Grupo Oceânico

Amendoeira Golf Resort Opens State of the Art Golf Academy

With two championship courses – one designed by Nick Faldo and the other by Christy O’Connor Jnr – alongside a wealth of sporting and leisure amenities, Amendoeira has now opened a fully equipped state of the art golf academy. The Amendoeira Golf Resort Academy and Callaway fitting suite boasts every practice facility for the amateur and tour professional alike and features a 9-hole par 3 floodlit course.

The Academy has a variety of golf programs tailored to meet the needs of all standards of golfer seeking to improve and hone their games. A complete menu of private one on one and group lessons are on offer with experienced PGA Professionals. Geared with state-of-the-art video analysis software and a CD/DVD featuring customized improvement plans, students will receive a record of key areas for improvement.

Courtesy from Golfalgarve magazine

top

Laranjal Golf Course

A bright future for Laranjal

This newly opened laranjal course owned by Quinta do lago is guaranteed to be a favourite of discerning golfers due to its quality design features, state of the art construction and unique bucolic location.

It may have taken many years of frustration during the planning and especially the costly approval stages, but the official opening of this spectacular layout designed by Jorge Santana da Silva, who learned his trade with famed architect Trent Jones Senior, has finally taken place.

The course has been playable on an experimental basis for the past few months during which some fine tuning was carried out. Although the bermuda grass on the tees, fairways and rough remained dormant during the winter, the warm spring weather brought it into a mature, verdant condition, contrasting attractively with the sparkling white sand in the bunkers.

Located in an area called Ludo, between the main Quinta do Lago estate and Faro, Laranjal (the Portuguese word for orange grove) enjoys an isolated and tranquil countryside setting, with the only buildings visible being the odd farmhouse in the surrounding area. There will be no property development on or around this course. Many of the existing orange trees on the original site were either left in place or transplanted to combine with natural pines and cork oaks to define the fairways and the six man-made lakes that form hazards and water reserves have already attracted ducks and other aquatic bird species.

To mark the Laranjal opening, Quinta do Lago organised an 18-hole tournament which was played in a spirit of great camaraderie. The invitees were mainly those connected with the golf trade, media representatives, Quinta do Lago club members, staff and course managers José Capela and Nuno Gonçalves.

After a period of atypical inclement and windy weather, bright sunshine and light breezes on the big day made for ideal playing conditions. This was generally reflected in the scoring, since the three prize-winners, who played between 4 and 6 strokes below their handicaps in spite of little or no local knowledge of the course. They obviously avoided the strategically placed water hazards and mastered the speedy, but true, undulating greens. The winner was Peter Reischl with a great game accumulating 42 Stableford points, followed by Graça Carter (41) and Geoff Farmer (40).

All those taking part were unanimous in their praise for the quality of the course and the top-class service provided, essential factors that the owners have always demonstrated with their golf course projects. During the prize-giving ceremony, Golf Director John Dwyer emphasised this point and mentioned that the owners will continue to invest with a view to reinforcing quality and ensuring that golfers can enjoy the premium service they expect, on a long-term basis.

When GolfAlgarve magazine interviewed Quinta do Lago Director, Sr. Domingos da Silva a few months ago, he pointed out that the Laranjal course was built to the highest standards, using the most up-to-date technology, and it is one of the jewels in the owners' crown – a jewel that is guaranteed to shine brightly throughout its promising future.

Courtesy from Golfalgarve magazine

top