A legendary start: Venice, 1928/1930

The legend has it that it was a small incident occurred during the visit of Henry Ford – President of Ford Motor Company – to originate the idea of creating a golf course on the Venice Lido. Disembarking at the Hotel Excelsior in 1928 with its bag and clubs, Mr. Ford asked his friend Count Giuseppe Volpi di Misurata to try himself out playing at the nearest links. Regretfully, his host had to reply that there were no golf links in Venice and set out never to embarrass himself like that again in his life, although this sport was almost unheard of in Italy at the time. Count Volpi di Misurata, then shareholder and President of CIGA, the Italian Company of Grand Hotels, immediately started to search for a suitable area where to design a course abreast with the elegant architecture and facilities already existing on the island. He identified an area of 100 hectares at Alberoni, the southern end of the Lido – near Malamocco harbour’s mouth, whose natural features – windy and characterized by a sandy soil – were up to the standards of the best British traditions. Under the lead of Scottish architect Cruikshank of Maxwell M. Hart of Glasgow, the works begun in 1928, around an old Austrian fortification built for the defense of Venice, army quarters and horse stables – that make up the skeleton of today’s Club House. The architect designed the first 9 holes, finally providing Venice with an intriguing PAR 35 course.

mappa-austriaca-golf-venezia
The Austrian fort at the beginning of 1900s

Map of the Austrian land registry

From 9 to 18 holes: Venice, 1950

Influential personalities, such as Hitler and Mussolini, the Duke of Windsor and Henry Cottons played on the Lido’s greens.
After World War II, the need to enlarge the course was felt and based on architect C.K. Cotton’s design, 9 holes were added to attain a challenging PAR 72, playable from 1951. During the years, the Circolo Golf Venezia has hosted countless high-level tournaments – from the Italian Open in 1955, 1960 and 1974, to the Usa-Europe match in 1978, the Vagliano Trophy in 1989 and 2001, to the four editions of the Italian Seniors Open in 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007 as well as a number of CIRCOLO GOLF VENEZIA individual, foursome and team Italian Championships. Last, but by no means least, the most prestigious tournament of the Venetian competitive season, the much coveted “Leone di San Marco”, contended each year by the best national amateurs since 1953

Hall of Fame of International Golf

Champions such as Arnold Palmer, Tony Jacklin, Severino Ballesteros, Johnny Miller, Sam Torrance, Lee Trevino, Costantino Rocca, Baldovino Dassù, Eamonn Darcy, and more recently, Edoardo and Francesco Molinari and Matteo Manassero, have stepped the Lido’s links. The charm of the Venetian course lies in the perfect alliance between natural beauties and technical difficulties that make it one of the best courses in Italy. In 2012, it ranked at the eighth position of the special “Top Ten” chart of the best Italian courses drawn each year by Golf Digest.
The Circolo Venezia Golf was awarded the Silver Star of Sports Merit in 1976 and the Golden star in 1985.
A prestigious course, therefore, that has trained many excellent players, the latest of whom being the 2009 Italian Champions Marianna Causin and Niccolò Quintarelli.