7 nights with breakfast at SINA Villa Matilde and 3 Green Fees per person

We’re on the hills of the Serra of Biella: all around us is nature, lush forests and gentle undulation. It is almost 60 years since the British architect John Morrison placed the 18 holes of the course here and meanwhile, in the peace of the woods, the clubhouse and lodgings were built. Since then very little seems to have changed inside the Biella club, which enjoys some sort of splendid isolation. Testing yourself on this masterpiece-course, award-winning among the best of Italy, is not an easy task, but rewarding, in any case. And towards the end, here’s a hole like no other: the 16th, a par 5 493 m long. A blind second shot to a diagonally downhill fairway you can only guess at. What you can never expect are the two rocks in the middle of the fairway: to be positively avoided, any rebound could be fatal to the score. Woe onto those who aim at the right of the green: the ball would slip in the rough, between the tangle of birches from which the club take its name. Inside the clubhouse is simple but tasteful decoration with wooden floorboards that are still hammered by the spikes of the old golf shoes; the same atmosphere awaits you in the bright and airy rooms of the restaurant, maybe sipping a drink, sitting on the comfortable sofas by the fireplace. Technical Details Course: 18 holes, Par 73, 6497 meters Architect: John Morrison Topography: narrow fairways and rich vegetation. Pro’s comments To define Biella Golf Club you need a superlative: gorgeous. A beautiful course in an area exclusively dedicated to golf (there’s no swimming pool, no tennis court etc.) Except the par 3s and the 13th, all the holes are dog-legs: a well-placed tee-shot becomes essential; on the greens, be extremely careful! Plenty of slopes, raised holes and steps could cause trouble. To high handicap players I suggest patience, to the low handicap players I only say: “Have fun”!

Founded in 1924, the Circolo Golf Torino changed location more than once before finding the right place in 1956 inside the Mandria Regional Park, on lands that fifteen years later would be bordering on the first Royal Park I Roveri course. There have been many illustrious figures amongst its chairmen – such as automobile designer Sergio Pininfarina from 1996 to 2005 – who have helped maintain the high level and prestige of a club which has always been a salon for the Who’s Who of Turin. In addition, it boasts a top level competitive history: not only for having hosted three Italian Opens in 1999, 2013 and 2014, but also for collecting an impressive series of amateur titles with its own athletes and having trained world-class golfers such as brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, titleholders of multiple events on the European Tour, world champions in 2009 and members of the Ryder Cup. Without mentioning Francesco Molinari’s triumph at the Open Championship in 2018, at Carnoustie… Chronologically speaking, the Torino Club was the second Italian club to have 36 holes after Monticello. The Blue course – the one used in the Opens – dates back to 1956 and was built to John Morrison’s design, then it underwent a series of renovations from 1998 by Canadian architect Graham Cooke. The front nine of the Yellow course, designed by Marco Croze, were the last to be opened in 1986 and complete the complex homogeneously. Featuring sharp doglegs through woodlands and water hazards, it is shorter than the Blue course but with very undulating greens that are difficult to understand at first sight. Characteristics that both courses share are the centuries-old trees that frame each hole and the frequency of natural water hazards, streams and ponds that help to challenge players. A 9-hole pitch&putt course has been recently added to the complex, making the Torino club a unique destination in terms of services offered. Technical Details Course: 2×18 holes, Par 72/72, 6054/6038 meters Architects: John Morrison, Marco Croze and Graham Cooke Topography: mostly flat, hilly fairways with age-old woods, mountains in the background. Distinctive features: The grounds are characterized by large fairways and by well- protected greens. Pro’s comments The Circolo Golf Torino features 36 holes that are each one more beautiful than the last. The Blue course, host venue for three editions of the Italian Open, is technically faultless. The length and width of the fairways are perfectly balanced with the greens, lately remodeled, and which complicate matters with greatly accentuated mounds and slopes. Hole 3 with its dogleg turning left and a green surrounded by a small stream is wonderful. Don’t try to reach the green if you don’t have a well angled approach shot. The small river surrounding the green is full of golf balls!!!! The Yellow course is different and more accessible for medium-high handicaps but also great fun and stimulating. Allow me to mention Hole 14, a par 3 of 136 meters on the banks of a large lake. Stop for a minute to take a picture. The panorama is truly first-rate.

La Mandria Regional Park, or better, the immense hunting reserve that once belonged to the royal Savoy family a few kilometers from Turin, is the backdrop for the Royal Park Golf I Roveri course, a club that came into being in the early 1970s and which has become one of Italy’s most beautiful courses over time. Credit is also due to its visionary promoters who entrusted Robert Trent Jones Sr. with the upgrading project of the existing 9 holes and with creating a new course. This resulted in a championship 18-hole course inaugurated in 1974, flanked by 12 supporting holes suitable for practice. It is a club with a personality that distinguishes itself from the nearby Circolo Golf Torino with a clear American stamp which translates into sweeping spaces and many water hazards. The Italian Open was played here for four consecutive editions from 2009 to 2012. In keeping with its remarkable sense of modernity, in the 2000s the club called upon architects Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry to transform and expand those 12 holes, thus creating the Pramerica, the second 18-hole course on the property, elected “Best New Course” in Italy in 2014 by Il Mondo del Golf magazine. This innovative course allows players to choose their game strategy right from the tee, defensive or aggressive, according to their ability, with water hazards that come into play more or less decidedly on the majority of the holes. Nature is the undeniable protagonist on this complex, as it is not rare to see a herd of fawns crossing the road, and villas and farmhouses are hidden from sight during play. Only the age-old farmstead, the Cerbiatta, stands prominently, renovated in 1984 and transformed into the current clubhouse with its restraine. Technical Details Course: 2×18 holes, Par 72/72, 6218/6165 meters Architects: Robert Trent Jones/Michael Hurdzan Topography: relatively flat, water hazards and bunkers Distinctive features: The 18 front holes, Allianz Course, conceived by the well-known architect Robert Trent Jones in 1971, feature bunkers, water hazards and greens that enhance a strategic play. For many years now the course has hosted the Italian Open, thus contributing to increase the fame of the Golf Club. The additional 18 holes, Allianz Bank, designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, were developed preserving the original environmental context. The very varied courses are plunged into an enchanting natural landscape, sometimes crossed by torrents. The principal fairways are very big, the bunkers well protected and water hazards decorate the playground, without forgetting the courses quality, which is perfectly kept. Ball drops, pre-greens and greens are always at their best and the two courses are among the best golfs in Italy. Pro’s comments Two magnificent (and completely different) courses which could not go missing on your golfer’s CV: the Trent Jones is a true work of art, a parkland course with many water hazards (ponds and rivers touch on 12 holes) with Hole 17, which will stay on your minds for a long time. This is a long par 4 with a large lake in the middle of the fairway which can intimidate, but once you get past it, as reward, there is a large green with little sloping waiting for you: a small masterpiece of golf architecture. The Pramerica has a more modern feel to it, is rather long with large greens that are not too hospitable, and which propose devious slopes that are hard to read. Hole 2 is splendid and can be attacked by stronger players who can try to hit the green by passing directly above the lake on the left. Using a more wary strategy, players can score a par rather easily.