Bogliaco

The course at Golf Bogliaco sits a hundred metres above Lake Garda, where tree-lined fairways offer glimpses of the azure waters below. Established by a local hotel owner to cater for foreign visitors in 1912, the original 9-hole layout has also been linked to the Beretta family, of gun making fame.

During World War II, it’s said to have been converted to an airfield by Mussolini then used as a baseball field for the American garrison before returning to its golfing roots in the early 1950s. Reckoned to be the third oldest course in all of Italy, Bogliaco was doubled in size to an 18-hole layout in 2004.

If you think a course measuring a mere 5,225 metres from the back markers (and playing to a par of 70) is going to be a pushover then think again as the slope rating from the tips (and the regular men’s tees) is 141. Seven of the ten par fours on the card are 320 metres or less in length but it’s precision play that matters here, not distance off the tee.

Highlight holes include the par four 5th, doglegging left over water to the green; the par four 9th (rated stroke index 1) which slides right off the tee to a green that’s threatened by water on its left flank; and the par three 17th, where a solitary bunker to the front right of the putting surface provides the main focal point on the tee.