The Italian Job! ~ Kevin Murray

For several years now I’ve been interested in shooting courses in Italy.

It’s been a market that has been very difficult to break into as it would seem that many Italian courses are happy with the way there web sites and marketing are structured.

I believe that there is a great opportunity to work with the Tourists boards and also travel companies to produce better quality collateral material into this emerging market!

So far I’ve not been able to convince these entities or in fact any of the Golf Courses that it could be a really great investment to have the courses shot.

Until now, hopefully!

With the help of the Dellanzo Group I was put in touch with The lovely Silvia Valli. It would seem that Silvia is know by and knows everyone in the Italian Golf Industry.

I discussed with her the chance of a weeks trip to visit Italy and get some sample shots to help promote my business there.

Within a few days Silvia had produced several options of different regions that I could visit. I decided on the Lake Garda region and within a week an Itinerary was ready.

The plan was to cover 3 courses, Arzaga, Garda and Chervo. All 3 are within 25 minutes drive of each other which made the logistics work nicely.

For the 1st 2 nights I stayed at the Palazzo Arzaga Resort which is a 15th century converted Palace and is absolutely stunningly beautiful. There are 2 courses on the resort designed by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. What a pleasure it was to stay here and shoot both courses.

The second Course to shoot was the Garda Golf course a few miles North and situated a short distance from the shores of Lake Garda.

Garda has 3 sets of 9 holes and has hosted the Italian Open on several occasions. In my mind this was how a typical Italian course should look like with the high Cypress trees and glorious backdrops. Again it was a real pleasure to shoot the courses.

The final location would be Chervo Golf Resort.

On arrival my first impression was that this was another large and impressive resort. There are 4 different 9’s that you can play with the shorter executive course being a tough but enjoyable test of Golf.

The other 27 holes stretch over a green landscape of rolling hills and Vine yards with many water hazzards coming into play on several holes.

There is a hotel on site and the Clubhouse Restaurant offers a full range of local and other European dishes.

So this was my first taste of shooting courses in Italy, and I have to say it was a fantastic experience. My focus now is to show the other courses what can be achieved to help promote their venues.

With the help Of Silvia I’m looking forward to the challenge.

A presto.

http://arzagagolf.it

http://www.palazzoarzaga.it/

http://www.gardagolf.it