Circolo Golf Torino, La Mandria

The verdict

Circolo Golf Torino is one of the most decorated clubs in Italian golf, founded in 1924 and a fixture at the top of the domestic game ever since. Its present home, taken up in 1956, is the most special thing about it: La Mandria, the old hunting estate of the House of Savoy, now a protected regional park of lowland forest on the Po river plain at Fiano, a short drive northwest of Turin.

Inside that woodland the English architect John Morrison routed two eighteens, the championship Blu and the gentler Giallo. The Blu is the one to play, a par 72 of about 6,828 yards that runs corridor to corridor between tall, mature oaks and chestnuts, with little to distract the eye but the trees and the occasional glimpse of the Alps. It is classical, walkable, parkland golf that asks for position and shot shape rather than raw power, and the conditioning and quiet pedigree make it a rewarding stop on any northern Italy itinerary.

The holes worth the trip

The Blu course is defined by its trees. Morrison set the fairways into clean corridors through the old forest, so the premium is on driving the ball the correct distance and on the correct side to leave a clear line into the green. There is rarely water to carry and almost never an ocean of fairway to bail out into; the discipline is the woodland itself.

The par 3s are a particular strength, played to well bunkered greens framed tightly by mature timber, where anything pushed or pulled finds the branches rather than a friendly slope. The par 5s reward a placed drive and a committed second more than brute length, and the greens, while not severe, run true and quick when the club is in tournament trim. It is a course that flatters the thinking golfer and quietly punishes the careless one.

With the shorter Giallo alongside it, La Mandria gives a visiting group two contrasting loops on the same historic estate, and the walk between holes, under the canopy of a former royal park, is as memorable as the golf.

Where to stay nearby

Most visiting golfers base themselves in or just outside Turin, where the choice runs from grand historic hotels in the city center to quieter country properties out toward the park. The city itself, with its arcades, cafes and the food and wine of Piedmont, is reason enough to linger a day either side of the golf.

For a wider trip, La Mandria pairs naturally with the other great courses of the northwest, Royal Park I Roveri minutes away in the same park, Biella Le Betulle in the foothills and Bogogno toward Lago Maggiore, so a group can build several days of contrasting parkland golf around a single Piedmont base.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts near Circolo Golf Torino.