Highlands can be a great addition to a St. Andrews based trip, or a destination in and of itself, with spectacular courses that include Royal Dornoch, Nairn, and Castle Stuart. This is also a great location for Whisky tours and other famous Scottish tourist attractions.
Aberdeen is home to several fantastic and challenging links courses including Royal Aberdeen, Trump Aberdeen, and Cruden Bay. With excellent lodging options as well, this is a great region to spend a few days in combination with another region.
St. Andrews, known as the “Home of Golf” is where most golfers start their golfing experience in Scotland. We can help you get one of the limited guaranteed tee times at the Old Course, and build a great week of golf around that. Couple it with nearby Carnoustie to hit two Open Championship venues in one week. Most trips include a few rounds in the St. Andrews area along with a few more in one of the neighboring regions.
East Lothian is a golfer’s paradise, home to some of the greatest courses in Scotland, like Muirfield, North Berwick, and Gullane. With many hotel options near the courses, and the beautiful sights of Edinburgh just around the corner, this is a region you must visit on one of your trips to Scotland.
Ayrshire is a great place to start or finish your golf trip to Scotland. You may want to even schedule your entire trip in this great region which is home to two of the current Open Championship venues, Royal Troon and Turnberry, along with Prestwick, the original home to the Open Championship. While you're there, take a ferry or flight to the nearby Islands of Arran or Islay to play some of Scotland's best hidden gems.
PORTUGAL
DUNAS
The brand new Dunas Golf Course by Terras da Comporta just opened on May 10, 2023 and was awarded Europe's Best New Course and World's Best New Golf Course. Golf World has already ranked Dunas #9 in Europe's Top 100 courses and wrote, "if it had had six more months to settle in, it may well have entered higher. Only its infancy is holding it back... The bones are there for a Top 100 Best Golf Courses in the World contender. David McLay Kidd was given a wonderful site and he has delivered with it. This is a modern masterpiece in the making. It will be exciting to watch how it progresses."
MONTE REI
Ranked the #1 golf course in Portugal by Golf Digest, Monte Rei was designed by Jack Nicklaus and is the first of his “Signature Courses” to reach the Portugal. This par 72 championship course plays over 6500 meters, meandering over gentle hills and valleys, in what Nicklaus believes to be “a great setting with awesome views”. The layout of Monte Rei Golf Course is unique, from the shape of the holes and the cut of the bunkering to the scrupulous attention to detail. The course features 5 lakes which come into play on 11 holes and a number of superb bunkers, surrounded by stunning natural landscapes, rich with indigenous trees and plants.
MORGADO
Morgado Golf & Country Club is one of the more recent courses that laid out on the Algarve and is one of the tougher layouts. It has an imposing view of the Monchique Mountains and is laid out through the valleys, lakes and vineyards. The bunkering is outstanding, particularly in the fairway with most of the holes offering traps that will catch a wayward drive. The par 3s are all excellent. The immediate main characteristic of the Morgado Course is its large greens which place demand on good putting skills. It is a relaxing place to play with forgiving fairways and a well designed, straightforward layout.
OITAVOS DUNES
Ranked #7 in Portugal by Golf Digest and host to four Portuguese Opens, Oitavos Dunes was designed by the renowned Arthur Hills, one of only 2 European courses that bear his name. It perfectly utilizes the rich tapestries of this area of Portugal to create eighteen challenging but playable holes. A mix of woodland and links, all the holes flow well and have testing hazards and firm, fast and sloping greens. The course mixes amazing views of the Atlantic Ocean with the stunning backdrop of the Sintra Mountains.
Website: https://oitavosdunes.com/
PALMARES
Ranked #2 in Algarve, Robert Trent Jones II fashioned Palmares Golf within the natural amphitheatre of the Bay of Lagos. The result is a golf course of breathtaking natural beauty which is a delight to play. Palmares was designed both with the highest level of international golf in mind as well as pleasurable golf for its members and tourists. The course is composed of three returning nine-hole loops (Alvor, Lagos and Praia) that can be played in any sequence. Depending on the sequence of play, each golf experience is different as each nine-hole loop has its own character and ambience.
