Penha Longa golf course update, March 21st

The sun has been shining over the last week and with highs reaching close to 20 the Atlantic course is starting to firm up. The balls are starting to bounce on most holes with only a few plugged balls throughout the round. There is evidence of a lot of work being carried out over the last week, see photos March 21 on menu bar above, click photo for enlarged image. The wild boar holes have been fixed as well as the tire tracks on the 6th. Plenty of sand has been added around the course especially on the problem holes. Some sanding of the greens has also taken place and they are playing much slower than last week and there was no evidence of hollow tining on greens or fairways. As you can see clearly on the photos, the 18th is still slightly wet. It’s amazing how a new drain can be bone dry and 2 meters further, fairways sopping wet! The scarring on the fairways where the drainage was installed also takes away from the course’s beauty (see photos). The driving range is still in pretty bad shape and unappetizing. It is still mind boggling to me that 2 million was spent on renovations, see the article at the bottom of this page from golfblogger UK. I just hope the new greens keeper (who apparently has quite a resume) can get the course back to its former glory! All in all the day was quite pleasant, despite the fact that Tonster (an Irishman with a practice swing that would scare a Canadian Lumberjack) and weekend golfer got their asses kicked by 2 laid back, easy going, straight down the middle Portuguese members, (names withheld) who have obviously been working on their game elsewhere over the last few months, so beers were on us! If you are teeing up over the next week you should be fine, I am sure the course will improve by the day so you may be pleasantly surprised.

Practice area click on photo to enlarge

1st green from 18

3rd, Scars from Drainage repairs

5th tee par 3

6th just past tee

7th green

8th fairway good part

8th fairway sanding

9th drainage scars

11th green looking back

12 green showing signs of distress

13th tee

14th fairway

15th tee

16th fairway quite rough

18th drain, surrounding area not draining and requiring sand

Driving range still in quite bad condition

Penha Longa golf course update, March 13th

The Atlantic course is now fully open, see photos by clicking on photo tab on menu bar located above. The good weather since the last post has helped immensely. Keep in mind that the photos were taken on Saturday and the course is improving by the day. There is still a lot of work to be done (as you can see) and we still need another few weeks of sun to get it up to scratch.


The course was a bit sluggish going and was not all that enjoyable. The greens are in great condition and the tee areas the best I have seen in years. The driving range is slightly wet (as you can see) and we found ourselves dealing with a lot of plugged balls in the fairway. I am sure if the weather holds up, the balls will stop plugging and we might even get some added yards with some roll this week. I thought it would be of interest to add some photos of the clubhouse where the hamburgers are great and the beer cold. I must say the 19th hole was the most enjoyable of the day. Lets hope next week's golf is better.

Driving range, click on photo to enlarge

2nd fairway

3rd green

4th wild boar damage

4th fairway

4th green

6th fairway

6th tractor rut

6th fairway sand

6th looking for plugged ball

7th tee par 3

8th fairway

9th tee

9th drain repairs

10th green

12th tee

12th greenside bunker

12th green

13th tee

14th tee

14th green repairs

15th tee par 3

16th tee

18th fairway

Practice green

Penha Longa Golf course update March 8th

Here we are once again expecting 1 to 2 inches of rain over the next 24 hours. I am informed that we have a new greens keeper at Penha Longa. I must say the greens are looking fantastic! We did a little inspection yesterday and even putted on a few of the greens and were quite impressed! The areas around the greens are also looking great and well manicured but unfortunately not the same can be said for other parts of the course. There seems to be the ongoing problem of grass not growing as well as it should over the new drainage installed around the course. The color of the grass is different and you can clearly see the lines where they have been installed. Considering they were put in over 6 months ago and we have had so much rain since, you'd think it would have matted well by now! We also inspected fairways 6 and 8, where most of the problems seem to be and you cant walk across the fairways without sinking a few inches. There were also tire tracks around 12 inches deep that have just been left there. You'd think they would fix them by hand before it dries and causes more damage. Holes 6,7 and 8 of the Atlantic are still closed with 6, 7 and 8 of the Monastery replacing them, free buggy's are on offer. Good news is,looks like sun is on the way and that should definitely help, lets see what this week brings, bye for now.