City where excellence is par for the course
ON A glorious autumn morning, we sweep up to the exclusive I Roveri Club near Turin. There’s not another vehicle in the car park, not another soul in the clubhouse. Millionaire’s golf? More billionaire’s because Royal Park, as the Italians now call it, is the domain of the Agnelli family, founders of Fiat.
Until recently, the club was members-only – and hand-picked at that – but the Agnelli fortune is solidly rooted in commerce.
Following the opening of a second course on the site, the Pramerica, the first golf tourists were invited to play. The thinking was that they would come and go gratefully – so much less risky than extending membership to locals who might demand change.
As we head out at Royal Park, it’s hard to imagine cause for com- plaint beyond scorecards wrecked by Robert Trent Jones’s tough championship course. In 1972, the architect was in his prime,ime, introducing Europeans to American-style layouts with raised greens guarded by bunkers. To be in position to land the ball on them, you have to first thread a narrow path between ancient trees and snaggling streams.
Anyone lucky enough to score a hole in one at the sixth wins a shiny Audi.
The last two holes run n due north towards the Alps, , but the spectacular moun- tains are much more dominant on the Pramerica course, which we played the following day.
Designed by Michael Hurdzan and Dana Fry, it’s a little easier than Royal Park but still challenging. There is also gourmet food inside the creeper-covered clubhouse and cocktails at dusk on the most tranquil of terraces. Why would you ever want to leave?
But we must because the glories of Turin, with elegant covered shopping arcades, await. We stay at the Turin Palace and drink our nightcaps on the rooftop terrace.
Between visits to the Lingotto building – the former Fiat factory with its rooftop test track – and the National Cinema Museum in the landmark Mole Antonelliana, we pause at Guido Gobino, one of the city’s best cafes serving handmade speciality chocolate drinks that do waistlines no favours.
But after our exploits at two of Italy’s loveliest courses, we deserve a treat.