Golf Club Biella "Le Betulle"

The course is an 18-hole, par 73 parkland of 6,534 metres (7,146 yards), at 590 metres above sea level. It was designed by John Stanton Fleming Morrison, an Englishman and pupil of the firm of Harry Colt and Charles Alison, who had already designed or remodelled courses such as Royal Lytham & St Annes and Sunningdale. The club recounts that Morrison, visiting the site in the winter of 1956, understood that “everything was already there”: those undulations of meadow and field, with few trees, were hiding the eighteen holes.

The layout settles along the Biella side of the Serra d'Ivrea, the largest moraine in Europe, a natural balcony over the Po plain. After Morrison, stopped in 1960 by heart trouble, the work was completed by Donald Harradine, known as the “wizard of grass”, for greens, tees and fairways, and in 1967 by John Dering Harris, who redesigned some greens. The club recalls that Michael Hurdzan called it “a fine course on superior terrain, signed by a master”, and that Gene Sarazen included it among the courses not to be missed in the Pan Am guide.

The club's home page says the course “demands first-rate technique” and hosts competitions at the highest continental level; according to the club, the Top Ten award of Il Mondo del Golf has placed it first 18 times, second 6 times and third 4 times in 29 years.

The course is closed on Mondays until 30 March and open every day from 1 April to 31 October. The office is open Monday to Friday from 8:30 am to 6:30 pm, and at weekends from 8 am on competition days.

The 2026 price list distinguishes FIG member guests, exempt from VAT, from everyone else. For 18 holes FIG members pay €75 on weekdays and €110 at weekends and on the day before public holidays; non-FIG members, including VAT, €90 and €130. For 9 holes the rates are €60 and €85 (FIG members) or €75 and €100 (others). There is an AGIS/LGA agreement rate of €70 on weekdays. The golf cart costs €60, the electric trolley €20, the manual one €5; Visa and Amex cards are accepted. The club does not state a minimum handicap.

The green fee can be given as a gift with a voucher, requested online from the club's website.

The Associazione Golf Club Biella Le Betulle was founded in Biella on 18 September 1956; on 12 October the first parcel of land was bought, more than 70 hectares assembled from about 170 owners in Magnano and the surrounding area. The first picks struck the ground in October 1957. Italy then had barely eleven 18-hole courses and only 43 players with a handicap below 7.

Beside the course stand a country-style clubhouse and a guest lodge, designed by the architects Berardi-Rossi. Today there is the Golf Hotel e Ristorante Le Betulle, open from March to November, with traditional and Mediterranean cooking. The driving range has 13 synthetic mats and a large grass area, plus a small putting green, a chipping hole with a bunker and two large putting greens; 30 balls cost €2. The school is the Reply Golf Academy by Guerisoli. The club hosts the Internazionali Under 16 maschili, whose roll of honour starts in 2012.

• A purchase with 170 sellers. The land was assembled by buying from about 170 different owners.
• An Italy with eleven courses. At the founding there were barely eleven 18-hole courses.
• The designer stopped by his heart. Morrison directed the works until September 1960, then had to stop because of heart trouble.
• In the Pan Am guide. Gene Sarazen mentioned the course in Golf new horizons.
• A snapshot from 2006. The club's brochure shows Rory McIlroy at the 10th hole in that year.