Verdura Golf and Spa Resort in Sicily offers golfers from around the world an unrivaled golfing experience on Sicily’s southwest coast. The resort features three golf courses, designed by world-renowned architect Kyle Phillips, and opened for its first full year in March 2010. Verdura Golf & Spa Resort in Sicily is quickly becoming a “must play” destination for golf aficionados.
According to Sir Rocco Forte, Chairman and CEO of the luxury hotel company The Rocco Forte Collection, no other golf resort on the continent can compare to Verdura. “There wasn’t anywhere in Europe that offered the kind of golfing holiday I was after,” claims Sir Rocco who spent eight years developing Verdura as the company’s first resort venture.
Verdura’s 570-acre site encompasses some 1.2 miles of private coastline. Kyle Phillips, who created the acclaimed Kingsbarns Links near St. Andrews and The Grove near London, had a pristine canvas upon which to design his vision for the two 18-hole championship courses, the East and the West, as well as the neat little 9-hole par-3 course. “Sir Rocco Forte found a beautiful piece of seafront ground where we have combined our respective skills to develop a 5-star hotel and spa, 36 holes of championship golf, plus a 9-hole par-3 course and full practice facility,” says Phillips. “It’s a unique low-density concept for a coastline property, with only electric vehicles allowed inside the resort. Golf purists will absolutely love it. Near the seashore, I tried to give the golf a linksland feel with a rougher seaside look, transitioning to large rolling Muirfield-like landforms as it moves back away from the sea.”
Verdura’s East Course plays a tough 7,221 yards and the West Course measures 7,474 yards from the championship tees. Phillips cleverly has routed holes from both the East and West layouts so that a Composite Championship Course is formed to present a challenging venue for a future professional tournament. It’s a novel yet strategic design that would play a challenging 7,458 yards with all of Verdura’s ocean holes in play, a feature that will provide dramatic visuals for a television audience.
Verdura’s Director of Golf, Niall Cameron, has a rich pedigree of golf operations experience at such notable clubs as Turnberry, Royal St. George’s and the ultra-exclusive Lyford Cay in the Bahamas. He also spent a number of years competing on the European Tour. According to Cameron, “the sheer size of the resort gives a wonderful feeling of being totally isolated and at one with nature. The peace and quiet of the courses, punctuated only by birdsong and the gentle rustle of the wind through the native Sicilian grasses, makes the stroll through the rolling fairways a genuine delight. The fairways are well-separated and with the deep pot bunkering you can easily imagine that you are playing on one of the historic Scottish links courses. On top of all this, we have strategically rich and enjoyable golf in a spectacular setting. Kyle Phillips has designed yet another masterpiece which is surely destined to become a must-play venue.”
The coming together of the hotel expertise of the Rocco Forte Collection and the dynamic golf course design skills of Kyle Phillips guarantee that even the most discerning golfer will discover an unsurpassed paradise at the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort www.verduraresort.com. For reservations in the U.S. call 1-888-667-9477 or visit the Verdura Golf & Spa Resort website.
Blair Howard
About.com Guide
July 19, 2010
