Villa d'Este

Situated just to the north of Milan, in the pine, chestnut and birch tree-clad Como hills beside Lake Montorfano, lies Circolo Golf Villa d’Este. A timeless classic, regarded as a jewel in the Italian golfing crown.

Designed by Peter Gannon in 1926 (he would go on to work with Cecil R. Blandforth at Milano in 1928, Ugolino in 1933 and Varese in 1934), Villa d’Este has been something of a royal retreat over the years with Kings and Queens of Belgium, Britain, Spain and Greece signing the VIP “gold book” in the opulent clubhouse.

Author Geoffrey Giles, in this edited extract from the book Golf Courses of the World, writes: “On paper Villa d’Este may look short by today’s standards, but that does not take account of the hilly nature of the ground and the way in which Gannon routed the course.

There is a delightful change of pace between long and short one-, two- and three-shot holes; you are required to play the ball from a variety of hilly lies with the ball sometimes above the feet, at others below, and there are all sorts of narrow openings through which the ball must be played.

It is unusual these days to encounter a course with six par 3s. It is refreshing too, to find a course on which little attempt has been made to push back tees beyond each hole’s natural length. As a result there remains several charming short par 4s, a species often neglected in contemporary golf design.”

The overall yardage of the course is a modest 6,300 yards but with a lowly par of 69 and six demanding par threes to be played, only one of which (the 5th hole) is less than 180 yards off the championship tees, Villa d’Este is no pushover.

The 15th hole measures a formidable 464 yards and is by far the longest par four on the card. The fairway slopes from right to left, meaning most second shots will be played from an uneven lie to a small green with a bunker positioned front left that catches many pulled approaches.

No club has hosted more Italian Opens than Villa d’Este, but the national championship has not returned to Como since it was last held here in 1972 when Scotland’s Norman Wood won his only European Tour competition. In many respects the modern game has rendered the course obsolete for the professionals and that is very much their loss as both club members and many annual visitors will readily testify.