Marco Simone Golf and Country Club

Few courses in Europe carry as much recent prestige as Marco Simone. Designed by Tom McBroom and opened in 1989, the club was selected to host the 2023 Ryder Cup — Europe's first on Italian soil — a decision that triggered a substantial redesign led by Tom Fazio II to bring the course up to the demands of match-play spectacle at the highest level. The renovation widened spectator corridors, reshaped bunkering, and sharpened the closing stretch along the lake-fronted finishing holes, which proved dramatic during the actual competition.

The club sits in the Tiburtina Valley about 25 kilometers northeast of central Rome, on terrain that rolls through Mediterranean scrubland and umbrella pines. The landscape feels distinctly Roman — ancient and unhurried — and the 15th-century castello on the property reinforces that sense of deep historical context underlying what is otherwise a thoroughly modern tournament venue.

As a private members' club, Marco Simone functions as a retreat for Rome's golfing community rather than a tourist destination. The Ryder Cup has given it an international profile that few Italian clubs can match, and the course today reflects the design ambitions that come with hosting golf's grandest team event.