Laranjal, Quinta do Lago, Portugal

The beautiful course was originally, as the name suggests, orange groves.

Laranjal opened in 2009 and quickly picked up a number of awards including being voted Best Golf Course at the 2011 Portuguese Travel Awards.

Originally an orange grove, the par 72 championship course is situated 2 km east of the resort, in the Ludo Valley. With spectacular fairways and well-defined greens, Laranjal is renowned for its five beautiful lakes, umbrella pines, cork-oaks and orange trees. It is visually stunning and was designed by the acclaimed Portuguese architect Jorge Santana da Silva.

Featuring five par 5s, eight par 4s and five par 3s, the course is sown with Bermuda grass on the fairways and Penn A4 on the greens, ensuring excellent putting surfaces throughout the year. The front 9 has a par of 35 and the back 9 is even more challenging with a par of 37. There is plenty of risk and reward, particularly for the longer hitters.

The land is gently rolling, but the course is easily walkable as the overall topography is fairly flat. The attention to detail is superb, with beautifully laid paths and stonework placed with the expert eye of a professional designer. The overall design of the course is very open and one can see right across most of the property from any of the fairways. This allows players to find their balls easily and keeps the pace of play up. Whilst this may seem to make for an easy round, particularly for a long, but not accurate driver, there are many other challenges. There is strategic bunkering both around the greens and on the fairways and water comes into play on a number of holes.

The contouring of the golf course is delightful and the greens complexes have been carefully worked out to provide tricky, difficult challenges for golfers getting the wrong side of the flag. The greens are very large and the course plays completely differently given different pin positions. There are four different sets of tees available and off the back of the course is over 7200 yards long – a stiff test for most players.

There is often a breeze in this part of Portugal being close to the Atlantic. As with all courses, the stiffer the wind the tougher the test, but this is perhaps more pronounced at Laranjal as the greens are fabulously quick with plenty of wicked undulations.

 

The green keeping team do an excellent job of ensuring that the course is always in immaculate condition. All of the paths are covered with loose laid tegula bricks, so tree roots do not ruin the whole look of the path as would be the case with a solid concrete path - the bricks can simply be re-laid to a slightly different contour.

There is a huge fleet of Club Car golf buggies - most golfers playing in Portugal use a golf buggy and the path network allows golfers to access the fairway areas, but also ensure that there is no problem with buggies eroding the areas around tees and greens. There are quite a few people happy to walk the course at Laranjal, as it is relatively flat. 

Most of the play is in four balls, so the pace of play can become an issue, particularly if you are in a smaller group behind a number of mixed ability four balls. Despite the ease of finding your ball, it is perhaps not surprising that golfers three putt regularly and often stop to take photos of the wonderful golfing scenery – all adding to the length of the round.

The practice facilities are also truly outstanding and located close to the first tee, just over the road. There are several putting greens where golfers can practise their short game, as well as hit from grass with every club in the bag. The range can accommodate over sixty golfers at once and is - like the rest of the venue - superbly maintained.

The restaurant is part of the purpose-built clubhouse, designed to serve the golf course. It has marvellous views cross the 18th, providing golfers with delicious food before and after their rounds. The seating area sprawls out onto a comfortable patio area and the overall impression is one of relaxed elegance and there is a very well stocked bar for golfers thirsty after their endeavours on the golf course. The professional shop is also included within the clubhouse and, as is the case in most courses in the area, there is a strong emphasis on clothing, all adorned with the Laranjal logo, rather than lots of golfing hardware.

Laranjal is located just a few miles from Quinta do Lago and easily accessible from Faro airport in the southern part of Portugal. This area, more commonly known as the Algarve, is full of high class golf courses - yet Laranjal still stands out. The course is operated and owned by Quinta da logo but it is not included within the Quinta do Lago membership packages.

There are 32 golf courses currently on the Algarve, with the Quinta do Lago complex being amongst the most highly revered. Denis O’Brien, who owns the Quinta estate decided to invest in another course to ease the pressure on his existing 36 holes whilst also capitalising on the wealthy residents and tourists all eager to seek out top quality golf in a great climate. 

Unusually for a course on the Algarve, there are very few properties bounding the course and none of the huge, mega villas so popular and expensive at Quinta da Lago and Vale do Lobo. This is a high end pay and play operation at up to €200 per round so it clearly makes economic sense as there are few spaces on the tee sheet.

Over the last 15 years. Laranjal has won several awards for the quality of its design, impeccable maintenance and the overall user experience. The staff are fantastic and it really is a very special course and well worth a visit.

More details can be found on the Quinta do Lago website:

Quintadolago.com