San Domenico

Most of the top Italian golf courses are clustered around the northern cities of Turin. Milan and Venice or else located near the capital city of Rome. Bucking that trend in 2003, European Golf Design unveiled a top track way down in the south of the country, near the town of Fasano in the Puglia region.

The person to receive most plaudits for the San Domenico project should be shaper Brian Jorgensen as he moved plenty of earth on a largely level, featureless landscape to lay out a wonderful array of seaside fairways that enjoy views of the Adriatic from every hole.

By retaining some of the original stonewalls and olive trees on the site and including large waste areas of crushed local rock and indigenous vegetation in the design, the architects have succeeded in emphasizing the identity of the area.

The European Challenge Tour Grand Final, the season ending championship, has been staged at San Domenico since 2005.