Palmares is another somewhat forgotten golf course in Portugal and we cannot understand why this is so. The course location could not be better as far as landscape is concerned. Lagos bay can be seen from all the holes and from the clubhouse. Lagos, a beautiful Algarve town, has several streets reserved for pedestrians, many cultural sites to visit, good restaurants with excellent fish, cooked in the fine Portuguese way. It makes Palmares a place not to be missed. Frank Pennink, the English architect who had designed Vilamoura l and 2 and Aroeira, made an innovating layout. He designed a hybrid course, with five holes near the seaside - a links - and the others on the hillside, surrounded by almond and carob-trees.

In the links area, the best hole is the 5^th, a 550-metre par 5, one of the longest in Portugal and where it seems that one never arrives at the green. The 6^th, a par 4 dogleg to the right, makes one believe that the green is easily reachable with a good drive and it very often leads to a lot of cursing.

The l2^th hole, a 400-metre par 4 is another excellent hole, inviting long hitters to reach the green in two strokes. Further on, the short and very scenic par-5 l7^th, with Lagos bay in the background, and the l8^th an uphill par 4 with a split level green protected by a large bunker on the left, are two good finishing holes.

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Parque da Floresta is situated near the fishing village of Salema, about 16 kilometres west of the town of Lagos, near Sagres - one of the most important places in Portuguese and European history - and close to the Costa Vicentina nature reserve.

The golf course was designed by the famous Spanish architect Papa Gancedo, whose masterpiece is the well-known Torrequebrada project in Spain. Here at Parque da Floresta he has given continuity to his concept of course design, which is not to use much earthmoving, even when natural conditions are adverse.

At the very least, Gancedo managed to be controversial by designing a hilly course, with sharply sloping fairways, several blind shots, and greens on hill tops, creating a strange but very pleasant effect, perfectly integrated into the landscape. As for playing the course, it feels that it becomes too tiresome and sometimes unappealing to golfers who are not so young.

With a total length of 5,888 metres and a par of 72, Parque da Floresta has in the par-5 number 9 one of his best holes, requiring an extremely accurate third stroke towards an elevated green. On the second back nine the l59-metre par-3, l5^th at this course is regarded as a classic hole.

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