Portugal's Tróia Golf Rebuilds Its Clubhouse as RTJ II Restores the Robert Trent Jones Sr. Course
Robert Trent Jones II Golf Architects is finishing a restoration of the Robert Trent Jones Sr. course on Portugal's Tróia Peninsula, where the clubhouse is also being rebuilt. The course is scheduled to reopen in March 2027.
Robert Trent Jones II Golf Architects is completing a restoration of Tróia Golf, the course Robert Trent Jones Sr. designed on Portugal's Tróia Peninsula, and the course is scheduled to reopen in March 2027, according to an RTJ II release published by The Golf Wire on Oct. 27. The peninsula sits on Portugal's Atlantic coast, in the release's words "between the Atlantic Ocean, the Sado Estuary and the Serra da Arrábida," about an hour's drive from Lisbon, according to Golf Business News.
The clubhouse is being rebuilt along with the course. The release describes it as "a contemporary premium venue with enhanced hospitality, social and retail spaces connected to both the course and surrounding landscape." The resort's Tróia Golf page says it will use natural materials and integrated indoor and outdoor areas for year-round use, with the reception, lounge, bar, terrace and pro shop together. RTJ II is also rebuilding a course and clubhouse together elsewhere, at Cabo Real in Los Cabos, Mexico, which closed in September for renovation and is set to reopen in late 2027 as a members-only club with a new clubhouse.
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The resort reports that Jones Sr. designed the 18-hole, par 72 course, which opened in 1980. Trent Jones, RTJ II's chief operating officer and Jones Sr.'s grandson, said the work is "not just a restoration of my grandfather's work." He said the course is known in Portugal as "The St. Andrews of Portugal."
The release lists the work as including widened fairways, restored dunes, a routing changed to reduce the effect of trees, some holes slightly rerouted, all bunkers rebuilt, lost ocean views restored and ground-game options brought back. Golf Business News reports that all 18 greens were rebuilt with a native sand mix and the irrigation system was fully replaced, including a new pump station. The practice facility adds a new driving range with target greens, a short-game area and a 3,000-square-meter putting green the resort calls a "social green."
RTJ II's team is headed by President Bruce Charlton and Senior Project Designer Mike Gorman, who located Jones Sr.'s original, hand-drawn grassing plan for Tróia in the firm's archives. "Tróia had become a very aerial, one-dimensional, parkland-like course by the sea," Gorman said. "Land like this just doesn't exist anymore for golf. I equate it to Spyglass Hill," he said, referring to Jones Sr.'s course on California's Monterey Peninsula. "But while Spyglass has it on four holes, Tróia has it on all 18."
Details, a Portuguese hospitality, sports and leisure group that owns Portugal's largest portfolio of golf courses, leads the resort, according to the release. Golf Business News reports the course work is the first phase of a broader transformation of the resort, with further investment planned to upgrade its existing hotels. The release says the reopening is meant to raise awareness of the Alentejo region as a golf destination.
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A 1980 Jones Sr. course on dune land between the ocean and the estuary, Tróia Golf had drifted toward a parkland course according to its designers and is being pulled back toward links golf. It will reopen with a new clubhouse built to face the course and the landscape.
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