Alto Golf & Country Club

Alto Golf & Country Club is the home of one of the longest holes in Europe, the monster 660-yard par 5 16th appropriately known as ‘The Giant.’ Bag a birdie here and you’ll be suitably rewarded with a certificate and your name will be inscribed on the golf club’s honours board. Take it on if you dare. But Sir Henry Cotton’s golf course is not just about a single hole: the layout impressively runs through two valleys, the back nine meandering over gentle hillside slopes.

Alto Golf & Country Club was the last golf course to be designed by the legendary Sir Henry Cotton. The winding fairways and elevated greens reflect Sir Henry’s golfing philosophy of providing low handicap players with a testing game and still affording plenty of enjoyment for average golfers. But it's not so difficult that high handicappers can't enjoy it too.

Soft Spikes required

• Course has: Bar
• Course has: Buggy Hire
• Course has: Driving Range
• Course does not have: Practice Green
• Course has: Pro Shop
• Course has: Restaurant
• Course has: Trolley Hire
• Course has: Dress Code
• Course has: Club Hire
• Course does not have: Handicap

• 2.5 out of 5 Bit disappointed. 15 May 2008

  By nahgolf

  We had difficulty in finding this course on the day as the locals move or remove the signs - give yourself plenty of time to find it! Staff were welcoming and courteous. Sadly the greens have suffered from a fungus and there were large patches or bare earth. The club did reduce the cost to compensate and did a deal on buggies as well. The course is tight with several doglegs, blind shots and tree lined narrow fairways - felt at times like a UK course. The tees were a little uneven but the fairways were in good condition. Even compensating for the greens problem, it was not the best round of the week but it was cheaper than many other courses.

• 2.5 out of 5 Average Course, with a few interesting holes 22 May 2007

  By Martyn Walker

  Not one of the best in the Algarve, but still enjoyed my round, most memorable hole is the long par 5 over 600 yds in length.

• 2.5 out of 5 Least attractive 22 December 2006

  By Anonymous

  Least attractive course we played but still challenging and probably not helped by rain!

• 3 out of 5 very pleasant 18 August 2006

  By Anonymous

  nice course. the fairways were lovely. quite difficult in places.

• 3 out of 5 A fair test 31 March 2006

  By Anonymous

  Excellent Course. A very fair test of golf

• 3.5 out of 5 Tree Lined 06 February 2006

  By Anonymous

  This is a great course if you like to plot and think your way round, on many occassions you get the impression your the only ones playing it because of the many trees around the course. The greens are well guarded and some holes play longer than their metre's say, when I played this course it had rained quite a bit before so in some areas it was soft but overall I was still impressed, and will play it agin in 2007.

• 3 out of 5 Excellent 20 April 2004

  By Anonymous

  Excellent Course built on similar lines to British Courses, used the natural lie of the land to shape the holes. A very fair test of golf