Golf courses are like people. Each has it’s own character. Some are affable and attractive. Others mean and vindictive. A golf course is often as much a psychological profile of its designer as 18 holes in the ground. The Dom Pedro Old Course, Vilamoura, is the George Cooney of golf courses, maturing elegantly on the Algarve’s sunshine coast. The course is welcoming and charming with an effortless elegance. That’s until it exhibits schizophrenic tendencies when a wild south-westerly wind whips in from the Mediterranean.

I join João Carlotta, a former Portuguese U21 champion, on the veranda of the colonial-style Club House. He is a Golfing God, the Dom Pedro Brand Ambassador. In tailored white golf shirt, stylish marl grey trousers and pristine white golf shoes he could either strut a cat-walk or play golf.

We enjoy an early breakfast before we play. Just 9 holes as I have a hot date with a Japanese Spa, a cross between an MRI scanner and a tandoori oven, at my base, the Longevity Cegonha Country Club. João has a gym to get back to and a tournament in Italy to prepare for.

Golf is one of the few sports where amateurs and professionals can compete. I wouldn’t step into the ring with Tyson Fury, bat against Jofra Archer bowling a cricket ball at 95 mph at my head or race Lewis Hamilton into a chicane. João and I are at distant ends of the golfing food chain but we can share a tee.

João talks enthusiastically about the inaugural Pro-Am event he has planned for November 2019: the advantages of playing on world class courses alongside experienced professionals, luxury 5* accommodation, a casino night and an awards dinner.

The first two rounds of the tournament take place at the amiably forgiving Old Course where there is just one tiny water feature and very little rough. Stray into the trees and 90% of the time you’ll find your ball and just chip back onto the fairway. You will have lost a shot – but not a ball and the ensuing penalty stroke.

In contrast, the Dom Pedro Victoria, the Old Course’s sister, is what would happen if the biblical Noah went into golf course architecture. Water, water everywhere on a challenging course that hosts the Portugal Masters on the European Tour.

On the first tee João launches into an athletic and vigorous warm-up routine: think Bruce Lee meets Jordan Spieth. In the past my clanking, clunking limbering-up routine would have been even more embarrassing – but a Personal Trainer back at the Longevity Cegonha Country Club had worked on my flexibility, giving me a credible stretching routine.

The first hole is a very friendly welcome, a mere 302 metres Par 4. It’s even downhill. An easy-going Stroke Index 17 for golfers arriving off the plane into Faro Airport. That’s just a 20 minutes drive away. João caresses a ball to the right of the fairway, a mere chip onto the green for a birdie chance. Miraculously my ball takes the Tradesman’s Entrance behind two pines and boomerangs right to finish in the middle of the fairway, a mere 100 yards behind João’s ball.

Moving onto the second, the degree of difficulty increases. Uphill too. With woodland tight on the left, it is not a hole for right handers with a hook. By the Par 3 fourth, the course’s signature hole, hitting over an idyllic looking lake, João has analysed my flawed game. Gently he recommends some fine-tuning: a slightly more upright stance and an open club-face on the back-swing.

 

Remembering the Hole-in-One honours board in the Club House, I sense that I am a mere 160 metres from from glory. My 5 iron soars surprisingly straight into a blue Algarvian sky, right at the pin. But – It runs out of gas, catches the top lip of a bunker and flops down into the sand.  Taking my sand wedge, I chip out and hole a three metres putt for a Par. Never have I played on greens of such consistent pace and reliable quality. Suddenly, putting seems almost possible.

With tiered tees looking down on to a far green and the Mediterranean in the distance, the 6th has to be the course’s most beautiful hole. At 212 yards it is a challenging Par 3. João’s Par is effortless. Woefully short, I sneak a double bogey. Sometimes you learn more from losing than winning. João is right. My easy option of running in a low 8 iron chip into the green, rather than an aerial wedge shot, will never be profitable on holes fiercely protected by bunkers.

After the 9th hole, João is 4 under par. I am not. He drives me round the back 9 holes before we go our separate ways. He will work on reducing his body fat to less than 8% and me? Relaxing by the Cegonha swimming pool after my Japanese Spa.

A Par 3 on the 10th is another chance for hole-in-one glory. Then there a succession of dog-leg holes, some breaking left, some breaking right. Celebrating its 50th birthday, the course is looking good, maturing elegantly. It smells good too.

Early morning, the evaporating morning dew carries a refreshing pine aroma. Bottle it and you would have the appealing scent of golf on the Algarve.

Dom Pedro Golf
Vilamoura, Algarve
Portugal