Quinta do Lago Golf

Tournament Review – Quinta do Lago South – 24th Agt. 2013

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QLSouthA truly international field attended the lovely Quinta do Lago South Course on a fine day which had a light breeze to enable a pleasant round in cooler conditions than had been experienced during the week.  Host of the Portuguese Open eight times and included in the Golf World’s Magazine’s ‘Top 100 courses in Europe in 2012’ the South is beautiful as it meanders through the Quinta estate. Some of Europe’s finest properties are also to be found here touching the lush fairways but without intruding on play. It is an example of how construction can be in harmony with a golf course.

The course was immaculately presented with fast, true greens and rolling fairways. The stage was set!

28 players from as far afield as Holland, France and Italy as well as our expatriate friends from over the border in Spain joined our local Portuguese, English, Irish and Scottish members and guests and an enjoyable day was spoiled for some only by the quality of their golf!

Scoring proved tough as the pins were placed in tricky positions on many holes, but a fine round of 35 points by Mick Brown won the day.  2nd was new member Richard Moore who had made his debut the previous week at San Lourenco and was loud in his praise of the society as he had made many new friends during his holiday.  We look forward to seeing him again.

3rd Place went to Malcolm Maxwell who equalled Richard’s score of 34 points but lost out on the back 9.  4th was Chris Banner with 33 points winning by virtue of his score on the last 6 holes.  5th was Rodrigo Ulrich, Course Director at Boavista Golf Club in Lagos, also on 33 points.  The Society intends to visit Boavista at Rodrigo’s invitation in the near future.

Rodrigo also was nearest the pin at the 11th hole and kindly donated his bottle of wine for consumption!  Apologies to Bert Carroll who was nearest the pin at the 7th hole but who I think I overlooked and awarded his bottle of wine to Malcolm Maxwell instead.  I hope the matter has been rectified but if not please see me next time!

Our thanks are extended to the Hilton Group and Dom Pedro Hotels in their sponsorship of this event and to Tee Times Golf Agency in securing a great rate and tee time (something they are rather good at!). Playing partners Eamonn Kerr and Cathy Matthews were also very appreciative as some prizes came their way too.

The players and their guests were again treated to a lovely buffet meal with wine and Sangria back at the Chez Carlos Restaurant.  Thanks go to Felipe and his staff for their excellent food and service.

This was the 3rd event in our Quinta do Lago Series this year and has been proven to be as popular as last year. It is not too be missed.

Our next game is at the Old Course in Vilamoura and we look forward to another friendly occasion.

Ron McLachlan

Tournament Review – Quinta do Lago –13th July 2013

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This week we played the beautiful Quinta do Lago North course as part of our “Quinta Series” of games over the summer.  Having already played Laranjal and we will  finish with a visit to the South Golf Course on 24th August.  All the players appreciated the fantastic value meal which included a superb buffet with wine and Sangria after the match provided by Felipe and his staff, at Chez Carlos Restaurant.  Our thanks go to them.

We had a large field of 32 players and we were pleased to welcome many guests including 8 visitors from over the border in Ayamonte.  We hope they enjoyed their day and we look forward to welcoming them again at any time in the future.

Starting in sultry conditions the sun eventually came through and it was a fine day for golf.  The golf course was in top condition.  The greens were particularly good, being fast and true.

In view of the size of the field, we had 5 cash prizes and bottles of wine for 2 nearest the pins and a Longest Drive.

The scoring was generally good with 14 players scoring over 30 points.

The winner though, had a special round.  Playing off only 7 hcp, a reduction of 2 in view of his recent successes, Fraser Graham, shot 4 gross birdies in an opening 9 holes and whilst not as spectacular continued to hold his game together on the back 9 to score a magnificent 41 points.  (I fear that Carlos will impose a further reduction next time!)

Second was Darren Hampshy, visiting from Albufeira, with another excellent score of 37 points.  Third, and continuing his good form recently was member Peter Densham with 36 points,

4th was Carlos Ferreira’s guest, Pedro Silvestre who scored a fine 35 points, whilst returning member Peter McMahon finished 5th on 34 points.

Nearest the pin at the 8th hole was Tom Taylor who arrived just in time to claim his bottle of wine before it was consumed by his playing partners!

The longest drive on the 11th hole went to Fraser Graham who launched a mighty blow straight down the middle.

The final nearest the pin prize on the 16th hole was won by Barry Partner and so the cross border raid scored a minor success!

As had been the case on the previous “Quinta Series” , Carlos had managed to organise some special prizes which were drawn at random.  A voucher for 2 nights for 2 people at the Vila Gale Hotel in Vilamoura was won by member Mark Punter.  A similar voucher for any Luna Hotel which includes the Olympus in Vilamoura was won by guest Simon Wingfield.

As mentioned above, we were treated to a superb meal afterwards at Chez Carlos Restaurante .  It seems that many players continued to enjoy each other’s company for a long time afterwards both in Chez Carlos and Parky’s bar .

Quinta Series: Laranjal, 9th June 2013

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Chez Carlos – Quinta Series – Laranjal Sunday 9th June 2013

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.

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.

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 metres. Hole 3 was perhaps the most straightforward and Bob Guard won the bottle of wine with a fine shot to within 3 metres. The testing 11 at 170 metres proved more difficult with Neil Rogerson pipping Ron McLachlan by a few centimetres, 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 organising such a great day at a truly remarkable price.