Boasting Italy’s solely PGA Nationwide championship golf course and a luxurious lodge and spa, Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort gives a soothing retreat on Tuscany’s unspoilt coast, but stays inside hanging distance of Rome’s world-renowned sights, writes Golf Information Editor Nick Bayly
With all eyes within the {golfing} world turning to Italy subsequent yr as host nation of the 2023 Ryder Cup, it looks like a great time to get in an early sighter of what’s on supply for the visiting golfer in terms of locations to play and keep earlier than, throughout and maybe after the biennial conflict of continents takes place subsequent September.
Whereas the Ryder Cup matches are being held at Marco Simone Golf & Nation Membership within the north-eastern suburbs of Rome, my journey took me barely up nation to a golf resort 90 miles north of Italy’s capital that has been quietly constructing a popularity as a haven for Romans and abroad guests searching for a little bit of R&R amid olive grove-lined fairways because it first opened in 2006.
Argentario Golf & Wellness Resort – the ‘wellness’ component has just lately been added to the identify to mirror the range of spa and leisure actions which are on supply – is situated on Monte Argentario, a blob of land related to Tuscany’s mainland by two lagoons and a slender bridge. A 90-minute drive from Rome, the resort occupies a secluded valley flooring location which looms into view like a baddie’s lair in a James Bond film as you drive up the lengthy and winding entrance. The lodge, which is reduce into the facet of the valley, is alleged to resemble a dragonfly from the air, with the 78 bedrooms and suites representing the 4 wings situated both facet the foyer space’s physique.
As you enter the huge reception space and transfer by the principle public areas, the general design fashion might be greatest described as minimalist stylish, with excessive ceilings, acres of glass and assertion paintings, introduced in monotone palette of black and white, creating the sensation that you just’re in a rigorously curated house.
The 4 flooring of the lodge are all house to a special room class. First-floor rooms supply a minimalist modern design with white resin flooring. On the second flooring, rooms have hardwood flooring and vibrant design gadgets that evoke a Fifties really feel. The third flooring is house to the Journey Membership suites, which mix darkish parquet flooring, safari-style furnishings and freestanding stone baths. Unique Grasp and enterprise suites, in addition to a wellness suite with personal gymnasium, are located on the fourth flooring. Is that sufficient discuss of flooring? I believe so. All of the rooms, other than that includes flooring (doh!), even have personal balconies and terraces providing fabulous views out over the 18-hole golf course and throughout the valley to the Orbetello Lagoon and the Tyrrhenian Sea past.
If you’re visiting with a big household or a gaggle of buddies, then the resort’s selection of luxurious rental villas situated on the hillside overlooking the golf course are effectively price contemplating. Essentially the most spectacular of those is Hills Lodge, which incorporates 5 bedrooms, 4 loos, a lounge, kitchen and patio. The villas supply the exclusivity of being away from the principle lodge, but you continue to have the comfort of lodge service, together with complimentary use of a golf buggy. For these searching for a vacation house, there are some new villas at present being constructed which are on the market for these with deep pockets.
The resort has entry to its personal personal seaside, with a free shuttle service accessible to friends to take them on the brief journey. Different water-based actions could be loved within the lodge’s two massive swimming swimming pools, one heated and indoors and the opposite unheated and outside, the latter of which I’m positive is far in demand throughout the peak of the Italy’s sizzling summers, however not a lot in late March, once I visited.
The resort’s in depth, 2,700 m² spa boasts a health centre with Technogym gear, bio-sauna with chromotherapy, Kneipp circuit, heated indoor swimming pool with saline water, six therapeutic massage cabins and tanning showers, whereas the Espace Wellness Centre focuses on leisure and pampering with its many therapeutic massage and therapy rooms.
Different leisure services embody two tennis courts, a five-a-side soccer pitch, and, considerably incongruously, a polo discipline, though I forgot to convey my horse, in order that dominated me out of a fast chukka or two. There are additionally miles of strolling and jogging trails across the 80-hectare property, but when I’m going to do any strolling it can solely be a with a golf bag in tow. And, fortunately, they cater for that too, within the form of the 6,218-metre championship course that enjoys PGA Nationwide standing.
Having the letters ‘PGA’ hooked up to a golf course – there is just one allowed in every nation – little question provides a sure caché, however it additionally implies a degree of problem, and that’s positively the case right here, because the par-71 course, which measures a terrifying 6,803 yards off the very again tees – and 6,449 off the competitors tees – appears and performs prefer it has been designed to problem the perfect. Let’s simply say I used to be glad that our hosts generously dished out a sleeve of balls as we set out for the primary tee, because the modest inventory that I smuggled into my hand baggage didn’t final a lot past the flip.
