173 - Vale Do Lobo (Ocean Course)

Location: Quarteira, Portugal

Rating: 7.9

My third trip to Portugal in 6 months and played another delightful set of courses. Vale do Lobo is one that I’d wanted to play for a while and we had the most spectacular setting for the ocean holes.

We teed off around 2:30pm which left us not a lot of time to get the full 18 holes in, we actually played 18 in pitch black with yellow balls and it was a bit of pot luck but playing holes 14-16 with the sun setting was an unforgettable experience. 15 is a majestic par 3 hugging the beach with the waves crashing in the background.

Overall the Ocean Course was a good one, there’s a bunch of holes that aren’t particularly memorable and the condition was decent without being great, especially as it wasn’t the warmest time of the year to play.

Pace of play was okay, there was a bit of a wait on some holes but nothing terrible. The drinks cart going around was there frequently and well stocked.

The two courses at Vale do Lobo share the same clubhouse, a lovely set up with a great big putting green to warm up on. I think it is on the expensive side but given the other pries in the Algarve it’s just an overpriced area.