Porto Alegre

The "Happy Harbour" city of Porto Alegre is the capital of Rio Grande do Sul and it lies on the eastern bank of the Rio Guaiba where five rivers meet to form the Lagos dos Patos. Because the golf course was originally sited close to the city centre in the 1930s, it now forms a modern day green oasis, surrounded on all sides by housing in all shapes and sizes as the city has encroached all around it.

Formed by fifteen prominent businessmen that were led by a Texan named Joseph Millender, president of the Electric Power Company, the club acquired around a hundred acres of land between the districts of Montserrat and Passo da Areia which allowed the introduction of a 9-hole course in 1932. Further land was obtained by the club, and, before the end of the 1940s, Pablo Miguel had overseen the addition of a second nine-hole circuit.

At 6,100 yards, "The Country," as Porto Alegre is named locally, is not the longest of golf courses and its wide, tree-lined fairways are laid out over lush, gently undulating parkland terrain that feels a million miles away from the urban bustle outside the perimeter fence on the property. Charming old-fashioned features on the course include back-to-back par threes on holes 3 and 4 and a wonderful short par 4 on the 15th hole.