Going for Golf

Go west for Portugal’s best

Bom Sucesso

The Ouest region of Portugal is a world away from the high-rise hotels, beaches and resorts of the south. Here there are still beaches, but also lakes, forests, rolling pine-clad hills, picturesque towns and villages, breathtaking views across to the sea and, of course, terrific golf.

The two courses I played are also worlds apart. At Penha Longa, you see beautiful, lush countryside around a spectacular hotel, with tree-lined fairways, excellent lofted tees, the ruins of a Roman aqueduct and a few nicely placed lakes.

When you get to Bom Sucesso though, you will find a work in progress. Yes there is on-going development and construction with lots of cranes – not the feathered kind – but closer inspection reveals lush fairways, neatly-trimmed greens and the foundations of what will surely be a European diamond in years to come.

So which one would you play? Penha Longa, I suspect, and I understand your reasoning. However, if I return to the area in five years time, I will, without doubt, make Bom Sucesso my first choice.

The reasoning is that in five years you’ll find nothing has changed at Penha Longa but at Bom Sucesso, everything will be so different. The course will essentially be the same, but the cranes will have disappeared, a superb clubhouse built and all the villas, apartments and ancillary buildings finished. The resort is a pioneer for golf resorts of the future. There are 36 architects using their individual styles and skills to create 1,070 houses which are as innovative as they are environmentally sustainable. All the rooftops will be grass covered and will eventually blend into the hills, we are told.

The par-72 course starts sedately, with a gradual uphill tee shot off the blue tee with a 350-yard par-four. This eases you in before the second, a 499-yard, stroke index 1 par-five, with its right dogleg and a lake from the corner approach to the green. If nothing else, it concentrates the mind early in your round for what’s to come.

It’s only once you reach the eighth, a 282-yard, par-four, that you can relax a little, with a green reachable through two accurate strikes and a chance to grab a possible birdie.

The back nine opens up with a nice little par-three. At just 112 yards, the possibility of a two comes immediately to mind, but if the wind is strong enough to rock you as you take your stance on the lofty tee, you would accept a proffered three without a second thought. The back nine continues in a similar vein, with the wind helping on some holes and hindering massively when it’s in your face.

With a plethora of good golfing holes, it’s difficult to choose a favourite but I can’t resist the spectacular 506-yard par-five 17th. When standing on the tee, the view extends across wooded countryside to the lagoon of Obidos, the sea and the distant mountains spread in front of you in a breathtaking vista. It would be the perfect spot for a picnic let alone a golf tee.
In fact, with an out-of-bounds forest right, a deep ravine all down the left to the green and a bunker in the centre of the fairway, you’ll wish you had a picnic hamper instead of golf clubs.

Once through the narrow gap, the fairway widens a little, but your troubles are nowhere near over. The left dogleg turns steeply downhill towards the green viciously cut onto a ledge, out of sight and somewhere below. Your shot to the flag will leave you with your heart in your mouth.

And before you can recover your breath, you have to negotiate the tough, par-four 413-yard 18th, which doesn’t give an inch, with a sharp dogleg left, a ditch 200 yards from the elevated tee and a river right in front of the green below the planned clubhouse veranda. This is still to be built so a refreshing drink is taken at a café-style bar near the first tee.