Vilamoura (Millennium) - Algarve - Portugal

The Old and Victoria courses are marketed as Vilamoura's top two layouts – ahead of the Millennium, Pinhal and Laguna – as they are rightly a cut above the others, but that is not to say the latter three are not very good courses in their own right.

The Millennium opened, as its name says, in the year 2000. Half the holes on the course once belonged to the former 27-hole Laguna course (built in 1990) and the other nine were added to create a new 18-hole layout. The refurbishment of the old holes and creation of the new outward half were overseen by Martin Hawtree, the renowned course architect.

The pick of the holes on the front nine is the 165-yard, par three, 6th where the green is protected by water on the left and a large bunker on the right. The toughest hole on the back nine is the 425-yard, par four, 16th which requires the tee shot to be played uphill to a fairway with bunkers either side of the landing area. The approach shot must then flirt with sand either side of the putting surface before being holed out.