Two Top-Guns of The Iberian Peninsula

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Ranking golf courses is a perilous task at best and one mere mortals who may be sensitive to criticism and accusations of favoritism, not knowing what they are talking about and all manner of other verbal abuse, would be best advised to avoid.

Valderrama was responsible for bringing golf fame to the Iberian Peninsula

Spain's Augusta National, no other European course has earned as much respect as Valderrama

Valderrama - ranked Europe's top course for 18 consecutive years

Vilamoura's Victoria Club hosts the Portugal Masters and is one of 5 championship courses at Vilamoura

A masterly design from Arnold Palmer, Vilamoura's Victoria Club is ranked among Europe's best

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That being said and with some support from two of Europe's most respected ranking authorities -- The Peugeot Guide to Europe's Top 1,000 Golf Courses and Golf World Magazine's Top 100 Courses of Continental Europe, I offer this overview of arguably, two of the best on The Iberian Peninsula. There will still be those who disagree, so I hasten to add, this is a personal opinion, but if Spain's Valderrama and Portugal's Vilamoura, Victoria Club are not the Kings of Golf in their respective countries, they are certainly next in line to assume the throne -- that nobody can deny!

Valderrama Golf Club, located on Spain's Costa del Sol, is one of Europe's most exclusive, private clubs, which also owns one of the most pedigreed golf courses in existence. Ranked as the number 1 course on Continental Europe for each of the past 18 years and until a few months ago, permanent venue to The European Tour's most prestigious event, the season closing, Volvo Masters, the credentials are impeccable. The crowning accolade occurring in 1997, when Valderrama was honored as the very first course outside of Britain and the USA to ever host the Ryder Cup.

Under the masterly stewardship of club president, Jaime Ortiz Patino, no expense has been spared in building a precious tribute to the game of golf. The course is superb and the maintenance immaculate, the clubhouse, incorporating the best golf museum outside of Scotland, is extravagantly impressive. This is a club that respects the traditional values of golf like no other outside of the inner sanctum of the most traditional British club. Valderrama is a golfing shrine to which every serious golfer owes themselves a pilgrimage.

At first glance, the course gives the appearance of being a gentle, rather agreeable layout -- nothing could be further from the reality. As every player discovers, Valderrama is a stern test for the best, with a level of difficulty enough to shatter the nerves of even the calmest. There are carefully thought out fairways, nearly 100 bunkers, elevated greens protected by encroaching cork oaks and a generous helping of water hazards thrown in for good measure. This is a thinking man's layout where accuracy and careful course management means everything.

With the reputation Valderrama has built for itself, golfers the world over chomp at the bit to play it for themselves. But this remains a very private club and the members want to keep it that way. Despite this, they also recognize that in many ways they have built a national monument and recognize their responsibility to allow others to share in their treasure.

A very limited number of visitor times, just 9 a day, are offered between the hours of 12:00 noon and 2:00 p.m. with starting times at 15 minute intervals. There is a very strict dress code and maximum handicap requirements to be complied with together with a respect for the traditions and etiquette of golf.

Not surprisingly, the laws of supply and demand requires an early application to even have a chance of playing the finest golf course in Europe and a reliable golf travel company, such as Golf International, experienced in Spanish golf trips is the best way - but what an experience you have in store.

Portugal's top ranked course sits on the sunny, Algarve Coast, surrounded by a wealth of superb layouts, but Vilamoura's Victoria Club has just proved to be a little bit superior to the rest. In the four short years since opening, this remarkable course is on a rocket ride to stardom.

A masterful design from our own Arnold Palmer, this is unequivocally, Mr. Palmer's best architectural accomplishment ever. Palmer has sculpted a layout filled with character that is not only stunningly handsome, but also presents a seemingly endless variety of challenges. With more than enough muscle and a hefty 7,174 yards to test the most accomplished player from the back tees, a choice of 5 different tee positions can shrink Portugal's longest course to a more modest 6,200 yards and for the ladies, 5,200 yards. But don't think that moving to the front tees transforms The Victoria into a cakewalk -- most high handicappers will still be confronted with a very serious examination of their golfing skills.

This is a course where the big hitters may have something of an advantage, but only if their strength is accompanied by accuracy, good course management and the ability to use every club in the bag. Above all, The Victoria is a layout that rewards the thinking golfer and remains totally unimpressed by brawn alone. There is a sophistication to the design and subtleties to the undulating fairways, the cleverly positioned bunkers and superbly maintained greens that calls for far more than mere brute force.

One of the most striking features is the preponderance of water hazards, which come into play on seven of the holes and practically all of those on the back nine. There are a total of 22 lakes in all; some linked by dramatic waterfalls adding even further to the layout's already strong aesthetic appeal. But for all of the beauty, the water's primary function is as a hazard and the job is accomplished effectively and with a distinctive sense of style.

There is no question that The Victoria is an outstanding layout of which Arnold Palmer and Portugal can be justly proud. The selection of the course as venue for the new European Tour event, The Portugal Masters, is acknowledgement by the highest authority, that Vilamoura's Victoria Club is very special. Where things go from here is anyone's guess, but for a course that has so quickly been acknowledged as deserving of a place among the cream of European golf courses, the direction can only be upward.

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