205 - Verdura (East)

Location: Sciacca, Italy

Rating: 8.1

The second course we played in Sicily was the esteemed Verdura Resort East course. Set right alongside the Mediterranean ocean it provides some stunning views especially from the restaurant where you can have a beer and enjoy the crystal clear waters with rolling hills in the background.

Sadly this part of Sicily is struggling profusely with water shortages and the course has really struggled as a result with very dry fairways. Credit to them the greens were actually incredibly good all things considered. They were quite an anomaly where you could hit a shot and the ball would plug in the green but when putting they were extremely fast, firm surfaces.

The 13th was a real stand out holes for me, beautiful par 3 with bunkers protecting the green short and wonderful views of the Mediterranean over the back of the green. Another great hole and testing hole was the par 4 6th, only measuring 280 meters but requiring a very accurate iron off the tee with water to the left and also short of the green. Another hole with spectacular backdrops.

The course is relatively flat with a fair amount of bunkers which were in prime condition. It is quite generous in width with a linksy feel to the course. There were plenty of opportunities to miss left or right.

Sadly our experience was marred by something I have never witnessed on a golf course and I do not dislike it happening but if you are going to do it you have to be incredibly considerate of the groups behind. We had 2 4 balls in front of us with a coach in each group given on course guidance for more beginner golfers. They were incredibly slow, our last 5 holes probably took longer than the rest of the round and this is completely inexcusable. All they had to do was let us through but completely refused to acknowledge us or the queue that formed behind and continued on their ignorant way. Very disappointing when you’re paying well over 100 euros a round. There should be a marshal maintaining the pace of play.

Apart from that the practice facilities were awesome, they had a hybrid grass turf surface on the range which guessing would be great from a sustainability perspective to more easily maintain the grass.

Overall lovely setting and would love to come back and play the West Course one day.