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Pennsylvania’s Felicita facilitates golf in the garden

Now that gardens planted in 1998 are coming to maturity, golf at Felicita is now like a visit to 18 unique gardens.

Located just outside Harrisburg and only two hours north of the nation’s capital, this 650-acre mountain resort offers 18 themed holes of golf, 35 other acres of cultivated gardens, a spa, and much more.

The complete story

When new owners Richard and Alice Angino purchased the resort in 1998, their first priorities were to build five mountain lodges with 40 guestrooms (to add to 10 Inn guestrooms) and to plant a themed garden for each hole of golf. Two years later, it’s clear they’ve succeeded.

Originally an 1800s farm, the property was a supper club, a private retreat, a skeet shooting getaway, and a nudist resort before the Anginos acquired it. The golf course was originally designed in 1963 by William and David Gordon, a popular father-and-son team based in Pennsylvania.

Richard Angino has added his own green thumb to the golf course, making it unlike any other round in the country. His love of horticulture has transformed each hole into a unique garden, with plantings stimulating a game of challenging and targeted golf.

Some examples include: Zen Garden (#1--rock formations in white sand bunkers); Alpine Garden (#3--an elevated tee leading to a green protected by evergreens, pines, and mountain laurel); Topiary Garden (#10--a stunning hole filled with topiary designs); and Sapphire Garden (#13--plantings that create a wavering blue effect).

The garden ‘theme’ continues throughout the resort, with an expansive and spectacular Italian garden, a Japanese garden transformed from a cow pasture, an Alpine garden that’s a mountain range in miniature, and a Monet water garden.

The rest of this unusual golf retreat includes a full-service spa, tennis, hiking and biking trails, and cuisine by renowned chef Jean Paul Lucy. All lodge rooms have balconies with mountain overlooks, while the Inn features charming guestrooms and shared kitchen facilities.

Planning a trip

Harrisburg, Baltimore (BWI-1 1/2 hours), D.C. or Philly (2 hrs), or Pittsburgh or NYC (3 1/2 hours)