Peniche, Portugal
Lisbon is a beautiful city blessed with great architecture, rich in history and full of excellent restaurants specializing in fresh seafood. It is also surrounded by some of the best golf courses in Portugal. Praia D’El Rey is consistently ranked in its top ten and shouldn’t be missed if you are in the area. Close to the medieval town of Obidos with its Moorish castle and white-washed houses, Praia D’El Rey mixes excellent holes cut through lush vegetation with some links-styled holes routed along the coastline between large sandy dunes.
The coastal winds and well placed greens demand a different approach to the inland holes where trees shelter the winds, but provide obstacles of their own. The front nine head gently uphill, before turning towards the coast, offering great views of the Atlantic and the Berlenga Islands in the distance. The second nine has a scenic stretch of four holes directly next to the coast, before turning back toward the clubhouse. The seventeenth is a final surprise to most. It is a particularly long par five at 570m from the tips. With the prevailing wind at your back, it’s not an option to use your driver as the fairway doglegs left and anything long will end in the heavy rough either side of the fairway. Three good strokes should get you on, or close to, the smallest green on the course which is protected by a large sandy dune and bunker on the left. A par here is as good as a birdie.
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