Palheiro Golf is situated on Madeira Island some 10 km east of Funchal with magnificent views overlooking the town. The 18-hole par 72 course was designed by Cabell Robinson and opened in 1993. The course was changed in 2003. Two holes were replaced, and a 6 hole academy course was created. Palheiro Golf has made Golf World’s 2009 list of Europe’s top 100 golf courses.
Contrary to the regular golf course design, this course offers five par five and five par three holes and “only” 8 par fours. And the hardest hole of the course is on the back nine. But who cares when the course comes along in such an interesting layout, offering challenging elevation changes, beautiful hole layouts and blind shots. Measuring 5.448 meters from yellow, the course is no challenge in length. The longest par three is 178 meters, the longest par four measures 375 meters. But club selection will be key at almost every hole due to the mentioned elevation changes and because of the windy conditions you will encounter regularly. Except for the holes 6 through 9, the fairways are rather narrow and precise ball placemen is key to good scoring.
One of the most interesting holes in my opinion are the holes 13 through 15.
Hole 13 is a par 3, only 129 meters, an easy eight iron one might think. Except for from the mens tee you have to shoot over a canyon to a rather narrow green guarded by bunkers to the front and the hillside to the back. I overshot the green and had to chip down to a green that ran away from me, hustling my way to a double bogey. Speaking of the greens, their undulation was challenging and interesting. Maybe it was just my ball position but I found the green on #7 the hardest to putt.
Hole 14 measures 375 meters, a regular par 4 you might think. But looking at the perspective from the tee box above you see that you have to execute a blind shot over the bunkers to a dogleg right fairway. Surprisingly I hit a rather swell three wood to 210 meters and found myself in a perfect position in the middle of the fairway just to fuck up my second shot into the green bunker left of the green. This and a miserable chip lead to a triple bogey.
One of the holes where the elevation changes are clearly visible is #15, a 478 meters par five. In case you want to miss the fairway, do it to the right side and land your ball on the 16th fairway, missing to the left is no option unless you carry a chainsaw with you entering the pine tree woods. I played my second and third shot from the 16th fairway, managed to hit the green from an elevated position just to see the ball bounce off the left side sloping towards the woods. But then my best chip of the day brought me within a club lenght of the flag resulting in the second par of the day.
The way to the 18th hole is a hard one. Should you – like us – decide to walk the course and not use a cart, rest assured that it will be a challenge. Establish a mule rental service aside the 16th teebox and it will be a success. Holes 16 and 17 go only uphill in a very nasty way. Especially the second shot on 17 is a bitch. The green is above you and you have to shoot over some sort of trench, the green is small and long and with a pin position in the back it is extremly hard to judge yout shot lenght properly and choose the right club.
The 18th hole confronts you again with a blind tee shot. Grab driver and hit over the trees at the right side of the fairway, yell “fore” in case anybody is near the teebox of the second hole. A good tee shot puts you in a position to attack the green in two, but to do that your tee shot needs to make it over the hill onto the fairway and get some extra roll as the fairway slopes towards the green. Beware of the lone pine tree guarding the green. A sporty risk and reward hole to finish off your round.
Despite my partially miserable play, I enjoyed this course very much. It’s a shotmaker course, nothing for bombers. I know that Madeira isn’t the nearest location possible, but if you have the chance to play there, do it!
Green fee is 100,00 € per day, including play on the 6 hole academy golf course. Money well spent!
Rua do Balancal nº 29
9060-414 Funchal
Portugal
Tel.: +351291790120
http://www.palheirogolf.com/
http://www.facebook.com/home.php?/palheirogolf?sk=wall#!/palheirogolf
http://twitter.com/#!/palheirogolf
Oh, and there is free Wi-Fi at the clubhouse. So you can twitter your results directly after your round 
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