Golf Nazionale

Golf nazionale, formerly known as golf club le querce, is located 60 kilometers northwest of rome on 60 hectares of lovely undulating soil. With stately oaks flanking the fairways, it's no surprise that the club was dubbed "the oaks" in english.

The course was designed by jim fazio, nephew of the great george fazio, with a little support from italian david mezzacane, and opened for play in 1990. This is undoubtedly a course from fazio's incredible castle, which was designed to house the italian golf federation. Le querce hosted the 1991 world cup of golf, which is now part of the world golf championships, just twelve months after it opened for play. The swedish pairing of per-ulrik johansson and anders forsbrande won the championship in 1991.

The round begins and ends with a long par five, and half of the holes on the board, especially the 6th and 15th, are doglegged in some way. On the front nine, starting with the 435-yard 4th hole, there are three straight, difficult par fours, while all par threes on the back nine (at the 14th and 17th) are longer than 235 yards from the back tees. It should come as no surprise, though, that golf nazionale has been rated as difficult as any other top italian course.

The 595-yard first hole, which is a true three-shot hole, sets the pace for the entire round. Since the drive must clear a wide bunker to the right of the landing point, the best course is down the fairway's more open left side. The second shot is threatened by water to the left and trees to the right before an approach to a well-guarded, elevated green can be played.