Amendoeira Golf Resort: Oceânico Faldo

Described as a “desert-style” design, this course from Nick Faldo, opened in the Algarve in 2008, is a highly imaginative piece of construction built on a neutral site of scrub and sand. Everything was fabricated to create vast washes that engulf holes that pivot at sharp angles around ornately shaped bunkers, outcropping and desert plants. Nearly every long hole presents multiple options off the tee, from safe plays to fat parts of the fairway (leaving longer approaches into angled greens) to aggressive drives that can attack corners and carry expanses of cacti amd “native.” The greens come in an assortment of shapes and orientations with low-mow runoff areas to one side or another. It's a busy piece of architecture, but one that never produces the same round of golf twice.