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Course Guide
Premier Golf Course Rating
Alto Golf

Alto Golf Course, located near Alvor a small fishing village in the western part of the Algarve, and near Portimao. Alvor Golf Course was designed by Sir Henry Cotton and has the longest par 5 in Europe, this monster par 5 is 604 meters long (approximately 661 yards).

Alto Golf Course is laid out in two nines, with tightly formed fairways making this course sometimes a little hazardous. The course has an abundance of trees and carefully placed bunkers, making this course more difficult than first thought. Alto has a wealth of dog-legs, blind tee and fairway shots make this a testing round of golf. One hole that illustrates this is the 400-meter par 4 fourth hole, not long but with a lake on the right make the generous fairway look very tight. The problem is, that if you wish to have a decent line to the two-tiered green you must drive off to the right, yes towards the lake. By the way the left is protected by a large group of trees.

A good par to get is the par 3 seventh, the tiered green is protected left, right and to the front by bunkers any wayward shot is punished. If you are short this tiered green has a large hump making the chip shot very difficult, also take care before putting. One of the typical blind tee shots is highlighted on the 10th; this tree lined fairway slopes up and at one point joins an adjacent fairway anything hit right is flirting with out of bounds and a large group of trees. If you manage to hit the fairway the second shot is fairly simple, once again be careful of the elevated green.

The Monster 16th, this is Sir Henrys memorable hole which now boasts a prize for any one getting a par, ask at the reception before playing. This hole has every thing, length too start with, a lake on the left, sloping fairways, trees and your nerve. Recently the large tree, which was Sir Henrys prize olive tree, has been taken away, at first this seemed a shame but it does help after negotiating the length you had this very large tree in the centre of the fairway protecting the green.

18 Holes - Par (SSS) 72 (73)

Length in meters 6,125

Amenities, Pro-shop, driving range, chipping green, putting green, club hire and buggies.

Last Up Date February 4, 2005
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