track but pretty tough. You really need a sat nav as trying to work out how far bunkers are when you are driving is very tough otherwise and you really are better plotting your way around. It is a tough course that the higher handicappers/hackers didn't really enjoy with three nights of beer in them as well.

V Good George.path through the trees.Your fine there if you can hit a low(head height)hook that fades

Last time I played at Pinhal, the ground was quite hard and bouncy after a couple of hot weeks. We spent all afternoon chipping out from underneath the umbrella pines. There's a shortish par 4, about the 5th I think, with a pond short right of the green. The pin was cut on the right. The fairway slopes to the right. We couldn't find a way to keep the ball on the fairway. If you were accurate enough to find the 5 yard strip of rough on the left between the fairway and the trees, it stayed there. Anything landing on the fairway ran away to the right rough under the umbrella pines.

The fairway was pristine. Looked like the greens at Augusta, I don't think anyone had played off there for weeks.

The 17th @ Pinhal, always had me beat.

A dog leg that is 180 degrees, ok, it may have been 179 degrees. Cut across the dog-leg over the trees & OB, and try and land on a 5 yard strip of fairway.
Or play to the bottom of the dog-leg & then try & play up the hill, with the trees on both sides of the fairway with a fairway that varied in width from 5-10 yds.

I think my best score on that hole was a 7.

All the memories of Pinhal have got me rethinking. I think a lot of it is that I think pine trees are great to look at. I think the last time I played it (a few years ago) I do remember thinking that it was pretty harsh at times. When I first was going there I wasn't a very good golfer so probably not so worried about scoring badly. I am sure the sun helped too!

I do remember the dog leg that you are talking about although I thought it was more like the 15th. I have seen a few guys who just couldn't bring themselves to play the 180yds to the corner (including myself) and never see the ball again after hitting a good shot. It is a classic hole where when I was worse I was happy just to chip 7 irons up a hole, get a bogie and be happy.

Last time I seem to remember a 7 or 8 and a lot of trees being hit! Maybe I should learn something from this!

The revamped Palmares is a must play course (on the way to Lagos).
Absolutely stunning.

Thanks you guys, you're a bunch of studs.

Ahh Palmares.Id like to see that again.many moons ago there was a shanty town on one of the early holes and nudist beach behind the green on another.very easy to overclub there
Lovely course though as you go up into the hills.