Portugal Golf News

Amendoeira Signs Water Reuse Protocol With Águas do Algarve

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The resort’s efficiency awards now come with a signature on paper — and some serious plumbing next door in Vilamoura.

Amendoeira Golf Resort marked a quiet but considerable moment this week: a formal cooperation protocol with Águas do Algarve, committing the Silves resort to greater use of treated Água para Reutilização (ApR) on its two golf courses.

Signing ceremony for the Águas do Algarve water reuse protocol at Amendoeira Golf Resort, SilvesThe signing, held at the resort itself, closed a day in which Portugal’s Minister of the Environment and Energy, Maria da Graça Carvalho, opened some of the largest water infrastructure projects the Algarve has seen in years. For a region whose golf depends on rainfall it can no longer take for granted, the timing was not accidental.

The agreement was signed at Amendoeira by the resort’s CEO, Eng.º Parreira Afonso, alongside director João Fernandes and the administration of Águas do Algarve. Its purpose is specific: increase the share of treated, reused water irrigating Amendoeira’s Faldo and O’Connor Jnr. courses, reducing the resort’s reliance on groundwater and dams already under pressure from tourism, agriculture and a growing resident population.

Why the Algarve’s Golf Courses Are Watching Closely

Early Morning Irrigation Golf Course Algarve

Golf accounts for roughly 15 cubic hectometres of water use across the Algarve each year. Águas do Algarve’s own Water Efficiency Plan targets 8 cubic hectometres of treated reused water in irrigation by the end of 2025 — 71 per cent of it earmarked for golf courses. Reach that, and around half of the region’s forty-odd courses will be running at least partly on reused water rather than water drawn from boreholes and reservoirs. (Sul Informação)

The Bigger Story, Down the Road in Vilamoura

Amendoeira’s signature came at the end of a single, dense day of Algarve water announcements. That same Wednesday, Maria da Graça Carvalho inaugurated the new Água para Reutilização station at Vilamoura — now described as the largest wastewater reuse plant of its kind in Europe, built at a cost of around €13 million with roughly 12 kilometres of new pipework and ten delivery points feeding golf courses, gardens and farmland. (Algarve Marafado)

Founation Stone of the new desalination plant - Algarve

The minister also laid the symbolic first stone for the Algarve’s new desalination plant in Albufeira — a €107.92 million contract awarded to the Aquapor–GS Inima consortium, around €56 million of it funded through Portugal’s Recovery and Resilience Plan, designed to convert 16 million cubic metres of seawater into drinking water a year, with capacity to grow to 24 million. (Agroportal) A new wastewater treatment station at Albufeira Poente closed out the visit.

A Resort That Was Already Paying Attention

Amendoeira arrives at this protocol with some form. The resort already holds Green Key certification, Turismo de Portugal’s Sustainability Committed label, and the Save Water efficiency seal — recognition, in each case, for measurable changes rather than good intentions. (Amendoeira Golf Resort) Courses that plan for water scarcity now are the ones still worth playing in fifteen years.

Amendoeira Faldo Golf Course - Algarve

None of this changes what a round at Amendoeira feels like on the day — the Faldo’s tight, tree-lined finish is still the Faldo. But it says something about a destination when the golf infrastructure is built to outlast the next dry summer, not just survive it.


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Portugal Opens Its First Municipal Golf Course

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Oeiras Green Valley is not just another venue. It is a statement about who golf is for.

On 7 June, the Câmara Municipal de Oeiras inaugurated the Oeiras Green Valley – Academia Municipal de Golfe, on the site of the former Cabanas Golf course in Barcarena.

Inauguration of Oeiras Green Valley – Academia Municipal de Golfe at the former Cabanas Golf site in Barcarena, Oeiras, June 2026

The ceremony was presided over by Isaltino Morais, President of the Câmara Municipal, and Pedro Nunes Pedro, President of the Federação Portuguesa de Golfe. Ambassadors Jorge Gabriel and Isabel Silva were among the hundreds in attendance.

