Quinta do Lago - Laranjal

Overview: Laranjal is Quinta do Lago's 18-hole parkland course in the Ludo Valley, about two kilometres east of the main resort. Jorge Santana da Silva shaped the layout through the former orange grove, leaving citrus trees, umbrella pines and cork oaks as part of its visual identity. Five lakes add water to the strategic picture, while the rolling ground and clearly defined greens reward accurate drives and approaches. The course plays to par 72 and measures about 6,480 metres from the longest tees.

History: Laranjal opened in 2009 as the newest of Quinta do Lago's three championship courses. Its origin as an orange grove is central to the routing, because the course was built around an existing agricultural landscape rather than a blank resort site. Quinta do Lago says the course won Best Golf Course at the Portuguese Travel Awards in 2011, only two years after opening, adding an early award to its development history.

Did You Know? The Laranjal scorecard uses five par fives, eight par fours and five par threes, an unusual distribution that gives the round a clear sequence of risk and recovery opportunities. Bermuda grass is used on the fairways and Penn A4 on the greens. The name Laranjal, Portuguese for orange grove, is not just a branding choice: orange trees remain one of the course's defining landscape details.