Royal Park I Roveri (Allianz Bank)

The Trent Jones Sr. course at the Royal Park I Roveri Golf Club garners all the golfing plaudits, which is totally understandable when you consider this layout is regarded as one of the best in Europe. The Trent Jones Sr. also hosted the Italian Open between 2009 and 2012 so it’s a track that captures plenty of media attention.

And yet, within the same Parco Regionale della Mandria (a massive old hunting estate that extends to 7,500 acres, bounded by a 35-kilometre long perimeter wall) there lies another very fine modern course that was unveiled in 2006 by the North American design team of Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry when they were in partnership.

The course is a wonderful complementary course to its older sibling and it’s laid out on rather flat and open terrain, where a couple of ponds also come into play. The 2nd and 11th holes skirt either side of the first body of water, with holes 15 and 16 doglegging round the other.

A stream also cuts across the 1st, 8th and 10th holes so there are quite a few aquatic challenges to overcome on this course. The 403-metre 18th is another demanding hole, played to a multi-tiered putting surface with an enormous bunker to the right of the home green – avoiding this formidable sand hazard is essential for those who’d like to finish with a flourish.