On occasion the Society plays a midweek game if there are anxious golfers looking around for a game. The all new Onyria Palmares Golf Course near Lagos had just opened so it was fitting that we should give it a try. The ‘old’ Palmares was opened in 1975 and was a firm favourite for many golfers over the years as it had some of the best views from any golf course in Portugal and to play down to the Ocean was something special not to mention the scent of orange tree blossom blowing across the course.
The new owners tasked Robert Trent Jones Jr with refreshing a true classic. The first phase sees 18 holes operational this month. The layout is truly impressive though at the moment you have to tolerate that you are in a construction site as the additional nine holes do not come into play till next year. The condition is excellent; it just needs to mature and only time will do that as it did with the old one.
“Onyria Palmares Golf Course is special on so many levels. The expansive ocean views, dramatic elevation changes, quintessential Mediterranean intimate valleys, and expansive dunes land have blessed us with the environment to craft a golf course with an enormous depth of character and challenge’ describes Robert Trent Jones Jr – the Society agrees.
We can’t wait to try the new nine as part of it plays across the railway line that so many of us are familiar with. Glancing down to it from the clubhouse, which itself will be rebuilt, the whole project looks stunning set to a backdrop of a still blue ocean. A warm welcome awaits all that go and visit.
