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Touch down at Amerigo Vespucci International, throw your clubs
in the back of the hire car, and follow signs to Pisa. If the navigator
does her stuff, you can be on the first tee at Le Pavoniere within
the half hour. It might be wise to allow longer, though: not only
to wind down, take on fuel and warm up, but also because the club
is discreetly signposted through the outskirts of Prato. This unpromising
approach makes Le Pavoniere all the more satisfying: a fashionable
and stylish modern club with an excellent restaurant, lots of Ferraris
in the car park, and a thoroughbred Arnold Palmer-designed course
of high quality, tucked away in a beautiful park where unwanted
din and unsightly sprawl recede. The round starts quietly, but don't
be fooled: Arnie soon cranks up the pressure with a succession of
water hazards that ask searching questions of nerve and technique,
especially if we try to answer them from the back tee. Strong players
who are on their game will relish the back nine, and probably want
to play it again. Unlike most other Tuscan courses Le Pavoniere
is a flat layout, and a pleasure to walk.
Par 73 6338m
From €60
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