Website: https://palmaresliving.com/golf-course/
PENHA LONGA
Ranked in the top 30 Courses in Continental Europe and top 10 in Portugal, the 27-hole course at Penha Longa Resort was designed by the famed Robert Trent Jones. The 27 holes are divided into an 18-hole course (called Atlantico) and a 9-hole course (Mosteiro). The Sintra Mountains provide a spectacular backdrop as the course is nestled in the southern foothills. The course winds its way up and down hills providing spectacular views of the nearby coastal towns and the Atlantic. One of most unique holes is #6 where the green is beautifully framed by the lake, with the backdrop of a medieval arched wall and castle tower.
Website: https://www.penhalonga.com/en/golf/
PRAIA D'EL REI
Ranked #8 by Golf Digest in their Top Golf Courses in Portugal, Praia D'el Rey is a unique experience. Its holes are a mixture of seaside links nestled among undulating dunes and parkland holes meandering a pine forrest. The course is visually stunning with views over the Atlantid and the Berlenga Islands beyond. The endless variations in terrain make Praia D'el Rey exciting to play. While it is not an easy course, it is fair and fun.
QUINTO DO LAGO
A favorite among European Tour professionals, the Quinto do Lago South Course has hosted the Portuguese Open 8 times. It is ranked as the #5 golf course in Portugal by Golf Digest and praised for its strategically placed hazards and difficulty. In May of 2020, the course closed for a year and was completely renovated. The fairways are relatively generous and the predominantly sandy but undulating ground flatters medium hitters. With umbrella pine-lined fairways, bold bunkering and a splash of water features, the South course at Quinta do Lago is eye-catching.
ROYAL OBIDOS
Designed by Seve Ballesteros and current host of the Portuguese Open. Alongside big white bunkers, plentiful quantities of water are to be found around the course with some risk/reward opportunities for the brave. Greens are large and fast, sown with bent grasses (as is the entire course) creating a beautiful playing surface. Front-9 is predominantly constructed in a Nature Reserve overlooking the Obidos lagoon, back-9 is in a large shallow bowl in front of the Clubhouse. Royal Obidos offers spectacular views of the Atlantic Ocean.
TROIA
Troia was designed by Robert Trent Jones Senior and is ranked as the #3 course in Portugal. Troia lies on a peninsula, wedged between the Atlantic Ocean, the Sado Estuary and the Serra da Arrábida and the setting is magical. Jones has utilized his trademark bold bunkering, raised greens and some doglegs, which sweep between pine trees. Hole 3 is one of the finest sea holes in Portugal and Jones declared it to be one of the best he has ever designed, including it in his list of ideal 18-hole courses. #3 fits perfectly in the landscape with a magnificent sea view.
VILAMOURA OLD
The Vilamoura Old Course is one of the grand Dames of golf on the Algarve coast and is ranked as the 9th best course in Portugal by Golf Digest. The overwhelming feature of the Old course at Vilamoura is the plentiful parasol pines. These line almost every one of the tight, twisting, testing Fairways. Nice, straightforward but good fun. And that's really what the Old Course is. There's nothing tricked up about it. The rough isn't too penal, the shots all there laid out in front. The most unusual aspect though is the positioning of the huge canopy trees. Find yourself off the fairway, or even on the wrong side of it, and you will have to either punch out sideways or change your playing line to avoid a mid-air collision which costs shots.
WEST CLIFFS
West Cliffs is ranked the #2 course in Portugal according to Golf Digest and, opening in 2017, has been one of the most heralded new golf course launches in Europe in recent years. The US architect, Cynthia Dye (niece of legendary architect Pete Dye), designed the course so as to leave the natural terrain as undisturbed as possible. She said, "One of the most impressive characteristics of the course is just how anchored it is to the native coastal environment." Rolling sand dunes are interspersed with coastal vegetation, while the pine groves overlook the ocean from above.
Website: https://westcliffs.com/en/homepage/