The Algarve - full of eastern promise
You can split the Algarve more easily than a fairway. Not along political lines between loyalists who wish it to remain part of Portugal and separatists who would prefer it to be an independent golfing state; nor culturally between golfers and non-golfers where the former want to treble the number of courses, dump the Euro in favour of the Titleist and ban T-shirts and jeans from all public places.
Benamor
Benamor
Telephone:
00351 281 320 880
Email:
Website:
Courses:
6,014 yards, par 71
The truth is rather more prosaic. The divide in the Algarve is simply geographical between east and west. It’s easy - everything to the west of Faro is the Western Algarve and everything to the east is the Eastern Algarve.
However, what we’re dealing with here is not simply nomenclature. East is east and west is west and although the twain may meet in Faro Airport’s duty-free shopping area, there are significant differences between them. The Western Algarve is stuffed with more famous courses than you can shake an olive branch at. They read like a golfing gourmet’s menu of irresistibly appealing dishes.
“A plate of Penina to start, followed by a Vale do Lobo (medium/rare), a portion of Palmares and a baked Vilamoura for dessert; all washed down with a chilled bottle of San Lorenzo.”
Delicious but wait until you get the bill. Ah, with all the force of a well-struck three-iron we’ve hit upon one of the principal attractions of the Eastern Algarve – it’s cheaper. It’s also less developed, less crowded and consequently attracts an altogether more mature pioneer than the young men who heed the traditional advice to go west.
If the Eastern Algarve were to form a breakaway state then Tavira would be the capital. A pretty port with cobbled streets, a roman bridge and more than enough churches, it comes alive at night and the energetic could walk around it in the time it takes to play nine holes.
But we’re not interested in nine holes as from Tavira to the Spanish border – a distance of about 25kms – there are enough full-size, quality courses to keep everyone happy.
Sir Henry Cotton met a man in church who owned the land upon which Benamor now stands. Call it divine intervention if you like, but the three-time Open champion was commissioned to design a course. Drawings were completed in 1986 but the course wasn’t finally opened until 2000.
Benamor is deceptive. Although it looks open and friendly, tangle with the scattered cork, carob, olive and almond trees and it’s easier to drop shots than remember the score when Portugal last played England in the European football championship.
Only 6,000 yards off the back tees, the course is entitled to defend itself and the trees dictate that precision rather than power is what’s required. Water is another weapon in its armoury and comes into play on a number of holes. Finally, the superb greens are surprisingly quick and three-putts will almost certainly punctuate your round.
