Algarve golf , Algarve holidays

The Algarve, a mere two to three hours flight from most European capitals, has been a magnet to many discerning golfers for almost three decades. Portugal's southernmost province is justly famous for its spectacular scenery along a fabulous coastline.
Add to this 24 beautifully tended golf courses, a friendly climate, a cosmopolitan culture and wholesome regional cooking, all in a compact area steeped in history, and you have the ultimate in year-round golf destinations.

The Algarve golf history is one of the oldest on mainland Europe-providing, of course, one disregards the ancient origins of such games as kolven which the Dutch indulged in, and the rudimentary sport of paganica which the Romans played with enthusiasm. Golf in the Alragve completed its centenary in 1990.

The first golf course in the Algarve was a small, rudimentary layout built in the 1920`s between Portimão and the nearby beach of Praia da Rocha. Because of a lack of freshwater, its 'greens' were 'browns' and consisted of a mixture of sand and oil.
A few hardy addicts played on this course for a little more than a decade before it became extinct.
It was the legendary Henry Cotton who put the Algarve on the golf map. In the mid-sixties at Penina he designed the first proper grass course. It was the first of three he designed in the Algarve, a place he loved and made his home for almost 30 years.

During the 1970`s the 1980`s and on into the first half of the 1990`s, golf courses mushroomed all along Portugal`s south coast as it became increasingly attractive to holidaymakers from northern Europe.

Strangely enough, all the existing courses lie west of the regional capital, Faro, although a few projects have been mooted for the eastern Algarve between Faro and the Spanish border. None of the existing courses is more than 15 km from the coast.

Watch Algrave golf live at Diamonds bar Albufeira !