Against a backdrop of the snow capped morainal Serra mountains and a beautiful twisty hair-pin bendy road, we arrived slowely car load by car load on Friday afternoon.
A sunny terrace awaited us to relax from the drive! And then the first of 3 wonderful evening meals during our 3 night 4 day stay – a compliment to the kitchen who produced great meals each evening during out stay!
Saturday morning dawned partially sunny and a little damp but as the day progressed it just kept getting sunnier. Unfortunately the same can’t be said for most of our golfing.
” Often ranked as Italy’s best golf venue, it’s not difficult to see why “Le Betulle” (The Birches) at Biella Golf Club is so highly rated. The very strong and challenging layout occupies pleasantly undulating terrain, with many elevated tees and attractive dog-legging holes in the mix. In this serenely natural woodland setting, the plentiful presence of mature silver birch, oak, chestnut and fir trees, creates a classic parkland golfing environment. Running alongside and across several holes, small water ditches will keep you on your mettle, and ensure the need for good course management.
Many picturesque mountain views, underline Biella’s Piemonte setting, with the mighty Alps starting their upward journey just a few kilometres to the north and west. Amongst the most memorable and challenging holes are the par-5 9th and 18th, but its the snaking par-5 16th that will keep you coming back for more – until you’ve figured out how best to play it. With a green-keeping staff who produce excellent quality fairways and greens, Biella has much to be admired. A must play course if you are visiting northern Italy.” http://www.wheretogolf.com
Not too challenging for fellow Irishman Rory McIlroy who won the European Amateur on tho
se same fairways back in 2006 with a course record of 65 which he still holds the title for today. Unfortunately for all the rest of us 65 was not within reach, although Jay did a pretty good job on both days!
Saturday saw us playing stableford with “Secret Partners” for the final prize draw. Roeland, Daniel and Pedro all won prizes sponsored by SWISS Golf Travel! Sunday we just stuck to regular stableford and again Roeland, Daniel and Pedro gained those all important 2nd and 4th places in the prize categories that mattered! Congrats to all three of them.
But for the rest of us, relief at better scoring coupled with perfect weather rounded off the second day of golfing.
A complimentary 18 holes on the Monday – many thanks to Pedro for his persistance and the golf club staff for being so nice – rounded off the perfect weekend with the sun once more making those final moments on the terrace memorable. No discussions, the location for Spring Break 2014 has been set with a resounding “Yes” from the Golf4Fun’ers who enjoyed the perfect long weekend there in 2013 – Biele we will be very happy to return. And hopefully our golf will have improved!
And the prize of most artistic t-shot goes to Dani for this perfect landing on the 11th hole:
