Golf Club Carezza

The nine holes cover 45 hectares at the Carezza Pass, at an altitude of 1,680 metres. They measure 2,670 metres and are played as a par 70 over 18 holes. What sets them apart is the terrain: between ascents and descents a round comes to about 400 metres of elevation change, and the club warns that here you need technique but also stamina and endurance.

In return there is the panorama of the Catinaccio, the “Rose Garden”, one of the groups of the UNESCO World Heritage Dolomites. This is also why the club claims to have the highest course in South Tyrol and presents it as perhaps the most demanding in the province.

The course is open to guests and tee times are booked through Golf & Country Südtirol, the company that also runs the Blue Monster in Eppan. The official website publishes neither a price list nor the season dates: it is best to ask by phone or e-mail before setting out.

Two concessions, on the other hand, are in black and white: members of the clubs belonging to Golf in Südtirol and of South Tyrolean driving range clubs get 20% off the regular green fee, and at Carezza Wednesday brings the half-price Super Greenfee.

At the start of the twentieth century the pass was enjoying a golden age of tourism, and high European nobility came all the way up here to play a nine-hole course. The two world wars emptied the area and the course was abandoned; only after a long pause did a few South Tyrolean golf pioneers bring it back to life.

Today, beside the course, there are an outdoor and indoor driving range, a large putting green, a pitching green and a bunker for the short game. The club house is the Dolcevita Berg, with catering. For lessons Golf & Country refers players to its Training Center Freudenstein in Eppan, with head pro Malcolm J. Harrison.

• A twelve-hour tournament. Every year the Alpin Iron Man is played, lasting about twelve hours and considered by the club one of the toughest tournaments in the region.
• Belle Époque golf. Around 1905 the pass was already a golf destination for European aristocracy.
• A beast in name and in fact. The nickname “The Mountain Beast” comes precisely from the elevation change: up to 400 metres in a single round.
• Wednesday costs half. It is the day of the Super Greenfee, discounted by 50%.