Golf in Italy and The World Expo

NOTE: "I love everything about Italy--the history, great food, friendly people and, yes, its golf courses. Below is a guest post by my good friend Bjorn Jingberger, president of Golf Holiday Italy, a golf travel professional who partners with Italy's best golf clubs and resorts to offer fantastic golf packages. Bjorn is highlighting some of his top golf packages in conjunction with the World Expo in Milan, Italy. Enjoy the post and click to his free e-brochure to check out some great packages. Ciao!"--The Golf Travel Guru.

The World Expo in Milan, Italy is running between May and October 2015. It’s a fantastic opportunity to book a golf break, play a few rounds on selected top golf courses, enjoy world-class food and wine and visit Milan and the Expo, which has many things to do, enjoy and experience. Download this free e-brochure for great ideas and inspiration for your next golf break in Italy and read on for more details.

From May to October,Milan, organizer and host of the 2015 Universal Exhibition, becomes a global showcase where 140 countries and some leading international organizations will showcase the best of their technologies. The spectacular showoffers a concrete answer to a vital need: guarantee healthy, safe and sufficient food for everyone, while respecting the planet and its equilibrium.

On its 1m square meter exhibition area, Expo 2015 will tell everyone out about the world’s best dishes with tasting opportunities, while displaying the best of the agri-food and gastronomic traditions of each of the exhibitor countries.

Outside the exhibition area, located in Rho, a few miles west of centreMilan, the entire city will play an active role with thousands of cultural and recreational eventsorganized throughout the city, such as the largest exhibition so far of Leonardo da Vinci with works of the Renaissance icon borrowed from Italian and international museums.

For more excitement, visit the magnificent gothic Duomo Cathedral, or purchase opera tickets for an event at the famous La Scala theater, or attend one of the more than 140 spectacles during the six-month expo. If you’re a shopping enthusiast, Milan, as a global fashion capital, is near paradise. From the best in value-for-money dining and phenomenal fashions, you’ll find it in the magnificent city of Milan. Football fans will get their treat as well, as both AC Milan and Inter play at home in the city.

To enjoy the Milan good life, don’t forget to stop by Caffé Camparino, just next to the Duomo, for an aperitif. The bar opened in 1915 by Gaspare Campari, the inventor of…well you know what!

 Golf

Why not combine a visit to the Expo with a few days of golf? Northern Italy is home to around 80% of the country’s golf clubs. Discover excellent golf packages, specifically designed to satisfy most interests and tastes, which are available in a free e-brochure you can access here GREAT GOLF PACKAGES IN ITALY

For those who prefer to remain in and enjoy the Milan area there are a couple of golf breaks very close to the centre of the city. Or, in less than an hours drive north you can reach both Lake Como and Lake Maggiore with its breathtaking views and picturesque villages.

Heading east, consider a golf weekend in Franciacorta, the wine region, famous for its white sparkling wine, as well as at the beautiful Lake Garda where a few rounds of golf can be combined with a visit to an Amarone producing vineyard. Alternatively, continuing further east, north of Venice, there’s an interesting golf break combining golf and visits to local coffee and grappa producers.

Golf Holiday Italy acts as a marketplace enabling golf clubs, resorts and golf hotels to reach out to the international golf community.  Through our website, our social media channels and selected media partners, Italian golf structures have access to a cost efficient and easy-to-use platform to market themselves to an international client base.

5 Emerging International Golf Destinations in 2013

Montgomerie Golf Links in Danang, Vietnam

Get ready for the New World Order in golf vacation destinations. Suddenly, golf opportunities are springing up in the most surprising locations.

If you're looking for a decidedly different golf getaway experience in 2013, check out this menu of emerging destinations:

Inverness, Nova Scotia, Canada--The phenomenal seaside Cabot Links course, which debuted this year (2012) to rave reviews, instantly put Nova Scotia on the golf vacation radar. Enhancing the area even more is the recent announcement that a second course, Cabot Cliffs, designed by Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will debut in 2014. The impressive golf complex is being developed by Mike Keiser, the same developer who brought us Bandon Dunes Resort in Oregon.

Veneto, Italy--Selected by the International Association of Golf Travel Operators (IAGTO) as the "Undiscovered Golf Destination of the Year" for 2013, Veneto, in the northeast corner of the country extends from the Dolomites to the Adriatic Sea encompassing cities such as Venice, Verona, Padua and Vicenza. There are eight golf courses in the region highlighted by the Golf Club Ca Della Nave, an Arnold Palmer design near Venice with American style amenities and high quality maintenance standards.

Bavaria, Germany--The land of oompah bands, Oktoberfest and some of the world's best beer is also home to more than 170 golf courses featuring hilly Alpine landscapes and lush, heavily forested parkland layouts. Major cities in the region include Munich, Augsburg and Nuremburg. Masters champion and Germany native son Bernhard Langer has designed three exceptional courses at Bad Griesbach in southeast Bavaria.

