Recent content by carled

Well, maybe not so much "good value" as "it's the price that has to be paid in high season to play those courses" I guess?

Have had a good indicative (based on 2025 pricing) offer for tee times at QdL North, South & Laranjal as a package with Monte Rei and Ombria on top for €879 per person inc. buggies on Monte Rei and Ombria. Sounds a good deal - I can't get below €920 doing it individually. If I swap out QdL North...

As mentioned above, we're not going until September '26. It's supposed to be reopened in Feb 25 according to t' Internet but that seems optimistic.

I've been known to be so wayward I miss all the intended hazards on the hole and end up in a position that most golf course designers probably didn't imagine. Leads to some interesting conversations with (usually) confused new golfing friends. "You're playing which hole?".

This won't be until Sep 2026. We're staying in Quarteira (very near to DP Pinhal). Probably using transfer service.

So if the first 4 courses on a golf trip were: Monte Rei QdL South Laranjal Ombria ...then what should sit in position 5? Victoria? Royal? DP Old? Faldo?

...hold my beer...

What was the pace of play like? Frequent mentions of 5hr rounds there. (Laranjal, that is)

But that's the case with lots of signature courses. We played Sawgrass from the Blue/White tees (6,500-ish) and had a mixture of handicaps from about 2 to 28. All enjoyed the experience, even if we didn't score brilliantly. Pars recorded were celebrated as keenly as birdies normally would be...

Agreed. I'm not saying you are wrong in that opinion - I didn't see the course and you played it! Was it just a bad day (my course is horrible some days as the greenkeepers haven't bothered, or notoriously one day (YTS boy) used raw fertiliser on the greens, which didn't end well) or a longer...

Monte Rei has just been bought a few days ago by the Arrow Global Group: https://www.portugalresident.com/arrow-takes-over-monte-rei-golf-as-algarve-expansion-continues/ Also recent mention of the South Course development and restrictions thereon...

We looked at South Africa too, but were put off by the long flight. We'd need to do 8 or 9 days to get 5 rounds in, but then there's the whole "being stuck in a compound for safety" thing and it just seems a bit of a faff getting around/finding places/avoiding being hassled to go on a safari or...

Hotels just don't do it for us. They're often out in the sticks, meaning you're stuck with one bar/restaurant or frequent taxi rides. Being in a villa with walks to local bars and restaurants is where it's at for us. People still have individual rooms to go off and nap in if they want!

Yeah, it was your thread that inspired me to ask the question here. I guess we're lucky in the group as we're all chucking £100 each per month into a pot and have been doing for a while. We've got a trip in 26 and 27 for big birthdays and will have around £2k per head budget for each. We'll do...

I know it'll be a lot better than this example, but golf resorts always conjure up visions of somewhere like the Manor/Ashbury complex near Okehampton. It's just likely to be full of oi oi boys and stag groups in my head! We quite like having a bit more independence really. Not ruling it out...