111 - West Cliffs Golf Course

Location: Obidos, Portugal

Rating: 8.7

Having played Praia D’El Rey the day before my playing partners were eager to assure me I would have a great time at West Cliffs, more challenging but a beautiful course and it didn’t disappoint.

It reminded me of Pezula in South Africa with a similarly brilliant, modern clubhouse and holes weaving around a hill and through foresty area with spectacular views of the ocean.

It’s a really stunning course with all the holes independent of each other, I don’t recall being able to miss from one fairway to another unless you went horribly off course. It is a course that is not stupidly narrow but does require accuracy with a lot of gorse bush around. A great place to find balls if you’re having a slow round!

There were nice lush fairways where you could take big divots and the greens were in great condition. Not the fastest having played neighbouring courses but nice and soft to reward good iron shots. Probably a fair bit slower than Praia D’El Rey I’d played the day before. The par 3’s are quite short, I mean I’m not complaining, it makes the round a lot more manageable but a nice long tester every now and then doesn’t hurt. The course overall off the ‘Yellow’ tees was only 5,500 meters which isn’t that long. Some of the par 5’s were tough, long uphill tests and on the front 9 back to back par 5’s just to test you if you’re feeling good about yourself. Many of the greens were raised as well which made approach shots more difficult to calculate and some of the holes required a good drive just to reach the fairway.

In terms of practice facilities there was a driving range where you could hit off the grass and a very large putting green.

I will say the pace of play was quite slow but on a challenging course on a Sunday you can’t exactly expect a fast round but the gents at the starter’s hut were very understanding and even suggested I play 2 balls or take a break after 9 if I felt the delays were too bad. Good hospitality overall!

For 60 euros this is an absolute steal. Couldn’t recommend it more!