The Country Club Castelgandolfo occupies an historic countryside bowl a short drive from the centre of Rome, the land once home to an imposing castle built by the Vatican for its serving Pope.

Millions of years prior, this site was part of a volcanic rim and the soils and landscape features were not ideal for golf when Robert Trent Jones was employed to create the layout. As the ground slopes toward the middle of the site in an amphitheater-style shape, the housing estate was fine because the homes could be built high to overlook the course. The clubhouse is also a feature, the building a restored villa that was originally built for the nephew of Pope Alessandro VII and enjoying views of the surrounding hills and suburbs of outer Rome. Trent Jones had to work hard on the golf, though, and unfortunately today's layout is hardly one of his most memorable. The course is quite short and also a little dated, the fairways are open and straightforward but the greens are small and domed yet built without strategic interest for the better player. Mostly the approach shots are tricky, so standing in the tee the play is to bomb as far as you can so your iron is shorter into the green.

There is also wall-to-wall green grass here, which the club is quite proud of when some rough grasses or native colour would have added definition to the bland holes. The drivable 9th is probably the standout hole, it plays back uphill toward a wicked little green with the villa as a backdrop. Less effective are the water holes, a lake poorly used on the 15th hole which is pinched so tightly by water that bombing down the 5th fairway is actually a sound tactic.

The Country Club Castelgandolfo should be an Italian golfing gem, rather than a pretty country retreat for the well-to-do. The golf isn't anywhere near as impressive, nor as interesting, as the site itself here.