Praia D'El Rey Golf and Beach Resort - Portugal

Marriott's Praia D'El Rey Golf & Beach Resort is located about an hour north of Lisbon on the shores of the Atlantic in southern Portugal. The setting is second to none and the stretch from the 12th to the 15th is as visually stunning as you'll see on any golf course - as long as you keep your eyes left.

Sadly, the course has pimped itself out to plenty of housing, and construction lurks at every turn. It's good business for Marriott, no doubt, but it does leave golfers feeling a little bit cheated. This is still a very good upscale resort golf course but it could be so much more.

The seaside "money shots" come on the back nine; until then the course plays through trees and subdivisions, very tightly, with heather or hazards lining most fairways thanks to side-by-side holes.