Links ClassicHidden GemBucket List

Oporto Golf Club

Espinho, near Porto · Designed by Founded 1890; redesigned by Mackenzie Ross & Frank Pennink · Est. 1890

Oporto Golf Club is a genuine piece of history: founded in 1890 by British port-wine traders living in Porto, it is the oldest golf club on the Iberian Peninsula and one of the oldest in continental Europe. The founders — who called themselves the “Porto Niblicks” — first played over a makeshift nine they dubbed the “St Skeff Links”; the Skeffington Cup, contested here every year since 1891, is the oldest golf tournament in the world to have been played without interruption.

The present links at Espinho, seventeen kilometres south of Porto, was extended to eighteen holes in 1934 — the first 18-hole course in Portugal — and refined over the years by the noted architects Mackenzie Ross and Frank Pennink. It is a true links, par 71 over about 5,700 metres: not long, but with narrow fairways, small greens and a strong north wind off the Atlantic that can make it a real handful.

For value, atmosphere and sheer history, this old club by the beaches of Espinho is one of the most charming rounds in Portugal.

Holes worth knowing

1The wind-blown links holes by the beach — narrow fairways and small greens exposed to the strong north wind off the Atlantic at Espinho.
2The historic ground itself — you are playing the oldest links in Iberia, walked by the port-wine pioneers of Porto since 1890.

Highlights

The oldest golf club on the Iberian Peninsula (1890)
Founded by British port-wine traders
Home of the world's oldest continuously played tournament
A true links refined by Mackenzie Ross and Pennink

Good to know

→The Skeffington Cup, played here since 1891, is the oldest golf tournament in the world never to have been interrupted — you are on genuinely historic ground.
→It is a proper links: narrow fairways, small greens and a strong north wind off the Atlantic, so keep it straight, low and patient rather than reaching for power.
→Porto, 35 minutes north, is one of Europe's great little cities — the Ribeira waterfront, the ornate Lello bookshop, and the port lodges of Vila Nova de Gaia across the Douro for tastings.
→Espinho itself has a long beach, a casino and a famous Monday street market; the terraced vineyards of the Douro Valley are a beautiful day trip up the river.
→Great value and huge history make it a genuine hidden gem — pair a round with a few days in the port-wine city; Porto has its own international airport.