Golf Club Villa Carolina

Beautiful golf course, very poor condition

3.0 of 5 starsReviewed September 28, 2024

We, two recreational golfers, spent 4 nights at the Golf Resort Carolina from September 25th to September 29th, 2024. We can really praise this resort: the rooms are small but everything is practical with a golf storage room. There are carts close to the house. You can basically take a leisurely drive to the clubhouse to register with vouchers. As electric car drivers, we were pleased that there are two wall boxes in the parking spaces and that the Enel charging station actually works. The reception is very friendly and helpful, the restaurant is excellent, as is the bar. A list of restaurant tips outside the area is also provided.

Both golf courses: actually, in terms of parkland facilities, they have the potential to be beautiful. But: the bunkers are soaking wet, or like mud or concrete, the semi-rough is much too high, you almost die searching. That's annoying! But since many of the holes are very long, the risk of scattering when driving a driver is obviously the planned game idea. But balls should at least be found in the semi-rough. The purpose of a semi-rough is to make the shot more difficult, not to make it impossible to find the ball. So you reduce the risk by half-swinging or driving with hybrids or woods, and as a player with average skills you hardly ever reach the green in regulation. The fairways were decent, but on many holes they were "too young", i.e. opened too soon after being re-seeded. The greens were well maintained on the Paradiso, but not always on the La Marchesa. They have exciting breaks that are difficult to outwit. There were also numerous clover patches on the fairways, which reflects the very poor maintenance. The hilly Precorso Paradiso is the more exciting of the two, but it also has two blind tees from yellow, which is again not very enjoyable because the semi-rough is far too high. Paradiso rewards you with really beautiful par 5 holes. Paradiso is challenging. Why its SR is lower than the Precorso La Marchesa, which we consider to be easier - only the gods know!
The La Marchesa course is rather flat and requires a lot of stamina due to its length. Of the two courses, it was the less well-maintained one during our games (we both played pre-courses twice), which was a shame because the layout is a model parkland course.
A bit unusual was that some Italian club members play all over the place as they please and suddenly appear behind or in front of you. Or that two club members did not arrive at La Marchesa on time for their tee time at 10:00, which is why we started playing at 10:01, and were then played by both of them until hole

The clubhouse: the reception is rather sober but polite. The building is old and beautiful. The clubhouse bar and restaurant have a lot of morbid charm, the staff are very friendly and quick in their service. The food is solidly good, the espresso is excellent.

We hope that this golf club will invest more in course maintenance in order to return to its former grandeur.

Translated by Google.