After an 18 month closure Onyria Palmares officially reopened in June 2011. Designer Robert Trent Jones Jr has totally remodelled the course creating a mixture of parkland with links and an additional 9 holes.
It is now a three nine hole loop – Alvor, Lagos and Paria. The ‘Alvor’ takes the player on a parkland journey with the holes sloping upward and then dropping into a valley – it incorporates the signature hole 4th. ‘Lagos’ starts to blend parkland and heathland together accompanied with views over Meia Praia beach to the Atlantic Ocean and Lagos town – truly spectacular!
It is only till you come to the ‘Praia’ loop that you start to recall the old Palmares layout in the dunes. The two short Par 4’s over the railway line are now a 514mts Par 5 and the long Par 5 running parallel to the coast is still there but sculptured to form a massive 548mts Par 5 followed now by a 198mts Par 3 before traversing over the railway line. Once again, it is these holes that experience the full force of the wind rushing off land to the ocean. It plays harder than before, whatever few trees and shelter that were there have gone.
A match was accepted by the Society to take on some players from Lagos; a few of whom were familiar and had played in our Society events before. Each side arrived with 6 players and we were booked to play at 09.30am for the full 27 holes. After a few introductions and a coffee we partnered up and ventured into the unknown. Format was aggregate betterball stableford matchplay. After the’ Alvor’ and ‘Lagos’ 18 holes opponents were switched. Sadly, the Society was squarely beaten 5.5pts to 3.5pts, if only team Ferreira & Hall had won one its games!
Our thanks go to Rod Yates of ‘Algarve Golf Club Hire’ for raising a team and for afterwards for taking us down to a stunning beach bar on Meia Praia for post drink refreshments.
It truly is an experience to play here with such a variety of holes complimented with arguably the best scenery and views of any golf course in Portugal. Let us hope the planned villa construction will not spoil its magnificence. Play it while you can.
