Almond blossom is as iconic an image of the Algarve as, well, golf. First introduced by the Moors during their occupation of the Iberian Peninsula between the 8th and 12th century, the trees produce their “spring snow” from late January to March, and later, the intense, richly flavoured fruit that is so ideal for local desserts and pastries.
Whilst not quite that old, the Almond Blossom Tournament (or “Amendoeiras em Flor”) at the Palmares Ocean Living and Golf Resort is similarly steeped in Algarve tradition, albeit on the golfing side. This renowned amateur fixture, held annually to celebrate the almond bloom, is almost as old as the course and now experiencing a blossoming of its own. Formerly a members-only competition, it is now an international event, with men and women golfers from the UK, Ireland and all over Continental Europe joining members to enjoy high-spirited competition at this fabulous shoreline amphitheatre.
The resort is in the Western Algarve, some 45 minutes from Faro airport, and leans on its stunning natural location. Originally designed with 18 holes by Harry Pennink, and opened in 1975, the layout was substantially upgraded in 2010 by world-renowned architect Robert Trent Jones Jr., with the redesign of some existing holes and the addition of a further nine. The result is 27 holes, divided into three nines (the Alvor, Lagos and Praia), wrapped around south-facing hills. They all start and finish next to the elevated clubhouse before wandering one way or another down to the sandy dunes below, blending parkland and links golf, and offering sweeping views over the the Alvor Estuary, Bay of Lagos and the Meia Praia beach.
Arrow Global’s Plans for Palmares
What’s more, following the purchase of Palmares by Arrow Global Group in 2023, a significant upgrade is in progress. With the golf already first-rate, no major changes to course design are planned, the focus instead on enhancing its ecological footprint, with further investment in water efficiency.
It also already has a five-star boutique Beach House Hotel (with all 20 rooms offering uninterrupted views over the course and ocean), 27 Signature Apartments and an iconic clubhouse designed by the Pritzker Prize-winning Spanish architectural firm RCR Arquitectes, which was named ‘Best Clubhouse in Europe’ at the 2024 World Golf Awards.
However, by 2028 the resort will add Portugal’s first JW Marriott hotel (also designed by RCR in collaboration with interior design studio Goddard Littlefair), further Signature Apartments and villas as well as restaurants, padel courts, a swimming pool and gym.
The design of the Clubhouse offers clues to the future grand vision, and reassurance that despite the upgrade in scale, all is in good hands. With its clean lines, natural red earthy materials and large windows and terraces that maximise space and light, the design leans on Moorish influences and respects the surrounding landscape. The construction is also planned to be at only 5.7% density, much lower than elsewhere on the Algarve, helping to protect views and minimise intrusion.
While most golfing visitors will pass it by, the airy onsite real estate office close to the Clubhouse features a 3D visualisation of the Masterplan and a fascinating distraction for the curious.
However, most visitors are there for the golf!
The Almond Blossom tournament 2026
The three-day tournament starts friendly and fun, getting more serious as it progresses and the focus narrows down to individual performance. Day 1 is a Texas Scramble, Day 2 an aggregate stableford, with the tournament culminating in an individual stableford on Day 3. The variation in format, with the three loops being played in a different combinations on each day, keeps the competition interesting and keen.
Friendly course marshals field questions from competitors and shuttle back and forth between the Clubhouse and the impressive 300 yard-long practice area, or to the putting and chipping green at the far end. Hire clubs are available for the few who haven’t brought their own. I rented a set of 2024 Callaway Elite stiff shaft clubs, with an Odyssey DFX putter. I struggled with the flat stick (or let’s be honest, the super-fast undulating greens), but the rest of the set played very well.
The field was over 50, with room for up to 72 next year. Handicaps ranged from the higher end down to plus 3, with approximately 40% of competitors being single handicap. The quality of golf at the top end meant that nearest the pin on day 2 was collected with a hole in one, and the longest drives on all three days were unimaginably long.
The tournament was book-ended by a pre-tournament cocktail reception and finger-food buffet, including delicious local oysters sourced from the nearby Alvor Estuary. A prize-giving dinner followed the completion of the final round with happy, tired golfers enjoying a three course meal, and drinks in the contemporary open plan clubhouse dining area.
The courses at Palmares
So far so good, but none of this would matter unless the golf on offer was first rate. And here Palmares certainly didn’t disappoint.
When interviewed about his rationale for the course, Robert Trent Jones said: “Mother Nature is the best architect so we just followed her lead. We followed the ground and it gave us the answer.”
Fast-forward and January 2026 found the courses in wonderful condition, despite the Algarve having suffered the wettest January for 10 years. Francesco Murdulo, appointed Golf Director in June 2025, has a foundation in green keeping and exacts high standards. Whilst the Praia has a deliberately more rugged feel, with blurrier lines, dunes and wispy sand, all three loops had tightly mown well-drained fairways and consistent bunkers with very quick, true and sometimes fiercely undulating USGA greens, providing a real test for those coming from a couple of months of sodden UK winter golf.
Alvor (Holes 1 to 9)
The Alvor has a mainly parkland feel, with changes in elevation, sloping fairways and sea views the highlight. It starts with three holes heading behind the clubhouse with slopes overlooking the inland Monchique mountains. Generally viewed as a mere appetiser to the main event, the uphill visual from the 1st tee is nonetheless quite attractive, and a scream of pallid swifts, swooped over the 1st, 2nd and very challenging 3rd green, livening proceedings.
