Castello di Tolcinasco (Blu & Giallo)

The number of Arnold Palmer courses in play throughout the USA runs into the hundreds whereas the King’s continental European projects can be counted on the digits of two hands. His courses on the east side of the Atlantic Ocean are certainly few and far between but three of them are located in Italy – Ca’della Nave (1986) outside Venice, Le Pavoniere (1989) near Florence and here at Castello di Tolcinasco.

Three 9-hole loops (Blu, Giallo and Rosso) were set out by Arnie’s design company in the early 1990s and the first two of these 9-hole circuits, the Blu and Giallo, form the 18-hole championship combination. Holes to look out for include the 387-metre 9th on the Blu, which veers around water on the left on its way to the green, and the par four 4th on the Giallo, where there’s out of bounds on the left and water on the right of the fairway.

Five editions of the Italian Open were hosted by the club in recent years, resulting in five different winners: Graeme McDowell beat Thomas Levet in a playoff in 2004, Steve Webster won by three strokes in 2005, Francesco Molinari was a popular home winner in 2006, Gonzalo Fernández-Castaño overcame Markus Brier in another playoff in 2007 and Hennie Otto held off Ollie Fisher by one shot to claim his first European Tour victory in 2008.