Golfing in Italy!

Yesterday I got to play my first round of golf ever in Europe. Denis Ducey, his son Nathan and I met Dennis Bava at his home and drove over to the Menaggio and Cadenabbia Golf Club, the second oldest golf club in Italy, for the beginning of a delightful and as usual frustrating round of golf. Dennis is currently suffering from a painful bout of arthrothus so was unable to play but his local knowledge of the course, his banter and playful criticism only added to our experience. For those who might be following along on a map the course is just slightly north of Menaggio away from the lake off the road to Lugano. Switzerland. There is a natural cut through the mountain range allowing this curvy and picturesque passage. The small town of Croce is the actual home of the club. The whole facility is just breathtaking, from the club house to all eighteen holes of golf. A two word description of the course: Tight and Hilly. We didn't hesitate to take golf carts although there were some hearty folks who walked. We teed off around 9:30 am in warm sultry weather and finished around 1:30 pm in hot humid conditions. However, there wasn't a cloud in the sky throughout the day and that made the viewing of each hole that much more beautiful. I felt that I should have been taking pictures every 100 feet as the scenery just got better and better. Look for the pictures elsewhere on the blog. The quality of play was certainly lacking but each of us hit a few good shots. The highlight of the day was Denis hitting a ball on a very uphill par three that had the pin covered the entire way. The green was blind but we all thought his shot had to be close. Upon arrival at the green Denis found his ball nestled within two feet of the hole. We all held our breath as he calmly knocked in the short downhiller for a two!! A great shout went up from the four of us! That was fun. Nathan hit some booming drives and I hit a few that found the green in regulation. The course record was certainly safe throughout the day but we did need to apologize to the head groundskeeper for a few rather large divots taken from his pristine Italian soil. Afterwards we retired to the clubhouse for (another) outstanding lunch. Thank you Dennis for arranging for a great day.