Given the land on which the course was constructed was beforehand used because the island’s garbage dump, it should have taken golf course designer David Mezzacane no small quantity of creativeness – and hundreds of thousands of tons of earth transferring – to create the structure that meets golfers at present. First opened in 2006, the course is one in every of contrasts, with some holes winding their approach up and down although densely wooded areas, the place cork timber and oaks threaten to stymie you at each flip, whereas there are additionally way more open expanses, the place extensive fairways bisected by ditches and enormous ponds serve to maintain you sincere.
I received’t submit you to an in depth hole-by-hole description, however early highlights for me included the par-5 third and the par-3 fifth, each of which provide views out to the ocean. The previous is performed from a raised tee to a crumpled fairway on the valley flooring beneath that snakes its approach as much as a distant inexperienced, whereas the latter includes a inexperienced protected by no fewer than seven bunkers.
The par-five sixth is a cleverly constructed three-shot gap that doesn’t enable you simply fireplace off a driver and hope for the very best, as two sections of water intersect the green at totally different factors to make sure that it’s a must to plot your approach rigorously to the inexperienced. The seventh was a barely odd 240-yard par-4 with a lake guarding the direct line between tee and inexperienced and solely a slender sliver of fairway to purpose at to the proper. A 5-iron and a wedge would do the job, however it wasn’t my concept of what makes an honest brief par 4, as your choices off the tee are too restricted.
The eighth is arguably the tightest par three in world golf, with a tunnel of timber barely the width of a B street separating the tee from the inexperienced. The sound of swearing and golf ball on tree echoed all through the ten minutes it took our group to finish the duty, and I used to be personally delighted to signal for a bogey.
After steading the ship across the flip the place the course opens up a bit, issues get extra testing over the closing stretch, particularly on the seventeenth, a 180-yard par three that includes a inexperienced fronted by water and a ‘bail out’ space to the proper that options two bunkers. My tee shot discovered one of many traps and left me with a knee-knocking bunker shot again in direction of the pin with water behind. The closing gap is one other potential card wrecker, with the green cut up by a gaggle of tall timber, whereas the method shot is hard too, with the inexperienced being small and effectively protected.
My general impression was this was a course that calls for a number of performs to understand its nuances and study the place to assault and the place to defend, but in addition one which requires that each one parts of your recreation to be on level. Lower than excellent photographs will probably be punished, and infrequently punished exhausting, so whether or not that makes for a enjoyable spherical of vacation golf, I’m not so positive, however it was actually by no means boring.
Taking part in in late March, after what I used to be informed was an unusually dry winter, I used to be considerably disillusioned with the situation of the tees and fairways, which had been very dry in locations and considerably missing in grass in others, however it was actually good to get some run out on my tee photographs after a winter of choose and place again within the UK. There was no faulting the placing surfaces, nevertheless, which had been inexperienced – all the time a bonus – effectively introduced, evenly paced and rolled out effectively.
On the meals entrance, which comes a detailed second to the golf course for me in terms of the calls for of a memorable golf journey, the lodge presents two eating places and a breakfast room. Dama Dama – which is the scientific identify for the fallow deer that may be discovered roaming freely within the woods that encompass the resort – is the positive eating possibility, however sadly it was closed throughout our low season go to, so I can’t testify to its high quality, however the menu appeared fascinating, with a give attention to recent seafood and reinterpretations of rustic Tuscan classics equivalent to tagliatelle with wild boar ragu and rabbit-filled ravioli, whereas the wine checklist presents a good selection of crimson and whites from native producers in southern Tuscany at first rate costs. The restaurant flows exterior to an expansive terrace, which, I think about, could be an incredible spot to get pleasure from a meal on a heat summer time’s night.
The Clubhouse Restaurant, the place we ate all our meals, serves gentle lunches and night meals, with an emphasis on freshly caught fish and shellfish, pasta dishes, steaks and salads. It, too, boasts a big terrace overlooking the golf course which was a very gratifying spot to loosen up after a difficult spherical with a relaxing glass of Sangiovese. I also needs to add a shout out to the mixologist on the lodge’s Aper Bar, who actually is aware of his approach round a cocktail checklist and has loads of his personal creations up his sleeve.
Away from the resort, there may be a lot to discover, together with Monte Argentario itself, with the views from the very prime stretching to Elba and Corsica, whereas the gorgeous coastal cities of Porto Santo Stefano and Porto Ercole are additionally effectively price a go to with their bustling marinas and assortment of seaside eating places and cafés. And, in fact, you may as well think about time to spend in Rome in your return journey, visiting a few of the world’s most well-known websites.
ARGENTARIO GOLF & WELLNESS RESORT GOLF PACKAGES
Three nights’ B&B in a double superior room, together with three rounds of golf, begins from €1,032pp. For extra info, go to www.argentarioresort.com, name 00 39 0564 810292, or e mail reserving@argentarioresort.it.
