Vilamoura (Victoria) - Algarve - Portugal

The Victoria course usually hosts the Portugal Masters and is a really testing golf course near Vilamoura. A fantastic design of Arnold Palmer with some woderful holes and a lot of water in play. Especially the 17th and 18th hole are a dramatic finsih of the round and will stay in your memory for a long time.

Condition was a little dry due to the summer heat but greens were sill in good condition. Not sure if the courses are getting better unter the new Dom Pedro ownership.

Played the Victoria a few years ago, so not a current review on conditioning, but we found the course essentially fine but lacking in magic with the routing through a housing development and numerous incongruous mounding complexes.

Fine to play, but felt it was over priced and would go to Old or San Lorenzo if in the area.

This is a nicely designed course that gets better as you get on. The greens are true which should always be a given but is not always the case. The standout holes for me are 7, 11, 12 (which with a big drive is ultimate risk and reward), 14th, 17th and 18 which off the yellows is a 445 yard par 4 that asks a 200 yard carry over water to make it easy. We play very year as a 3 ball and I would just ask to adopt Monte Rei's attitude of not putting other people with us.

During Easter 2016 I had the chance to play the course four times. The expectations were high after six visits to Portugal Masters on the same course. This is a fantastic course. The conditions of tees, fairways and greens are just excellent. It is a quite long course from yellow and white tees, so you need to have a good day with your driver. The course rewards the strategic player since the bunkers and water hazards are numerous. The front nine are very good and the back nine is just amazing. Maybe some high handicapers can find the course a bit difficult. There are other good courses in the Algarve but this one is a memory for life. You have to play it!

Played this course a few weeks ago and really enjoyed the challenge. It is a typical holiday resort golf course (although it is not surrounded by housing development just the excellent Tivoli Victoria Hotel). As previous reviews have noted the back nine is much more memorable with a lot of water in play. I didn't score well but didn't find it unfair as it has large fairways and greens. Condition was excellent though was quite a slow round probably due to the difficulty of the course.

I have played Victoria once a year for the last 5years and some of the earlier comments are fair.the good news is I played there on sat 24th aug and the course is in the best condition I have seen it for a long time.some of the earlier comments on the so called poor layout are in my opinion unfair .it is a good front nine which turns into a outstanding back nine.

have played a few courses on the algarve lately, this is probably the biggest let down. I have considered playing the course for a few years and have always ended up somewhere else. The course is very open i have read a few reviews on the course and people have said it was particularly hard, well other than the 18th i really didnt think it was that tough and that was only because the wind was particularly stong into your face. I would say the course was ok, but there are far better value courses around to spend your hard earned cash on. By the way, if you are useing your sat nav to get to course put in directions to laguna and drive a little further down the road or you will end up at the back of club unable to get into complex.

WHAT A SHOCKER !!Played this late October 2012 for the 2nd time - won't be going back . It had rained that hard that all the bunker sand had been washed off the faces into the bottom , which were 3 ft deep in water . No attempt was made to make them out of play under local rules . Fairways were that wet that it was impossible to take a drop as there was nowhere to go . They must be so desperate for money that they were willing to put us out rather than re-fund the ( high) green fee ! It will be the last they see of my money !!My criticism last time a played still stands - so many different wildfowl on the course that it's a struggle to find your ball amongst the white feathers . Warning ! Don't lick your balls - never seen so much bird poo on a fairway in my life !I repeat , avoid like the plague .......

Having seen the Portugal Masters on Sky several times I was really looking forward to playing the Victoria Course, but I have to say that in my view it doesn’t live up to the hype. Clubhouse aside, the surroundings can only be described as bland. The rough was horrendous and in parts scruffy, and although the greens and fairways were in excellent condition they couldn’t make up for the feeling of disappointment I felt after both rounds - we played it twice to make sure!Victoria is difficult, and yes, in case you’re wondering, I did have two stinkers! However, I have had stinkers before on difficult courses, but have still come off the course with a smile on my face having thoroughly enjoyed the challenge and the experience. I couldn’t say that about the Victoria Course. Still, at least the weather was good!So unless you’re happy to spend most of your time looking for balls in bland surroundings, I’d suggest you give this a miss and go and play the Old Course instead!

My experience on the day in not worth the 6 balls I'm awarding to this course for 3 reasons: 1/ slow greens (understandable since the are having the Portugese Masters next week and want to protect them), 2/ all back tees moved forward (same explanation as nr.1), 3/ a 15.00 tee off time in early October made us play 18th in the dark. But you have got to feel the potential of that place! A cracking course. Yes, the surroundings are not the prettiest but the course itself is fantastic, especially the back 9. Definitely the best Vilamoura course in my books, by a country mile. I'll definitely return! Cedric