Tee Times

Welcome to the Ferragudo Golf Course

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A New Algarve Parkland course with Character, History and Strategic Variety.

The Algarve’s reputation as one of Europe’s premier golf destinations continues to grow, and the arrival of Ferragudo Golf Course adds another compelling chapter to that story. Located in the Portimão area and developed under the umbrella of the Pestana Group, Portugal’s largest hotel and tourism operator, this new parkland layout introduces a refreshing blend of natural integration, strategic design, and historical character.

Ferragudo Golf Course tee-off and fairway

Rather than relying on dramatic elevation changes or heavy water usage, Ferragudo places its emphasis on routing, angles, and shot selection. The course is set comfortably within the Algarve landscape, where mature vegetation and natural contours frame a layout that feels both modern and timeless.

A Par-73 with Flexible Yardages

Ferragudo plays as a Par 73 and offers multiple teeing options to suit a wide range of golfers:

  • White Tees: 5,841 metres
  • Yellow Tees: 5,227 metres
  • Red Tees: 4,594 metres

This flexibility ensures the course can be enjoyed both as a championship test and as a more accessible resort-style round.

A Course Defined by Variety

One of Ferragudo’s defining strengths is the sheer variety of its holes. The routing avoids repetition, instead offering a sequence of short and long holes that demand constant adjustment in strategy. Players are required to think carefully about positioning, especially on approach shots where angles into greens are often more important than raw distance.

Ferragudo Golf - a course with variety

Water is notably scarce throughout the round, used sparingly to maximum effect. In fact, it only comes into play on the closing hole — the Par 5 18th (Stroke Index 6) — where a lake guards the approach to the green, providing a dramatic finishing risk-reward decision.

History Embedded in the Landscape

Perhaps the most distinctive visual and architectural feature of Ferragudo Golf Course is its integration of historic ruins across the property. These remnants of the past are not merely decorative; they form part of the course identity and visual rhythm.

Ferragudo Golf Tee and Chapel ruins

The most striking of these is an old chapel positioned at a natural crossroads of the layout, influencing play on holes 9, 10, 12, and 13. Plans have been suggested to restore this structure and repurpose it as a halfway house — a unique feature that could become one of the most memorable stopping points in Portuguese golf.

A Parkland Built for Shot-Making

Ferragudo is not a course that overwhelms with brute difficulty, but rather one that rewards thoughtful execution. The absence of heavy water hazards places greater emphasis on fairway positioning, controlled iron play, and creativity around the greens.

Ferragudo Golf Parkland Couse

The result is a layout that promises variety, rhythm, and constant decision-making — a course where no two holes feel the same, and where scoring depends as much on imagination as on power.

Final Impression

With its thoughtful routing, historic atmosphere, and strong integration into the Algarve landscape, Ferragudo Golf Course is positioned to become a notable addition to the region’s already impressive golfing portfolio.

It is a course that invites repeated play, not because it is overwhelming, but because it reveals itself differently with each round.

Ferragudo is not just another Algarve golf course — it is a new identity shaped by land, history, and design intelligence.

Ferragudo Golf Course is a welcome addition to an already strong Algarve portfolio — and reason enough to start planning a visit. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and see what the region has waiting for you.


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239 Starts. One Win. A comeback for the ages

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Bud Cauley wins the 2026 RBC Canadian Open — eight years, several surgeries, and 239 starts after his career nearly ended on a residential street in Ohio.

There are comeback stories, and then there is Bud Cauley. On Sunday 14 June 2026, the 36-year-old American stepped onto the 18th green at TPC Toronto at Osprey Valley, parred the hole, and became a PGA Tour winner for the first time in his professional life.

Bud Cauley and Family happy tearsHe cried. His wife, Kristi, cried beside him. The crowd at the RBC Canadian Open, who had cheered him through a rainy, gripping final round, had earned a few tears of their own.

The Night That Changed Everything

On 1 June 2018, following a missed cut at the Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, Cauley was a passenger in a car that struck a culvert, went airborne, and hit a tree. He left the scene with a collapsed right lung, six broken ribs, a fractured left leg, and a concussion. The injuries were severe enough that simply surviving counted as a result. Returning to professional golf seemed, at certain dark moments, beside the point entirely.

He did return, in stages. He played again in 2019 and 2020, before complications — hardware placed in his chest during surgery, persistent pain, further procedures and an infection — forced him back off the Tour. From September 2020 to February 2024, Bud Cauley did not play a single tournament on the PGA Tour. Most players, in those circumstances, would have quietly moved on. Cauley did not.

239 Starts, One Win

His return at the 2024 WM Phoenix Open was, on its own, a story worth telling. What followed was the slow, methodical business of rebuilding a career. He finished 47th in the 2025 FedEx Cup standings, earning a place in all the signature events for 2026. A top-six at The Players Championship and a top-four at the Valspar Championship served notice that something was building. Then came Toronto.

Cauley entered the final round one stroke behind overnight leader Jackson Suber. The front nine was tense — a bogey at the ninth temporarily drew the field together, with Suber, Jimmy Stanger, and Matt Fitzpatrick all threatening.

