We continue with the trip through Portugal and Spain completing our trip to Portugal at the Old Course-Vilamoura before entering Spain.  The Old Course is a well manicured very playable course, well laid out with very little rough.  It has a private country club feel to it with excellent service, and reminds me of many clubs in the United States where members welcome guests and it just has a calm feel to it–I was immediately reminded of Los Altos Country Club in California.  I selected the 4th hole as a very unusual par 3 of approximately 150 yards whereby you have to thread the needle through the trees or hit a very lofted short iron over the trees to hit the green and avoid the bunkers.   At first blush, I thought the hole was a bit unfair and potentially intimidating, but, on reflection, it simply demanded an accurate shot that would be rewarded.  I had some recollection of Pete Dye’s silly hole at Black Wolf Run’s Par 3, where a tree guarded most of the green and looks ridiculous.  That hole made my list of the worst designed holes I have ever experienced.  This hole had the potential to reward a good shot, although it looks pretty challenging from the pic below.

An unwelcome feature of many of the holes throughout the trip was elevated greens.  It was tiring to encounter green after green in a severe elevated state.  Combined with wind, club selection can become confusing and it’s evident that good players have the where-with-all in their iron play to hit elevated shots into the greens.  What I found annoying was the condition of encountering the elevated greens on virtually all of the holes.  The 9th old at the Old Course, which is a short par 4, is an extreme example of the experience.  The hole is essentially a huge swale and you can’t really see the pin from the tee shot in the middle of the fairway.  The long hitter might be able to drive this green, but the penalties for missing the green are pretty severe.  It seems to me that the best play for the good player is an iron to the middle of the fairway and a pitching wedge up the hill to this green.  Fairly simple for the long hitter but very challenging for the average player as any approach shot that is short is likely to roll all the way down the hill.  Missing it to the left into the greenside bunker would be a better result.  Don’t miss the fairway or the green on this one.

The 9th hole at the Old Course