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Style & Gear
Clubs, apparel and Italian craftsmanship on and off the course.
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Style & Gear
Gift ideas for golfers
Biella Le Betulle sells green fees as vouchers ordered online from the club's website; at Folgaria a group lesson for people who have never played costs 20 euros. Gifts for golfers that won't gather dust in a cupboard.
6 min read
Style & GearAccessories for the travelling golfer: eight things not to forget
Before you even choose your accessories, someone has already decided which ones you need: the Rules of Golf, club regulations, airlines. Here are eight accessories, each with the rule that makes it useful.
7 min read
Style & GearClub fitting in Italy: where to do it and how to prepare
Radar, launch angle, spin and trajectory: at Peschiera Borromeo a fitting centre measures the flight of every ball before recommending a club. Where club fitting is done in Italy, what is measured and what to ask before booking.
4 min read
Style & GearPacking for a week of golf
Fourteen clubs, not one more: that is the ceiling set by Rule 4.1b, and exceeding it costs up to four penalty strokes in a stroke-play round. The checklist for a week in Italy starts there, along with the clothing that clubs actually require.
5 min read
Style & GearMade in Italy golf clothing
For the 2023 Ryder Cup in Rome, a brand from Costermano sul Garda was the official licensee and one born in Quarona in 1924 dressed Team Europe: golf has an Italian fashion scene, but “made in Italy” is a phrase that needs reading with care.
5 min read
Style & GearRental clubs or your own? What makes sense in Italy
Fifty euros for 18 holes: that is the price of a rental set at Bogogno, Gardagolf and La Bagnaia, and of a bag at Is Molas. Before deciding whether to fly with your own clubs, it is worth setting out the figures the clubs publish.
5 min read
Style & GearGolf shoes on holiday: what to pack and which spikes you need
Metal spikes banned, soft spikes compulsory: at many Italian clubs the choice of shoes is not a matter of taste but of rules, written in black and white next to the dress code. Here is what the clubs actually say, and what to put in your suitcase.
5 min read
Style & GearGolf in the Sun: Hat, Sunglasses, Sunscreen and Tee Times for the Hot Months
UV radiation peaks in the four hours around solar noon, a window that a round on the course can span from start to finish. What the WHO recommends, what clubs require and how to plan a summer day.
5 min read
Style & GearRangefinders and GPS on holiday: do you really need one? Rules and alternatives
Under the Rules of Golf, a rangefinder is permitted by default: only a local rule set by the committee can ban it. In Italy, some clubs allow it even in competitions, while others put GPS directly on the golf car.
4 min read
Style & GearDress codes at Italian golf clubs
At Rapallo, Crocs are not allowed on the course; at Porto Cervo you need Bermuda shorts and a collared polo; at Il Colombaro on Lake Garda the dress code is casual. Italy has no single rule, but the clubs' own regulations say a lot.
5 min read
Style & GearStyle on the course: golf and Italian fashion, from dress code to clubhouse
Collared polo, long trousers or knee-length Bermudas, long socks recommended: at Rome's Acquasanta the dress code is written into the local rules, and it says more about a club than many brochures. A story of regulations, a brand born in Florence and a futurist clubhouse.
5 min read
Style & GearPlaying in the rain: the gear
Rule 10.2b(3) sets a curious limit on rain: you may hold an umbrella over your own head while you hit, but you may not have your caddie hold it. What to put in the bag for a wet round, and what the rules say.
5 min read
Style & GearWhat to wear for golf in the mountains
For every kilometre of altitude the standard atmosphere loses 6.5 degrees, and Cervino plays at 2,050 metres. Anyone who heads up in June in a polo and shorts soon finds that mountain golf is played in layers, and that the sun does more damage than the cold.
5 min read
Style & GearGolf travel bags and covers for flying with your clubs
One model weighs about three kilos, another almost seven: the empty travel cover counts towards the airline's weight limit, and choosing the right one means deciding how many kilos are left for the clubs.
6 min read
Style & GearItalian leatherwork for golfers: four Florentine workshops and where to play afterwards
Since 1919, the Donnini family writes on Madova's website, Florence has made nothing but leather gloves. None of these workshops makes golf its trade: here is why they are still worth a stop between rounds.
5 min read