Golf Palheiro 13
of the course is not at its best at the moment
(January 2020). The club is switching to more
eco-friendly maintenance methods and such
efforts take time and money. Personally, I
found the adventure of playing here more
than made up for that but I know it’s easy
to quibble about such things. The greens,
however, were in fabulous condition and their
shapes are intriguing.
Santo, direct flights from Denmark ensure
that Danish golfers flock here throughout the
year, especially during the winter months. It
all means that golf is of increasing importance
and each of the courses is set up to welcome
you. The facilities are excellent and the
food we ate at Palheiro and Porto Santo was
exceptional.
As I discovered in Porto, not that long ago,
Madeira may not come to mind as quickly
the Portuguese take pride in their food and
as more established golf destinations, but
the local dishes should always be sampled,
this island archipelago offers golf courses
whether you’re in a plush hotel restaurant
designed by Seve Ballesteros, Robert Trent
(Casa Velha do Palheiro), in a backstreet
Jones Senior and Cabell Robinson. That’s
restaurant popular with locals (Londres), in
an accomplished set of names and all three
the golf clubs, or at a remote restaurant only
were designed between 1991 and 2004. Golf
reachable by cable car (Faja dos Padres). Try
may only be one small part of this island
the Espetada (beef on a skewer), Peixe Espada
archipelago’s tourism industry but it is
(Black Scabbard fish) and Lapas (limpets). The
growing in significance. In the first half of 2019, limpets at Faja dos Padres came with garlic,
the number of rounds played on Madeira was lemon and parsley, while the Espetada at
up by nine per cent. Meanwhile, on Porto
PortoBay Hotel came cooked to perfection
30
Destination Golf .TRAVEL