Golf in Tuscany: Maremma, Chianti and Versilia

Tuscany plays golf at several speeds. On the Maremma coast the courses sit among pines and sea, and three of them (Argentario, Punta Ala, Pelagone) say they are open all year; between Siena and Florence the hills demand more effort and some holes have names that tell a century of history; in Versilia and the Pisa area the ground is flat, the pines are maritime and the Apuan Alps close off the horizon. There is no single course that sums it all up: it makes sense to think by area, knowing how long it takes to move around (drive times without traffic, by road) and which hotels serve as a base.

Maremma: golf by the sea, between Argentario and Punta Ala

The coast of Grosseto is the area where the golf season never stops. The Argentario Golf Club is its strongest name: 18 holes, par 71, 6,295 metres, opened in 2006 and designed by David Mezzacane with Baldovino Dassù, with wide fairways among olive groves and cork oak woods and views over the Orbetello lagoon and the bay of Talamone. Since 2019 it has been the only Italian course with the "PGA National Golf Course Italy" licence, and in June 2025 it hosted the 82nd Italian Open, won by Saddier with 266 strokes (14 under par), his first DP World Tour victory after 200 starts. The 2026 green fee ranges from 120 euros (low season) to 170 (June to September).

Further north, Punta Ala has been played since 1964 over 18 holes, par 72, 6,168 metres, through Maremma scrub, with century-old holm oaks, cork oaks and strawberry-tree bushes as natural hazards: the 2026 price list runs from 85 to 120 euros. Between the two, inland at Gavorrano, the Golf Club Toscana (Pelagone) is a 1999 design by Keith Preston with an 11th that is a par 3 of just 94 metres from the yellow tee and a view of Elba from the 18th; it costs from 70 euros in winter to 90 from July to September (2026).

The area's fourth course is inside a thermal resort: the Terme di Saturnia Golf Club, 18 holes, par 72, by Ronald Fream, on 70 hectares of Maremma. The greenkeepers treat the turf every week with thermal water: the sulphur, the resort explains, prevents fungal diseases and makes insecticides unnecessary. The course has held GEO environmental certification since 2014.

Where to stay in Maremma

The Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort has the Open course under its windows: 73 rooms and suites with a terrace over the course, a 2,700-square-metre spa with an indoor saltwater pool and a fine-dining restaurant listed by Gambero Rosso 2026. From the resort the airports are Rome Fiumicino (about 90 minutes according to the hotel), Ciampino (120), Pisa (135) and Florence (150).

For those seeking hot water, the Terme di Saturnia Natural Spa & Golf Resort is a hotel from 1919 built over the spring, with water at 37.5 °C and a 20,000-square-metre Thermal Park. The Golf Inclusive offer requires at least two nights and includes breakfast, one 18-hole green fee per day and a 50% discount for the second player. From Argentario to Saturnia it is about 66 minutes by car; from Punta Ala to Pelagone, 47.

Chianti and Val d'Orcia: the courses of the hills

The hills offer the most historic courses. The Ugolino, in Impruneta, dates from 1934 and sits on the first hills of Chianti; it is tied to a famous golf moment: on 1 May 1983, at the 18th of the Italian Open, Severiano Ballesteros holed a nine-iron from off the green. A plaque marks the spot; the tournament was won by Bernhard Langer in a play-off. The 2026 green fee is 130 euros for 18 holes, 80 for nine, and the club's swimming pool was designed by Pier Luigi Nervi.

To the south, Royal Golf La Bagnaia (Murlo) is a design by Robert Trent Jones Jr. on 130 hectares of Sienese hills, with the 13th hole running alongside a large lake and a clubhouse in a former brick kiln. At the World Golf Awards it was named Italy's best course of 2023; the 2026 price list runs from 85 to 140 euros. It is open from February to December. From the Ugolino to La Bagnaia it takes about 78 minutes.

The most unusual case is the course of the Rosewood Castiglion del Bosco, in Montalcino: a private club, designed by Tom Weiskopf in the Val d'Orcia, where hotel guests are among the few non-members admitted, by booking in advance. After the 18th there is a 19th hole, the "Brunello Hole", a short par 3 played as match play for a magnum of Brunello. The Campo del Drago restaurant has two Michelin stars. From Castiglion del Bosco to La Bagnaia it takes about 56 minutes, to Saturnia 102.

Versilia, Pisa and Prato: the golf of the coast and the pines

The Versilia Golf, in Pietrasanta, is an 18-hole, par 71 parkland course, designed in 1990 by Marco Croze a few hundred metres from the sea, with century-old woods and the Apuan Alps in the background. To the south, in the San Rossore park, the Golf Club Tirrenia (Ken Cotton, 1967) is a nine-hole, par 35 course among century-old pines that the club says was chosen by Golf Digest as Italy's best nine-hole course (the year is not given) and where dogs are welcome. Not far away, the Cosmopolitan has a clubhouse by Aldo Rossi.

Inland, Le Pavoniere in Prato has 18 holes, par 72, 6,464 metres, signed by Arnold Palmer in 1995, with two holes where it is the fairway, not the green, that sits on an island, and a clubhouse in a nineteenth-century villa that was part of an estate of Leopoldo de' Medici. The 2026 price list runs from 85 to 110 euros on weekdays. At Bellosguardo, in the hills of Vinci, nine holes are dedicated, according to the Tuscan tourist board, to Leonardo da Vinci. From Prato to Bellosguardo it is about 37 minutes, from Bellosguardo to the Ugolino 51.

Elba: nine holes on the Biodola beach

For a long weekend there is also the island. The Hotel Hermitage, above the Biodola beach, has a nine-hole course behind it with eight par 3s and one par 4 over 1,275 metres; the practice range has a small lake with floating balls. Elba's airport is about 15 minutes away (9 kilometres, according to the hotel).

When to play golf in Tuscany

Argentario, Punta Ala, Pelagone, Valdichiana and Elba Golf Club say they are open all year. Royal Golf La Bagnaia is open from February to December. The price difference between seasons is significant: at Argentario 120 euros in low season against 170 in high season, at Pelagone 70 against 90. Those who play out of season find the lowest rates: at Pelagone the 70 euros apply from November to March, at Argentario the 120 euros from 12 January to 31 March and from 1 November to 23 December.

Curiosities of Tuscan golf

• A nine-iron from off the green. At the Ugolino, in 1983, Ballesteros holed out at the last hole; a plaque marks the spot.
• Grass fed with thermal water. At Saturnia the sulphur from the spring protects the turf.
• The Brunello Hole. At Castiglion del Bosco, after the 18th, players compete for a magnum of Brunello.
• A hole on an island. At Le Pavoniere two fairways, not the greens, sit on an island.