On arrival at the 4th tee, the majesty of the land is revealed. It’s a magnificent risk/reward par 5, possibly the most attractive hole at Palmares, with the elevated tee providing views over a narrow downhill valley, flanked by pine woods and a smattering of drystone walls with the Alvor Estuary in the distance. The fairway cambers in on both sides before those in position to go for the green must select the right club to avoid two large bunkers protecting the front left of the green. The 5th and 6th par 4s follow the same downhill valley, before a tough closing section including a double dogleg par 5, requiring a clear second shot strategy, and a closing hole attractively flanked high on the hill by the current 27 signature apartments. The last requires a tee shot to the left-hand side of the fairway, round a collection of tall blocking pines on the other side, to access perhaps the most difficult green at Palmares. Make sure you land on the right level. With the pin on the lower tier, a 2 putt is near impossible for those putting from the top with de-greening a distinct possibility.
Lagos (Holes 10 to 18)
The Lagos achieves the mix of parkland and links, characterised by consistently strong hole design and two inland lakes. There are sea and/or estuary views on all nine holes. An attractive short par 4 is followed by a tough par 4 heading east. There then follows a six hole run of alternating par 3s and par 5s.
This stretch starts with a picturesque par 3 over an inland water lake, very challenging when played into the wind. Hole 12 is a reachable par 5 with changes in elevation and a possible blind second over a hillside on the right, topped with earthy brown ruins. Hole 17 is a quite wonderful par 5 with raised tee and views over Meia Praia beach and the Bay of Lagos to the cliffs beyond. Three large bunkers down the right and scrubland to the left add to the vista and sense of jeopardy.
Praia (Holes 19 to 27)
With the exception of the first and last, which are very good holes in their own right, Praia provides links-style golf. It starts and finishes next to the raised clubhouse, but soon drops down to the sea, crossing the Tunis to Lagos railway line to provide four holes a mere stone’s throw from the wide sweep of Meia Praia beach and raised wooden boardwalk.
Hole 22 is a definite highlight, which I’d love to have enjoyed in late-evening dipping light. An ideal drive drifts in from the dunes on the left, avoiding the wispy grass-flecked sandy wasteland to the right. A good whack with a 3-wood might still leave a challenging pitch over a bank in front of the green, with the choice of putter a genuine option. The sound of waves in the background and the local train rumbling through every now and then adds atmosphere.
The next par 3 is a renowned card wrecker, very challenging when attempted from the back tees, where the view is of a green protected on the right by marshy reed beds and only the left side seemingly accessible via a thin ribbon grassland feeding in from the left. Back on the inland side of the track, a short par 3 has a double green reputedly modelled on the 7th and 11th at St Andrews.
Timeout: Quinto dos Vales wine estate and the local cuisine
While the fine wines of northern Portugal’s have long been revered, the Algarve’s reputation as a wine region is more recent. Attracted by the south-facing slopes, protected from cold winds by mountains to the north, and a with reputed 300 days of sunshine per year, a number of young, innovative winemakers have been busy producing an increasing number of award-winning wines.
Quinta dos Vales, situated in the rolling hills of Estombar, is one such success story. What was once a modest farm, is now an enterprising hotel and working estate of 44 hectares. It is also an open air-art gallery with modern, colourful sculptures dotted thoughtfully around the vineyards, gardens and wine cellars. The passion of the previous owner Karl Heinz Stock, and in fibreglass resin, wood and limestone, they include bulls, bears and a curious collection of fat “Graces”, posing and dancing about!
The estate produces some 150,000 bottles annually (seven reds and seven whites) from 15 predominately by blending Portuguese and international grape varieties, and has won a proliferation of national and international wine awards, including “best wine of the Algarve” eight times in the past 16 years.
I sit on the open terrace, sipping at a 2016 blend of local Alicante Bouschet and Tourigo Franca named “Grace” after the fat garden sculptures. It tastes wonderful, to an untrained palate. My more learned French colleagues thankfully also give a nod of approval, and I later learn that this vintage will be a contender at the 2026 Mundus Vini Springtime tasting. It’s the last wine of four at the end of an informative two-hour guided tour and tasting, which includes a visit to the barrel cellars. We’ve already sampled two perfect crisp, light summer wines: a 2024 Marques dos Vales Selecta white and rosé following an excellent a 2018 Duo red, itself a Gold Medal winner at the same Mundus Vini awards back in 2023. All accompanied by a delicious local tapas: spiced and peppered cheese made from cow, sheep and goat milk, with Salsichão and Linguiça sliced meat from Iberian Black pig.
Aside from its award winning architecture, the Palmares clubhouse also allows post-round golfers to relive glories, or chew over what might have been in some style. It has a Michelin-starred Al-Sud restaurant, and a separate 180º restaurant with a truly spectacular terrace, and a menu designed by Al-Sud chef Louis Anjou. It meant that local oysters, octopus, black linguini with shrimp, and sautéed razor clams sat alongside the classics.
Alternatively, venture into in the cobbled Old Town streets of Lagos, a mere 20-minute cab from the hotel for a change of scenery. Dom Sebastião serves classic Portuguese cuisine. We sampled freshly caught sea bass, pork tenderloin with figs followed by local deserts, and post meal drinks served with (it had to be) a basket of almonds!
Reflections
I’d go back just to play the courses again. But with the tournament adding the zest of competition, a resort advancing towards “best in class”, and with a rich, fresh local gastronomy which is hard to beat, the Almond Blossom tournament is an ideal off-season escape to the past and present Algarve.
