Pinheiros Altos Golf Resort (Pines & Corks)

Situated immediately to the east of the Quinta do Lago resort, Pinheiros Altos Campo de Golfe debuted in the early 1990s as an 18-hole layout designed by Ron Fream. The front nine called “Pines” is routed across an umbrella pine-clad hillside and the back nine, named “Olives” occupies flatter, open parkland bordering the Ria Formosa nature reserve.

Not long after it opened, the layout underwent a back nine makeover by Peter McEvoy and Howard Swan, which now features an island green on the second last hole.

A third 9-hole circuit (named “Corks”) was fashioned in 2007, designed by Portuguese architect George Santana da Silva, with these holes very cleverly integrated into the same landscape that houses the original front nine. In truth, it’s hard to believe now that the Pines and Corks were not laid out at the same time, more than thirty years ago.

Reviews below that were written before 2021 relate to the Pines & Olives combination. We visited the course that year and decided to replace the Olives nine with the far superior Corks nine.