174 - Quinta do Lago (South)

Location: Faro, Portugal

Rating: 8.0

My second favourite of the Quinta do Lago courses. Pretty good design with a bunch of interesting holes. Cracking tee shot off the tenth (we played it as the 1st on the day) straight downhill with OB no the right.

In my opinion it is very overrated, whilst the design was good the maintenance was subpar for a course at this level. There were many bare patches across plenty of the fairways so the maintenance wasn’t that good. The 15th is a pretty tough hole, a par 3 of around 150 meters into wind and across the water. And following that the views over the 16th green are very pretty. The greens, like all of the Quinta do Lago courses, were relatively big with plenty of undulations making putting very challenging.

It is pretty challenging as a course because of the sheer volume of trees, you can shoot a high number without losing many balls. We played a relatively swift round here, pacing between groups was good. There’s a nice big driving range serving both courses and a putting green. The chipping green is quite a trek to get down to.

It’s quite expensive at around €130 and would expect a bit more for that price.