The course has two architects: The American William Mitchell designed
holes 1 to 5 and 15 to 18 in 1974. These holes (as with the other
course) share a unique character. The terrain is typical of the
area: sandy and stewn with pine trees, heather, gorse and wild
flowers.
The fairways and tees are basically “Bermuda” with a cool
season mixture of grasses, hybrid, which provides year-round and a
top quality swards. The greens are sown with “Creeping Bentgrass
Penncross”, giving a fast, true putting surface, which provide
good all-year round putting surfaces. These holes have more cross
falls on the fairways than the other layouts and all the Par 4 and
5 holes are doglegs, demanding precise tee shots, to set up straightforward
approaches. Like the “Quinta do Lago South” course, it
is an anti-clockwise loop and favours the player with a draw.
Holes 6 to 14 were designed by Joseph Lee with the collaboration
of Rocky Roquemore, both from the USA, and opened in 1989. The terrain
is superb, sandy and littered with umbrella pines. In the spring,
the rough is covered with a blanket of wild flowers.
The bunkering is incomparable, both on the fairways and surrounding
the greens and gives the course an advantage over many of similar
quality and design.
All the famous male and female players who have experienced this
course, including “Ryder Cup” and “Curtis Cup” team
members, have been euphoric in their praise for this course, which
will soon take its place among the great European layouts.
