5 nights at Romantic Hotel Furno with breakfast and 2 green fees (Golf Club Torino la Mandria, Golf Club Le Fronde)

Founded in 1924, the Circolo Golf Torino changed location more than once before finding the right place in 1956 inside the Mandria Regional Park, on lands that fifteen years later would be bordering on the first Royal Park I Roveri course. There have been many illustrious figures amongst its chairmen – such as automobile designer Sergio Pininfarina from 1996 to 2005 – who have helped maintain the high level and prestige of a club which has always been a salon for the Who’s Who of Turin. In addition, it boasts a top level competitive history: not only for having hosted three Italian Opens in 1999, 2013 and 2014, but also for collecting an impressive series of amateur titles with its own athletes and having trained world-class golfers such as brothers Edoardo and Francesco Molinari, titleholders of multiple events on the European Tour, world champions in 2009 and members of the Ryder Cup. Without mentioning Francesco Molinari’s triumph at the Open Championship in 2018, at Carnoustie… Chronologically speaking, the Torino Club was the second Italian club to have 36 holes after Monticello. The Blue course – the one used in the Opens – dates back to 1956 and was built to John Morrison’s design, then it underwent a series of renovations from 1998 by Canadian architect Graham Cooke. The front nine of the Yellow course, designed by Marco Croze, were the last to be opened in 1986 and complete the complex homogeneously. Featuring sharp doglegs through woodlands and water hazards, it is shorter than the Blue course but with very undulating greens that are difficult to understand at first sight. Characteristics that both courses share are the centuries-old trees that frame each hole and the frequency of natural water hazards, streams and ponds that help to challenge players. A 9-hole pitch&putt course has been recently added to the complex, making the Torino club a unique destination in terms of services offered. Technical Details Course: 2×18 holes, Par 72/72, 6054/6038 meters Architects: John Morrison, Marco Croze and Graham Cooke Topography: mostly flat, hilly fairways with age-old woods, mountains in the background. Distinctive features: The grounds are characterized by large fairways and by well- protected greens. Pro’s comments The Circolo Golf Torino features 36 holes that are each one more beautiful than the last. The Blue course, host venue for three editions of the Italian Open, is technically faultless. The length and width of the fairways are perfectly balanced with the greens, lately remodeled, and which complicate matters with greatly accentuated mounds and slopes. Hole 3 with its dogleg turning left and a green surrounded by a small stream is wonderful. Don’t try to reach the green if you don’t have a well angled approach shot. The small river surrounding the green is full of golf balls!!!! The Yellow course is different and more accessible for medium-high handicaps but also great fun and stimulating. Allow me to mention Hole 14, a par 3 of 136 meters on the banks of a large lake. Stop for a minute to take a picture. The panorama is truly first-rate.

The club is located just 30 minutes by car from Turin, at 450 meters above sea level and at the threshold of the Susa Valley on the road leading to the mountains that hosted the 2006 Olympic Games – Oulx, Bardonecchia, Sansicario and Sestrières – and 3 kilometers from Lake Avigliana, in a magnificent natural context. It is hard to believe that in the same area where John Harris configured the 18 holes built at the request of entrepreneur Giuseppe Maggiora, the Nobel Dynamite Company, the most important factory of explosives in the world from the last century, was still operating here until the 1950s. Only a few of the company’s architectural traces remain, such as the small casemates which occasionally appear semi-hidden on the margins of the course. The course alternates very challenging holes with others that are more relaxing, but precision is always fundamental for a good score. The most spectacular hole is number 2, a par 4 of 420 meters. You must climb up to the tee box, a difference in level of perhaps 30 meters, and the panorama is there to distract you. The Sacra di San Michele, the Rocciamelone and the Castle of Avigliana overlook golfer’s drives which must somehow fit through a sharply curving corridor edged by American oaks and ashes. The out of bounds is there to the right for more than half of the curve. And if that were not enough – the fairway sloping in that direction is an accessory to the crime – there is also a pond waiting to catch the most powerful slices. The green is hidden behind a forest of very tall trees. No shot is possible to the left. Course: 18 holes, Par 71, 5951 meters Architect: John Harris Topography: quite undulating with many water hazards Distinctive features: a tip: avoid long drives and opt for a short game A good score at the Golf Club Le Fronde is unthinkable unless you have played it at least once attentively: blind doglegs, greens and a course with steep slopes and severe differences in level, water hazards that are not always visible, all these combine to make a first approach complicated. Many of the out of bounds have been positioned on the right side of the holes, so it is best to avoid slicing. In compensation, the course is not long and is great fun. Due to its altitude and position at the threshold of the Susa Valley, it often proves to be cool even in summertime.