Belek, Turkey--On Turkey's southern coast, this region is part of an area often referred to as the Turkish Riviera or Turquoise Coast because of its stunning beaches and collection of exceptional resorts, hotels and restaurants. The Belek region has 14 golf courses with designer tags like Nick Faldo, Colin Montgomerie, David Feherty and Irish golf designer David Jones. There are more than 30 four-star and five-star hotels in Belek. In 2012, the region took center stage in the golf world when it hosted the Turkish Airlines World Golf Final at Antalya Golf Club (Sultan Course) won by Justin Rose.

Danang, Vietnam--In its embryonic stages, the Danang and Hoi An area has spectacular beaches, an ample selection of first class hotels and resorts and courses like the Montgomerie Golf Links Vietnam designed by Colin Montgomerie and Danang Golf Club, a Greg Norman design.

Golf in Venice, Italy? Yes, Bravo.

Last month, I spent several days in Venice, Italy. Like most tourists, I strolled the sidewalks lining the canals, sipped wine at a café on San Marco Square, indulged on gelato and watched the passing parade of boats on the Grand Canal.

My biggest discovery in Venice (my third visit) had nothing to do with culinary delights, gondolas or Murano glass. Through a well-informed and connected lady named Tabita Miotto, I found out about the wonderful golf opportunities around Venice and Italy in general.

Miotto is a key principal in Amazing Venice Golf , a marketing coop organization that not only promotes golf in Venice but in other regions of Italy, such as Tuscany, Piedmont, Rome, Apulia, Sicily and Sardinia and the Italian lakes region. If you want to play golf in Italy (which has about 200 golf courses), I highly suggest you consult this site first. They’ll guide you to great golf as well as incorporating other activities such as gastronomic, art and wine tours.

Miotto summarizes the appeal of Italian golf this way: “Sipping a cappuccino in the main piazza, under the Italian sun surrounded by art masterpieces….I have always been used to the Italian sweet life…I was inspired to share these emotions with other people…Italy has excellent courses and I hope you will experience the unique feeling of playing in Italy.”

Designers like Arnold Palmer, Robert Trent Jones and Kyle Phillips (designer of Kingsbarns in St. Andrews) have fashioned courses in Italy.

The Amazing Venice Golf site includes a “Great Deals” section which features package deals and an E-Quote, which allows you to submit your destination, accommodations, golf and other requests resulting in a customized quote.

Back to Venice. The closest golf course to Venice is the Golf Club Venezia, which was built in 1926 and is ranked among the top ten courses in Italy. Thirty minutes away in the picturesque, college town of Padova, there are several options to play, including the Golf Club Montecchia, Golf club Frssanelle and Golf Club Padova.

The Veneto Region, where Venice is located, is diverse topographically and you can enjoy a variety of golf experiences in and around main cities like Venice, Padova, Vicenza, Verona and Treviso as well as layouts in mountain settings in the Dolomite Mountains.

Amazing Venice Golf works with a long list of hotels, resorts and luxury bed and breakfast properties and golf courses. Ms. Miotto arranged for me to stay in the Domus Orsoni, a fabulous luxury boutique bed and breakfast situated next to the Orsoni glass factory, which manufactures glass mosaic with gold leaf. The five rooms and hallways are brimming with works by different Italian artists and the mosaic-tiled bathrooms are phenomenal. Located in the quiet Cannaregio section of Venice, the Domus Orsoni is a great respite after a day of playing golf or traipsing over and around canals.

So, if you’re seeking “la dolce vita” (the sweet life) and an Italian golf experience, go to Amazing Venice Golf and you’ll be sipping cappuccino in sidewalk cafes and playing golf among the olive trees in no time.

Arrividerci.

Summertime Golf Excursions

Spanning the globe to find great golf is a never ending pursuit. In the next couple of months I’m traveling to a diverse group of destinations to play some great courses and write about them.

First up is Venice, Italy. Yes, you read that correctly. Not Venice, Florida.  A group named Amazing Venice Golf, a marketing coop, says there are about a dozen courses in close proximity to the canal-only city.  I’ll play and tour courses like the Golf Club of Venezia and Golf Club Montecchia in nearby Padova. I’ve been to many unique golf destinations in my career—Kenya, The Canary Islands, Morocco and China to name a few—but this one should be very special.

Later this month I’ll go to Panama City, Florida, which has exceptional courses like the Greg Norman designed Shark’s Tooth and Tom Fazio designed Camp Creek Golf Club. What saddens me is the anxiety the NW Florida Gulf Coast tourist area is undergoing about the massive oil spill and what the eventual effect it will have on the beaches. Right now, they’ve discovered a few isolated oil balls, but who knows what the future holds especially in the next few months, which is also hurricane season.

In early August, I’ll venture to Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. Everybody knows the area as a great snow skiing destination, but I’ve been told there’s some pretty good golf up there as well. I’m anxious to play the Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed Trail Creek Course, which is a Golf Digest “Top 75 Resort Course in North America” and the 18-hole Sawtooth Putting Course, a 52,000 square-foot nirvana for the flat stick. There’s also a new 9-hole layout called White Clouds, which I’m told, has stunning views of surrounding mountains. I can’t wait. It’ll be a nice reprieve from the sweltering Florida heat.