Two 18-hole courses at the same Silves resort, built by two major-winning designers in the same year. Here's how the desert-style Faldo Course and the water-laced O'Connor Course actually compare.
Amendoeira Golf Resort near Silves has two 18-hole courses built by two very different major-winning names, opened in the same year, sharing the same clubhouse and the same on-site hotel. They're often sold as a package, but they're not interchangeable rounds. Here's how the Faldo and O'Connor courses actually differ, and which one to book first.
Same resort, same year, two different designers
Both courses opened in 2008 — the Faldo Course during Portugal Masters week that year — and both share Amendoeira's clubhouse, driving range and practice facilities. But Sir Nick Faldo and Christy O'Connor Jr. built genuinely different golf. Faldo went desert-style: cacti and wild scrub stand in for rough, crushed limestone bunkers replace the usual Algarve sand, and the whole course has a rugged, reddish character unlike anything else in the region. O'Connor Jr. built something closer to traditional parkland, routed through a fertile valley with lakes in play on several holes.
The Faldo Course: Portugal's best, and it plays like it
At 6,578 metres par 72, the Faldo Course was named Portugal's Best Golf Course at the 2016 World Golf Awards, and it's still the one that shows up on "best of the Algarve" lists. It's a strategic course rather than a brutal one — Faldo built it around shot placement, so length off the tee matters less than picking the right line into firm, well-bunkered greens. Rocky outcrops and Mediterranean scrub line the fairways, and the course rewards patience more than power.
The O'Connor Course: shorter, greener, more water to avoid
The O'Connor Jr. course plays 6,273 metres par 72 through a greener, more traditional valley setting, with four tee options and numerous lakes woven through the round. It's shorter and generally considered the more forgiving of the two off the tee, which is why it tends to suit mid- and high-handicappers better than the Faldo — but the water hazards mean it still asks for precision on the approach, not just length.
Which one should you play?
If you want the course with the pedigree — the award, the desert-style design, the tougher strategic test — play the Faldo first. If you'd rather a shorter, greener round where the main thing to avoid is water rather than a wayward drive into scrub, start with the O'Connor. Both share the same maximum handicap (28 men, 36 ladies) and the same green fee from €96, so most golfers visiting Amendoeira simply play both across a trip.
Where to stay
Both courses share the same on-site hotel, Amendoeira Golf Resort, a 4-star property of self-catering apartments and villas with two outdoor pools, six tennis courts and two restaurants, set right inside the resort between the two courses. You can book it directly on Booking.com.
Want the numbers side by side instead? Open the course comparator to see the Faldo and O'Connor's price, length, handicap limits and facilities pulled straight from our live course data.
