"Departing in the dead of night, we left the bitterly cold Oxfordshire for a speedy journey via Gatwick to land in the glorious full sunshine of an Algarve morning.

Arriving at the Amendoeira Golf resort, we were greeted with acres of glorious fairways tucked between orange groves. We settled in quickly, unpacking our clubs and finding the range where we slowly managed to shake-off the ill effects of leaving school just after midnight and adjusted to the warm temperatures and immaculate fairways of the two championship courses at the resort.

After an hour of warming-up on the range, we were ready to take on the Faldo course but as we gathered on the first tee, the heavens opened! Determined to make the most of the day, we persevered until the downpour was so heavy that water began to pool on the greens. We retreated to the clubhouse to dry out.

By 3 o’clock, we were able to get back on the course and finish 9 holes in the afternoon sun to be back in the clubhouse in time to check-in and have supper. 

The accommodation and facilities were amazing and after a full breakfast the next morning we were ready to take on a full 18 holes of the Faldo course, as practice for the coming competitions, along with the other schools that we would be competing against over the next few days. The evening after the practice round we took advantage of the floodlit course on the resort and managed to play another 18 highly entertaining holes of night golf.

Sunday saw the first day of competition. We travelled to the Vale da Pinta course where we found a beautiful, if challenging course that weaved through amazing countryside dotted with ancient olive trees. The round finished as the sun set over the 18th green with the moon rising behind us. Overall, Jonah came 7th in the scratch competition, shooting 88 with Will close behind in 8th. Adi came 2nd in the Stableford with 37 points with Will only a few places behind on 36. The outstanding hole of the day came from Noah on the par 5 14th, where he got an eagle! We finished the evening off with another visit to the floodlit course – it appeared as if we could not have too much golf!

Monday started with the news we were to take on the O’ Connor Junior course back at the resort, another challenging course – much more level than the Faldo but with a lot more water to swallow the ball. Yet again Jonah did himself proud, this time shooting 86 to put him in 6th, with Archie shooting 89 to find himself in 10th. Adi, yet again, fared well in the Stableford competition scoring 36 points and earning 4th place. That evening, we paired up and played a couple of hours of Padel tennis with everyone taking part on the two courts.

We started the last day all packed and checked-out ready to take on the Faldo one last time in competition. The weather was, as it had been after the first downpour had cleared, warm and sunny with a slight breeze – perfect weather for an excellent round of golf. Archie finished the tournament with a highly commendable 83 taking him to 8th place for the round, with Noah 14th on 89. Louis came 5th with 39 points in the Stableford competition with Adi close behind in 7th.

Overall we played 3 amazing courses and enjoyed the amazing facilities of the resort, returning to the cold wet Oxfordshire December, tired yet exhilarated after 5 days of amazing golf – despite the slight delay in getting back. We are now looking forward to the two competitions in the calendar for this term and are planning a few more as the weather improves into the summer term, as well as hoping to be able to offer another overseas tour in the near future."

Mr Colville, Master in charge of Golf.