From Derelict to Open

The site had stood idle since July 2024. The Câmara Municipal de Oeiras acquired two plots at the former Cabanas Golf complex, totalling 43 hectares — 22 of which now form the course.

first-tee-shot-at-the-new-oeiras-course
The project, developed in partnership with the Federação Portuguesa de Golfe, transformed a dormant facility into what is described as the first municipal golf course of significant scale in Portugal. (Jornal Económico)

A Course for Everyone

The Oeiras Green Valley is not designed for a members-only clientele. It will be open to schools, universities, sports clubs, companies, and the general public. Isaltino Morais was direct about the aim — to offer the sport to anyone, regardless of social or economic background.

Aerial view of the Oeiras Green Valley golf course in Barcarena, near Lisbon, Portugal

Pedro Nunes Pedro, President of the FPG, put it plainly: “The recovery of this space represents excellent news for the development of golf in Portugal and for the democratisation of access to the sport.” (FPG)

A New Chapter for Lisbon Golf

The Lisbon area already holds some of the most compelling golf in the country. The two championship layouts at PGA Aroeira sit within pine forests south of the city. The Penha Longa Atlantic Championship course unfolds across the foothills of the Serra de Sintra. And Oitavos Dunes at Cascais remains one of the most distinctive links-style layouts in Europe.

Oeiras Green Valley does not compete with any of them. It serves a different moment in a golfer’s journey — the beginning of one.

The Lisbon region offers some of the most varied golf in Portugal. From Atlantic linksland to mature parkland, the range is broad and the quality is consistent. Explore our Lisbon golf holidays and plan your next round.


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The Open de Portugal Returns to PGA Aroeira Lisboa

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After nearly thirty years away, one of European golf’s most storied tournaments comes home to the Wentworth of Lisbon

This September, the pine forests south of Lisbon will host professional golf again. The 64th Open de Portugal takes place at PGA Aroeira No.1 from 17 to 20 September 2026, marking the return of tournament golf to a course that has been part of the game’s fabric in Portugal for over half a century. The event is part of the HotelPlanner Tour and carries a prize fund of €300,000, with 156 players competing over four days. (HotelPlanner Tour)

Open de Portugal Returns to Aroeira

A Tournament Older Than the European Tour Itself

The Open de Portugal has been running since 1953 — nearly two decades before the European Tour existed. When the Tour launched its inaugural calendar in 1972, this was one of the events on it. That kind of longevity is rare in professional golf, and it places the tournament in company that very few events on the current schedule can claim. For the Portuguese Golf Federation, this is one of the centrepiece moments of the national golfing calendar.

The Course and Its Reputation

PGA Aroeira No.1 opened in 1972, the work of architect Frank Pennink, and was quickly given the nickname ‘the Wentworth of Lisbon’ by visiting players. The comparison was always a compliment with range — the course measures 6,122 metres over a traditional par 72 layout, winding through dense pine forest, and precision rather than power is the dominant theme, with tall trees doing the work that fairway bunkers do elsewhere. It is a course that rewards patience and punishes optimism.

Aroeira Fairway and Green

In 1996 and 1997, the course hosted the European Tour’s Portuguese Open — and the 2026 return closes a gap of nearly three decades. Portugal’s only PGA National, PGA Aroeira has recently emerged from a period of significant renovation, with new tees, reshaped bunkers, and cleared woodland between fairways opening up the layout and showing the course at its best. The resort was also named Europe’s Best Eco-Friendly Golf Facility 2025 at the World Golf Awards — recognition that the work done here goes beyond the scorecard.

What Brings 156 Professionals to Lisbon

The Open de Portugal is a Road to Mallorca event, awarding 2,000 points in the rankings that determine which players graduate to the DP World Tour at the season’s end. For many in the field, September at Aroeira will be one of the defining weeks of their year. The HotelPlanner Tour has been a reliable launching pad — recent winners at Royal Óbidos and other Portuguese venues have gone on to establish themselves at the highest level.

Aroeira Tee Lined Fairway

September at Aroeira

The conditions in mid-September around Lisbon are, frankly, excellent for golf. The resort sits within a protected pine forest on the Setúbal Peninsula, about 30 minutes from central Lisbon, with the Atlantic close enough to keep temperatures civilised. When the professionals leave, the course will be in tournament shape — and open for the rest of us.

PGA Aroeira No.1 is part of the Tee Times Lisbon Portfolio portfolio. If you would like to play the same course that hosts the 64th Open de Portugal, we can book your round.