Bud Cauley iron shot on 12th hole

Then the back nine happened. Birdies at 11, a chip-in from 93 feet at 12 to take the lead, another birdie at 13, and again at 15. Four birdies in five holes. A player who had never won on Tour looked, in those moments, entirely at ease. He closed with a five-under 65, finishing at 17-under 263 and winning by two strokes from a fast-finishing Fitzpatrick.

It was his 239th career start. Fifteen years after turning professional. Almost exactly eight years after the crash.

What the Numbers Leave Out

Golf statistics are good at recording what happened. They are less useful at capturing what it costs. Cauley had described the post-accident years simply: “Everything that could go wrong seemed to go wrong.” He credits meeting his wife Kristi to the period of forced stillness that followed. He became present in his children’s daily lives in a way a touring professional rarely can be. There is, running quietly through his story, the suggestion that the crash — as near-fatal and brutal as it was — eventually gave him something too.

Bud Cauley with trophy at press conference“With everything that our family went through when I was out,” he said beside the 18th green, “and then to have my first win when everyone’s here — it kind of seems like perfect timing.”

The Year of the Comeback

Cauley’s win sits in notable company in 2026. Gary Woodland won the Houston Open in March, less than three years after brain surgery. Anthony Kim ended a decade-long absence by winning on the LIV circuit in February. Golf, this year, has become a particularly persuasive argument for patience. Cauley’s victory qualifies him for The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale — an additional grace note on a day already full of them.

Life Is Short. Play More Golf.

Bud Cauley’s story is, at its core, about not taking any of it for granted. The round that matters, the tournament you have been meaning to play, the trip you keep postponing — they are not guaranteed. If his comeback teaches anything, it is that the time to go is now. The Algarve’s fairways are in summer condition. The tee times are there. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and book the week you have been putting off.


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2026 US Open: What to Expect at Shinnecock Hills

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The 126th national championship arrives with a field, a venue, and several storylines that are difficult to look away from

us-open-trophy

The 2026 United States Open Championship begins on 18 June at Shinnecock Hills Golf Club in Southampton, New York. One hundred and fifty-six players will contest the 126th edition of the national championship over four days on a course that has hosted the major five times and has never shown much interest in being lenient about it. The USGA accepted 10,201 entries for this year’s field — one short of the all-time record — before 62 players earned their places through final qualifying on Monday. (CBS Sports)

Shinnecock Hills: What the Course Requires

Shinnecock Hills Golf Club aerial view Southampton New York US Open 2026

Shinnecock sits on the eastern end of Long Island, shaped by open ridgelines and the kind of sea wind that shifts and strengthens throughout the day. The layout uses the natural terrain — firm fairways, fast contoured greens, rough calibrated to punish every stray shot — rather than manufactured hazard. The test is wind-dependent and precision-driven, and the course has no interest in flattering its field. Previous US Open champions at Shinnecock include Raymond Floyd, Corey Pavin, Retief Goosen, and Brooks Koepka. None of them played aggressively into the trouble. They managed their way to the title. (Golf Digest)

Scheffler, the Grand Slam, and the Calendar

Scottie-Scheffler-playing-a-golf-shot

Scottie Scheffler arrives as world number one and, following his Masters title, the player who stands two majors short of a career Grand Slam. The timing adds a layer the fixture calendar did not need to manufacture: the final round falls on Sunday 21 June — Father’s Day and Scheffler’s 30th birthday. He is the best player in the world by almost every measurable standard. The question Shinnecock will put to him, as it puts to everyone, is whether that changes anything on a course that has seen reputations arrive and depart without ceremony. (Betsperts Golf)

McIlroy: Masters Champion, Shinnecock Survivor in Progress

Rory-McIlroy-playing-a-golf-shot

Rory McIlroy arrives as reigning Masters champion — a sentence that took twenty-one years to write. His record at Shinnecock is less encouraging: he opened with an 80 in 2018 and missed the cut. The course was not impressed by his reputation that week and gave him nothing in return. His game in 2026 is in considerably better shape than it was eight years ago, and the storyline — Masters champion seeks redemption at the scene of one of his worst major rounds — does not require embellishment. (Golf Magic)

The Rest of the Field Worth Watching

Brooks Koepka is the only player in this year’s field who has won at Shinnecock Hills. That is not a trivial distinction on a course where temperament and course knowledge matter as much as swing mechanics. His ball-striking in 2026 has been strong; the putter has been the variable. Jon Rahm, fresh from a runners-up finish at Valderrama last weekend, arrives with the form to contend in a major. Tommy Fleetwood has unfinished business at this venue — he came within range of the title in 2018 and the memory of it has not faded. Cameron Young, a New York native with two wins already in 2026, is playing the best golf in the field right now and will have the home crowd with him from the first tee. (Golf Channel)

The US Open occupies its own corner of the golf calendar — four days of precision, pressure, and occasional suffering at one of the game’s most demanding venues. While Shinnecock commands the world’s attention this week, the Algarve is mid-season and playing as well as it gets. Browse our Algarve golf holidays and put your own round on the schedule.


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