Golf & Sporting Club Verbania

The layout is flat and is played among inland ponds and a large wood of black alder, with Lake Mergozzo alongside and the Alps ahead. The par 69 speaks of a short course, but the holes described by the club reveal quite a few hazards.

The hardest is the 2nd, a par 4 with a dogleg to the left and the green protected by a penalty area: the club advises the average player to lay up short of the water. At the 6th, a par 5, a large lake guards the green and suggests getting there in three shots. The 11th is the classic risk-and-reward hole, a short par 4 reachable from the tee but closed in by bunkers. The 16th has a three-tiered green, and the round ends with a short par 3 where water lies in front and bunkers surround a green some thirty metres wide.

The club is open all year, every day from dawn to dusk; tee times are booked online. The 2026 price list makes no distinction between seasons: 55 euros for 18 holes from Monday to Friday, 70 on Saturdays, Sundays and public holidays; a full day costs 75 or 95 euros, nine holes 35 or 45. Under-18s pay 30 euros on weekdays.

A golf cart costs 40 euros for 18 holes and 25 for nine, a hire set of clubs 30 euros, a manual trolley 5. Every Sunday an 18-hole competition is played, tied to local sponsors.

Golf Verbania was founded in 1996 on the initiative of a group of golfers; since 2006 it has belonged to the Manoni family, who also run a campsite in the area, and it now presents itself as Continental Golf Resort.

The driving range has 34 bays, 16 of them covered, two of which are reserved for PGAI instructors, and an area devoted to club fitting. Next to the course there are rooms and apartments, a spa with a heated panoramic pool overlooking the course, and a gym. For dining, you can choose between the restaurant Il Salotto di Mondogatto and the golfers' bistro.

• By train to the tee. Verbania-Pallanza station, on the Brig-Domodossola-Milan line, is a few metres from the resort entrance.
• A wood of water. The course crosses a wood of black alder, trees that grow in damp ground.
• A restaurant for mum. The gourmet restaurant, Il Salotto di Mondogatto, is openly a tribute by the owners to their mother.
• Locker rooms fit for a big club. The locker rooms have 188 lockers, 128 for men and 60 for women.