“What people find in poetry or art, I find in a nice drive”
Arnold Palmer
The most accredited version about the Golf origins brings us to the Scottish middle-age. It seems that everything born by the hobby of two farmers who used to have fun passing one to each-other a simple stone with two wooden sticks. Even the ancient Romans practiced something alike: the Paganica, played by children with a big and light ball full of plumes. But the most similar version is the Kolven from Netherlands.
The firsts traces of the Golf, as we know it nowadays, are in Musselburgh to the Royal Oldest Golf Club, where in 1500 there was a 7-holes course. The field is still operational, although inside a racetrack, so a bell blocks the players during horse racing.
The Golf arrives in Italy in 1889, at the Florence Golf Club, founded in Florence by its strong English community.
About the etymology of the name, it may come from the Scottish gouf, which means to bit, as from the Dutch kolf, which means club. Instead, the metropolitan legend tells that it could be the acronym of “Gentlemen Only Ladies Forbidden” … but we do not really like this version (ed)!
The Golf is a sport good for body and mind, it has no seasons and no ages, in addition to living in very beautiful frames as our Euganean Hills, where you can breathe health and culture, history and folklore in every season. Euganean Hills embrace Abano Terme and they are a paradise for golfers. There are 19 thousand kilometers of Regional Park which can be explored by foot, bicycle or auto and which welcomes the better Golf Club in the Triveneto. Also, for the most gourmand palates, the local farms, with the Strada del Vino, propose wine, oil and other local products tasting.
L’AbanoRitz, thermal Hotel in Abano Terme, in the heart of Veneto, proposes special packs for the golf lovers. A vacation to take the breath, rediscover your own rhythm and relax. The choice falls between 3 Golf Club few kilometers far:
- Golf Club Padova is the first course of the Euganean Hills, founded in 1962 on a drawing of the English architect John Harris and later completed by Marco Croze. Totally 27 holes absorbed in a botanic field of almost 8000 trees, in addition to bushes and lakes and not forgetting the club house rich in comforts, restaurant, bar, swimming pool, pro shop, tennis court and gym.
- Golf Club of the Montecchia is situated in the charming district of the old castle of the noble family Emo Capodilista. The project of the 27-holes course is of the irish Tom Macauley: a really technic itinerary and various thanks to different obstacles created by 5 lakes in the course. So, it is perfect for all level players. The club house hosts the famous restaurant La Montecchia which had 1 Michelin star in 2010.
- Golf Club Frassanelle, put in a park projected by Jappelli in the XIX century with the idea to bring a little bit of English countryside in Veneto. Huge green spaces, forests and lakes are the background of an 18-holes course created by Marco Croze. The most famous is the hole number 18: the longer 5 pars in Europe, so named “The Arch” cause the tee shot has to be put between two enormous oaks.
For the most adventurous, more far away from our hotel, but being part of the same Golf in Veneto net, we propose you other prestigious Golf Club in the Region always situated in beautiful cities. You may combine business with pleasure taking advantage in visiting the territory.
- Golf Club Ca’ della Nave is in the venetian hinterland on the back of a refined patrician villa of the XVI century. Here we find 18 holes created by Arnold Palmer in a perfect match between technic and aesthetic. An extended vegetation, lakes and wide panoramas open up at the hole 18 on a natural amphitheatre in the park drawn in the XVII century by a French architect.
- Golf Club Colli Berici, 300 meters above sea level, on the occidental extremities of the Berici Hills, the course gets along to the natural morphology of the ground. Enchanting panoramas, thick and relaxing woods in addition to an extraordinary climate welcome these 18 holes.
- Verona Golf Club, in the vineyards which make the frame to the Custoza Hills and near the Garda Lake, in 1963 John Harris creates the first 9 holes, then doubled by Giulio Cavalsani in the following decade. In the lasts years, Baldovino Dassù and Alvise Rossi Fioravanti contribute to an aggressive new interpretation of the course. The club house with swimming pool, restaurant in addition to an internal pro shop open you the doors with professionality, elegance and kindness.
- Asiago Golf Club, one of the nicer mountain courses in Europe that even if it is on a mountain, it is played on an upland without special drops, so guarantying to play on the same level. The draw is entrusted to the English studio Harris & Cotton and the first 30 members start the games in 1967. In 1990 Peter Harradine draws the renovation bring the course to a 18 holes. A golf experience well-rounded with a welcoming club house and rich in comforts.
Then you have only to book your sport and relax vacation and we will manage for the rest!
