Italy has an abundance of excellent Par 3/ Pitch and Putt courses.
This month we visit Italys highly rated Championship course, the magnificent 18 hole course at Chia Laguna, located on the beachfront on the coast of Sardinia.


Chia is idyllically located at the southern tip of the Italian island of Sardinia, some fifty kilometres south of the capital Cagliari. Chia possesses a dream coast of unspoilt beaches. Soft dunes of white sand at Chia are lapped by the warm blue Mediterranean and are wrapped in beautiful natural scenery. The luxurious Chia Laguna resort is nestled between a lagoon of flamingos and mountains where wild deer roam. Chia Laguna Resort offers a choice of hotels, luxurious villas, apartments, restaurants, beaches, sports (like five a side football, tennis, swimming, horse riding, mountain biking, trekking and volleyball) a fitness centre and spa, shopping and entertainment. Operated by the Meridien chain, the resort overlooks the lagoon and the sea. The resort boasts a wonderful Pitch and Putt course, Italy’s first 18 hole Pitch and Putt layout. Professional coaching and a driving range are available.

Although open for a mere three years, the Chia course has already hosted three very significant international events. Jean-Claude Richard of France emerged victorious at an EPPA Seniors Open, which was held at Chia on a rainy Easter weekend in 2004. In October 2004, Catalonia beat Holland in the first Pitch and Putt World Cup final at Chia. Just last October, Ireland defeated the Catalans by 6.5 to 2.5 in the final of the fifth European Team championship at Chia. Scores of holiday homes set in the rolling hills look down the course. Water hazards fringed by reeds and rushes are definitely in play on holes 10 and 12. The 13th is a very short pitch over a bunker while the fourteenth looks for a teeshot over a small valley with tiny water hazard. The examination remains tough right to the end. The 18th demands a carry over a water hazard to a green ringed with bunkers. The course in maintained in excellent condition and looks forward to hosting many more high level international short course events in the coming years.

It you are on holiday in Italy, take time to pop into Sardinia and have a round on one of the finest championship short courses in the world.