Circolo Golf Venezia

The course lies at the Alberoni, on the southern tip of the Lido, on a tongue of land between the Adriatic Sea and the Venice lagoon. It is a par 72 of 6,039 metres (6,199 from the championship tees) and, the club says, shares many characteristics of links courses: bora and scirocco raise the challenge and ask you to control your game to hit greens well protected by bunkers. The fairways are, however, shaped by maritime pines, weeping willows, poplars and mulberries, and accuracy off the tee counts.

The story of the designs unfolds in two stages. The first nine, par 35, were laid out by the Scottish architect Cruikshank of Maxwell M. Hart of Glasgow, with work begun in 1928; the other nine were added to a design by C.K. Cotton, and the par 72 has been playable since 1951.

On the front nine three par 3s stand out: the 2nd, of just 128 metres, demands absolute precision; the 5th, always battered by the sea breeze, calls for a long iron or a hybrid; the 9th is "legendary", worthy of the best links tradition, with a blind shot that crosses the fort. The back nine are longer and include two excellent par 5s, the 11th and 13th, before a finish with five consecutive par 4s that wind among the trees, towards small raised greens.

The tee time is requested with an online form that asks for home club and handicap, both compulsory; the final booking depends on confirmation from the secretary's office, reachable on 041 731333.

In the 2026 price list the 18-hole green fee costs 95 euros on weekdays and 110 on weekends and holidays, with a winter green fee of 60 euros valid every day from 1 November 2025 to 31 March 2026. For nine holes you pay 60 and 70 euros, for juniors 40 and 50. There are packages of ten 18-hole green fees (800 euros, 700 for weekdays only) reserved for non-members and for non-residents of Venice and the islands.

Available for rent: golf cart at 50 euros for 18 holes and 30 for nine, trolley at 10, electric trolley at 20, bag with trolley at 40; a caddie is available on request. For the winter timetable the club states that it is closed on Mondays.

The club describes itself as the firstborn of the Veneto and among the oldest in Italy: founded in 1928, opened in 1930 with a week of competitions organised by the first 25 members, noble Venetian families. Legend has it that it all began with a gaffe: in 1928 Henry Ford, who had landed at the Hotel Excelsior with his clubs, asked Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata where he could play, and was told that Venice had no course. Volpi, chairman of CIGA, looked for an area and found 100 hectares at the Alberoni, around an Austrian fort built to defend the lagoon.

The fort is now the clubhouse, with a wide veranda over the putting green and a restaurant serving lagoon cuisine. Here have been played the Italian Open (1955, 1960, 1974), the 1978 USA-Europe match, the Vagliano Trophy (1989, 2001) and, since 1953, the Leone di San Marco for amateurs. The driving range has 20 grass bays and 5 covered ones.

Next to the course lies an area protected by the WWF, with dunes and a reforestation pinewood: among the fairways you meet pheasants, herons and coypus.

• Henry Ford's gaffe. According to the club's legend, Ford's 1928 visit prompted Count Volpi to have the course built.
• A hole that crosses a fort. At the 9th the shot is blind and clears the old Austrian fort.
• Coypus among the greens. They show up near the 8th green and the ponds of the 10th and 14th.
• Seven Opens in a century. The club cites three Italian Opens and four Italian Seniors Opens.
• A recent beach. The one next to the course formed after the 1872 Malamocco breakwater.