Golf Club Varese

The club was founded in 1929 and in 1958 hosted the Italian Open; the course was later extended to 18 holes. The website does not publish par, length or the architect's name, and they are not given here. It does, however, convey the character of the course very well through the words of Alberto Binaghi, technical manager of the national amateur teams and coach of Matteo Manassero: "Varese can be called an old course only for its date of birth; for the rest I believe it is still a course capable of hosting important events".

The terrain is naturally very undulating, and you rarely play a shot with the ball perfectly flat. There are many dog-legs, to be worked both with a draw and a fade, and almost all the holes narrow at around 230 metres: for this reason, says Binaghi, it is not a course for sluggers and scores have not dropped as elsewhere despite modern equipment. The 18 holes, the club assures us, have no duplicates.

All the clubs are used for approach shots, because the balance between long, medium and short holes is complete. The 16th is judged the hardest, the 4th the one where you most easily lose more than one shot. The greens are undulating, with marked steps, but almost never fast, so three-putts are less frequent. The only flaw for Binaghi: all the trouble is on the right side of the fairways, and anyone with a slice had better cure it in time.

From the course you can see Lake Varese and Monte Rosa, says the club.

The 2026 price list published by the club gives an official green fee of 130 euros for 18 holes, the same on weekdays and holidays, and 70 euros for nine. FIG members pay 100 euros on weekdays and 120 on holidays for 18 holes, 55 and 65 euros for nine; juniors get a 50 per cent discount.

The golf cart costs 60 euros for 18 holes and 35 for nine, the manual trolley 10 euros, the practice range green fee 25 euros (20 for FIG members). The website does not state the required handicap, the course's closing day, the opening months or dress rules: these are details to ask the secretary's office, on 0332 229302.

The story of the Benedictine monastery begins in 1129; in 1567 Archbishop Carlo Borromeo ordered its closure and in 1789 final suppression arrived. Since 1934 it has been the home of Golf Club Varese. The Romanesque bell tower, in exposed stone, dates from the first decades of the 12th century and is, says the website, of the type of San Satiro in Milan. The 12th-century church, turned into a wine-vat room in the 18th century, now houses the clubhouse: it has lost its semicircular apse, whose outline can still be seen on the floor, but keeps frescoes from the 15th and 16th centuries. In the small sacristy an ancient fireplace bearing the coat of arms of the Visconti and the name "Vicecomes Caecilia" has been reassembled. The U-shaped little cloister has shield-bearing capitals, some with Visconti emblems, and the fifteenth-century dovecote opposite the church has a sundial.

The restaurant has a large room with picture windows on the 18th hole and a terrace over the 1st hole and the lake, traditional cooking and a service that ranges from a quick bar to a full lunch. The kitchen works all year, but the restaurant closes on Mondays from November to April; the bar always stays open.

• A clubhouse that was a church. After centuries as a wine-vat room, the space of the 12th-century church now hosts golfers, with frescoes and a Visconti fireplace reassembled in the sacristy.
• A course that does not forgive a slice. According to Alberto Binaghi, all the trouble on the course lies on the right side of the fairways.
• From convent to green. The monastery was closed in 1567 by order of Carlo Borromeo and suppressed in 1789; since 1934 it has housed golfers.