Benamor - Algarve - Portugal

A very short open course near Tavira in Portugal. In metres: whites 5,456, yellows 5,155 and reds 4,719. Par 71.

Green fee in October 2021 was 78€ (small discount from 84.5€ as online booking wasn’t working).

Condition of course was good; greens excellent, fairways divot free, tees a bit chewed up. Bunkers a little wet from overspray.

Very little in the way of hazards apart from a scattering of trees. Nice par 3s.

I’m a 64 year old golfer with a world handicap index of 7.8. The conversion table converted this to 9. I shot a gross 74 off the yellows which were tees of the day.

I would comment that the green fee was expensive compared to similar courses of this length and standard which I’ve played over the years. 40€ would be about right.

I wouldn’t rush to return.

I love it when you play a course with zero expectation and it delivers way more than you might have reasonably anticipated beforehand. Such was the case with Benamor when I was there the other day. It reminded me on occasion of “second tier” courses back in Scotland where I enjoy playing, like Pitlochry or Auchterarder.

It may be one of the lesser lights on the Algarve that will never feature at the top of any ranking chart but it’s a charming little course with a “real golf club” feel (I noticed there were 150 active members on the Tavira Golf Club noticeboard in the clubhouse) as opposed to some of the soulless big resort tracks that think nothing of charging double the green fee for half the enjoyment that you’ll experience here.

My “Pocket Guide to Spain & Portugal” suggested it was just a run of the mill course with only one good hole (the par three 2nd) but the authors of that book must be really hard to please because they missed several other holes that I really admired, such as the downhill par four 6th and the treacherous short par three 10th. I liked the way the routing made good use of the sloping landscape between the 3rd and the 7th holes, even though it meant three of the fairways ran parallel to each other. I also enjoyed the little loop from hole 10 to 14, where a small parcel of land to the north of the property is brought nicely into play. Some of the fairways on the front nine were a bit narrow so accuracy off the tee was absolutely essential.

Most of the greens were interestingly contoured – especially on three of the short holes, with two-tiered examples on the 2nd and 8th and a big back to front tilted effort on the 17th. I must also mention two other things. There’s a big tee box renovation going on at the 9th which looks like a continuation of the excellent work that’s been carried out at the 5th and 7th to landscape the edges of the teeing areas with wood chippings – very eco-friendly and aesthetically pleasing and it provides a wonderful contrast of texture and colour in those areas.

And I doubt if there’s a more elegant practice putting area (in a separate terraced area near the 10th tee) anywhere on the Algarve – what a lovely place to warm up for a round in such a beautiful little setting. You really have to applaud Benamor for looking after the small details as they really do make such a difference.

Jim McCann