More Excellent Golf Courses On Madeira...
Santo da Serra
The other course nearby to Palheiro is Santo da Serra, the current home of the Madeira Open. In style it is similar to Palheiro but it is appreciably older. The first of the three loops dates to 1937 but Robert Trent Jones Senior came along in 1988 and worked his magic, rebuilding the original loop and adding two more, now the championship course.
Like Palheiro it is set on undulating terrain so there are several elevated tees and greens and many shots are up-hill, downhill or across valleys. The card reads 6,800 yards, par 72, but it plays longer than that. It’s a big course with a demanding start and a killer finish and if you can navigate it without three putting you can be classified as a genius!
Purists could cavil at the number of blind second shots but if you take a cart, which is advisable, you can nip ahead and have a look-see without holding up the field. It’s a small price to pay for a glorious day’s golf in a sublime setting.
Play early in the day, then have lunch on the terrace of the luxurious clubhouse and admire the eye-popping scenery.
If you stay at Casa Velha, which is highly recommended, you’ll find there’s a courtesy coach for the 20 minute ride to San Serra on the days when you want to play away.
The two golf clubs co-operate with each other and offer an unforgettable golfing holiday. There are golf packages available and first class but inexpensive rental clubs (see elsewhere for details), which eases the increasing problems and costs associated with flying.
Porto Santo Golf Club
There was a time when, to put it mildly, Seve Ballesteros was not my favourite golf architect. I changed my views when I saw his new creation at Porto Santo Golf Club, on a small island a few miles from Madeira.
Seve has excelled himself here. It’s a masterpiece, at once enjoyable, playable and visually exciting. Add flawless conditioning (the greens are a dream), scenery to set your eyeballs spinning and you’ll gather that this is a “must play” course, one that enhances Madeira’s reputation as a golf destination par excellence.
Porto Santo is inspiring, too: you’ll have to think your way around. The two or three club wind that’s normal here makes club selection and strategy as important as sound technique.
The course is largely links-style although several holes are sea-side parkland with lakes and tumbling streams down at beach level. The links section runs along the edge of cliffs a couple of hundred feet or so above the pounding surf. It’s a breathtaking setting. Seve must have jumped for joy when he first saw the site…
He has built in the opportunity for some heroic shots for those up to the challenge but it’s all laid out in a style to welcome the average golfer. Temper ambition, lay-up here and there and if you’ve a short game worth the name you’ll have a ball.
The fairways generally are magnanimous, with beacon bunkers on the edges. They’re mainly saucer bunker and eminently fair: just miss them and if your game is on-song you’ll be in position A.
The challenge comes on and around the greens. Some are gently humped, which compounds the problems when the flag is at the back; some slope up from the front, but all are true and slick. They’re a joy to putt on once you’ve worked out the nuances of pace and roll.
They’re not huge but disparate flag positions can bring long putts with interesting breaks, and some greens have a swale in the approaches, a la Colt, to check any shot lacking authority.
With six par 3 holes, six par 4s and six par 5s the course has a lilting tempo: no two holes seem remotely similar. Water, in the form of lakes, streams and the ocean, is an almost constant visual distraction and certain corners of the course merit an oil painting.
This is one out of the top drawer - another reason for choosing Madeira for your next golfing holiday.
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