The Pine Cliffs layout, designed by Martin Hawtree, of the English firm Hawtree & Son, the same firm that designed the Cerregueira course, is located between Albufeira and Vilamoura, in a area called Praia da Falésia. Pine Cliffs is more than a golf course: it is a garden. It has only nine holes with a length of 2274 metres, and is a group of four par 3's, four par 4's and, according to the card, one par 5, of about 400 metres which in reality should be a par 4. However, it is an excellent hole. But the ex-libris of Pine Cliffs is the 9th hole, played over a ravine a few dozen metres deep, with a view over Algarve's vast, inviting sandy beaches. Nigel Mansell, who was the President of Pine Cliffs for some time, has given the club the glamour that normally surrounds the great sport stars and it gave him the chance to keep practising golf and retain his 4 handicap, between Formula One races.
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