Algarve Golf

Tee Times Golf Holidays Algarve – All things related to the region and city of Algarve in the south of Portugal. Great sunny weather, culture, traditions, food and awesome warm sandy white beaches and golf resorts are here.

Chez Carlos Golf Society – APPC Charity Day = Vale da Pinta Golf Course 29th June 2013

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In a slight departure form our normal personalised golf days, 11 Society members and guests were pleased to participate in the 3rd annual tournament to support the APPC. The Portuguese Association of Cerebral Palsy Faro (Faro APPC) is a Private Institution of Social Solidarity for people with disabilities, founded in 1982, by a group of parents and professional s. It supports the prevention, diagnosis, evaluation and rehabilitation of children and young adults with Cerebral Palsy related problems. Several people who are afflicted with this condition attended and participated in the day. It was very humbling.

Vale da Pinta Golf Course gave generously of their course, their staff and their time to provide a wonderful day for both the players and the beneficiaries of the charity. The buffet lunch was excellent and various sponsors had donated prizes for both the competition and the Tombola.

As for the golf itself, there was a “shotgun” start and Carlos from Tee Times T.O. had excelled by commandeering both the 1st and 10th, as well as the 11th tees, so that no one had to travel far from the clubhouse either before or after the game!

The Society excelled in several respects. Pride of place must go to the winner of the whole competition – Peter Bell – who scored a wonderful 40 points, having been spurred on by his playing partners who were not quite as good! The former Portuguese international football goalkeeper, Ricardo Pereira – a 2 handicap player – finished second, but Tony Roberts, another of our party finished 3rd with 38 points.

Peter kindly donated his trophy for permanent display in the Chez Carlos Restaurant. (Of course that means he does not have to clean it himself!)

Tony’s son George, at about 2 metres tall (6 footish if you are on old numbers) and weighing about 64 kg (10st) knocked a huge drive down the 18th to win the longest drive. Tony himself won the nearest the pin prize at the 15th and Peter Bell won a bottle of wine for hitting the green at the 17th which few people did throughout the day.

The tombola provided further amusement when Carlos won 2 tee times, including buggy at any Pestana Golf course of his choice, and John Gibson won a tray of beautiful apples which he promptly gave to the kitchen staff – presumably for roast pork later. He is obviously more of a carnivorous nature!

Finally we returned to Vilamoura for one last drink at Parky’s to finish another great day of fun and camaraderie.

In short, we had a lovely day, with nice people who gave generously for a cause which, looking at the videos relating to the APPC and the carers and their dependants that attended the day, was very much deserving of our support.

Quinta do Lago Series – Laranjal Sunday 9th June 2013

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Set in a valley of orange groves behind the Quinta do Lago resort, this beautiful golf course was the setting for this week’s Chez Carlos Golf Society outing.  Those who had played the course previously were loud in its praise before we started and those who had not were similarly impressed afterwards.

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The course meanders through parkland with sufficient trees to cause problems for the stray shot, but sparse enough to allow a recovery.  Similarly there is just enough well placed water to make several holes memorable for their design and testing to play.  The greens were fast and true with subtle borrows to make them a test for even the best of putters.  The rest of us just had to accept what happened!  The course was immaculately presented and the staff were friendly, courteous and efficient.  This is a lovely golf course.

Scoring on the whole was excellent with 9 players scoring in the 30’s.  The winner though was David Exley with 38 points, 19 on each 9.  Second place went to Peter Bell with 37 points, who benefitted from his new “official” handicap of 20.  In 3rd place was Nuno Louro with 36, including 22 on the outward 9 where he holed putts from vast distances much to his delight!  Unfortunately the back 9 proved more difficult.IMG_20130609_092533

There were two nearest the pin prizes this week and selecting from the 5 par 3’s was difficult as none is shorter than 155 meters.  Hole 3 was perhaps the most straightforward and Bob Guard won the bottle of wine with a fine shot to within 3 meters.  The testing 11 at 170 metres proved more difficult with Neil Rogerson pipping Ron McLachlan by a few centimeters, but still some way from the flag.

Carlos had two special prizes which were drawn from all the cards, the first a 1 hour physiotherapy massage was won by David Exley, and the second – a free entry to the next match in the series at Quinta North – was won by Peter Bell.  First and second again!

Afterwards we were treated to a superb lunch and wine back at Chez Carlos restaurant.  Thanks go to Felipe and all his staff for their food and their service.  Thanks too to Carlos for organizing such a great day at a truly remarkable value .

Millennium Review

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Oceanico Millennium G C – 25thMay 2013
17 members and guests turned up for another Chez Carlos Society golf day on a bright but breezy day.
Millennium Golf Course is a very pleasant course consisting of easy walking undulating fairways and firm but fair greens.  Its feature is the contrasting 5 holes accessed under the main road which meander through the pine trees, measured against the remaining holes which have a much more open aspect running through parkland.  Many suggest that Millennium is the easiest of all the Vilamoura Golf Courses – but beware – there are many places that can catch you out, particularly through those pine trees!  The course was in particularly good condition.
On the day, we had Nearest the Pin prizes – one each for the men and the ladies.  Unfortunately no lady held the putting surface and so the bottle of wine must wait for another day!  The men, however, did not do much better, but eventually from the last match, Mike Dickson produced a fine shot to pip first time guest, Michael Lowry, by a few feet.
Mike, consistent player that he is, also managed to secure 3rd spot with a score of 35 points beating Peter Bell on the back 9 countback.   David Exley shot a creditable 38 points, but he was beaten for 1st place by Heather Ward’s brilliant 39 points.  Beware the handicap committee for your next outing!
We retired to Chez Carlos restaurant for the prize presentation and nibbles and refreshments were provided by Felipe and gratefully received.  Quite a few stayed on for dinner which was also excellent.