Golf in Sicily

Mike and I had a great experience golfing in Sicily. On a friday after class we rented a car and drove out to Il Piccolo golf resort. We were a bit apprehensive when renting the car because Mike's not 21 and I can't drive stick. In America they never would have let me rent the car in my name and then let someone else hop in the driver's seat, (at least not without a significant fee added on!), so we weren't sure how picking up the car would play out. However our worries were needless as the gentleman who rented us the car just smiled and waved us out as I hopped in the passenger seat and Mike Drove us away.

The drive through the countryside was quite scenic and, again, easier then we had anticipated. Babilonia gave us directions and the route took us through several towns far smaller then Taormina but very pleasant in their architecture and locale. We ended up on a windy road looking for the golf course entrance "800 meters" from the turn for Castiglione Sicilia. This part was somewhat confusing because the course and resort at Il Piccolo are only about 3/4 completed and so lacking a sign indicating that the rough stone gate was in fact the entrance we wanted.

Golf in the U.S. is played with yards, but it is also played with yards in England, Scotland, and Canada; all countries that use the metric system. So I bet Mike (gentleman's bet) that in Sicily we'd find the course in yards as well. Yeah, I definitely lost that bet. Not only was the course in meters, but with roughly the same numerical distance it was a looong course. (A 500 meter par 5 is significantly longer then a 500 yard par 5!)

The course was extremely nice, we had been afraid of a dry dusty 18 holes but in fact the whole course was a rich, wet green and there were even water hazards on the back 9! While we were playing it was almost possible to forget that we were in Sicily and imagine that we merely were playing a nice course back home. I say almost because the piles of lava stones and Mt. Etna looming in the background served as pretty effective reminders.

Ironically, the hardest part of the trip was getting back to the car rental garage from entering Taormina. Because of the irregular nature of the streets here we had to circle virtually the whole city in order to reach the street we needed and headed in the right direction. This was a fun experience though because until then we had only experienced the city as pedestrians and had a less then beneficial view of the "crazy" drivers here. After our trip though I gained a new respect for the drivers of Taormina who have to navigate extremely narrow streets and avoid hitting the hordes of people walking in the middle of most thoroughfares.

All in all the golf trip was a great experience. Even though after car rental, greens fees, and club rentals the cost was significant I would highly recommend taking a trip out of Taormina to play 18 in the beautiful Sicilian countryside; especially to anyone who might share my passion for golf.