158 - Dom Pedro (Pinhal)

Location: Vilamoura, Portugal

Rating: 7.8

I would say the Pinhal course of the Dom Pedro collection was my 3rd favourite of the group. It is another parkland style course with a smattering of water throughout. The fairways are relatively narrow and the tall pine trees hug the tee boxes ensuring that you have to hit it straight but they’re not lined with any bush underneath so can be forgiving in that sense.

The course is an upgrade from the Millennium course and probably offers a bit of respite if you’ve played the Old Course before as it’s a little less tricky but still a reasonable test. The quality of the course is very good, as with most of the Dom Pedro courses the fairways and greens in very good condition.

There’s a couple of cool holes on the course and par 4’s in particular. The 4th is a downhill hole dog legging to the left but not a long hole. There’s water short right of the green so makes taking a driver a risky shot and there’s plenty trees to make sure you have to hit an accurate iron off the tee and then the 18th is a par 4 over a hill where your drive is relatively blind and then you have a downhill approach to the green.

As with all the Dom Pedro courses, the practice facilities are very good. Lovely driving ranges with areas to hit off the grass and good chipping/putting greens.

Again with the other courses at Dom Pedro I think the €120 or so price tag is a little steep but of the ones at the price it’s probably the one I’d recommend playing the most.