Golfer Kevin Pilley enjoys a break in Sicily to practise his swing and doesn’t get much further than the resort. At least he could see Malta from the course.

It wasn’t the first time I had landed up in a cemetery off the tee.

I did it on the first on Ballybunion Old in County Kerry, Ireland. My rescue club saved me. But, on the sixth hole of the Parkland course at Donnafugata, the necropolis got the better of me. It took me three shots to get out the sixth century BC.

For 3,000 years, Sicily has experienced many invasions, but the latest invaders are golfers.

The five-star Donnafugata Golf Resort and Spa, 15 minutes from Comiso airport in the south, offers the best 36 holes out of the 129 currently available in Sicily.

The island only has 500 playing members but there are a few options for the visiting golfer. Palermo has the nine-hole Villa Airoldi, while the Sciacca/Agrigento region in the northwest has Sir Rocco Forte’s three-course Verdura resort.

Putting is a test: you have to allow for sudden and often explosive shifts in the earth’s crust

The Disio Resort in Ciatolo in the hills of Marsala in the western province of Trapani boasts three holes.

I Monasteri is between Syracuse and Noto, the famous baroque showcase village rebuilt after the 1693 earthquake.

A new course, Le Saje, is due to open soon near Catania.

Il Picciolo Etna Resort (and its ubiquitous spa) is perched on the slopes of Europe’s tallest active volcano.

Running through oak, chesnut and hazel forests in the Nebrodi and Alcantara river parks, it’s the oldest club in Sicily and was founded in 1989.

Yet golf was played in Sicily much earlier than this. Taormina, north of Syracuse, had two courses built by visiting British nobility.

Palermo had Mondello under Mount Pellegrino in the former royal hunting grounds of Favorita Park.

Luigi Rota Caremoli designed the 5,870-metre Il Piccioli course, which gives you the privilege to play down lava rivers and through vineyards ­– and disappear down 5,000-year-old fissures.

Putting is a test. Standing over a nasty downhill left to right, you have to allow for sudden and often explosive shifts in the earth’s crust. Magma can ruin your card.

The Etna resort is also a bike hotel, giving guests the chance to go out riding with champion cyclist Danilo di Luca.

Its restaurant (Il Petiole, or Leaf stalk) is in an old wine press and uses local products such as honey and mushrooms from Etna and pistachio from Bronte.

Back at Donnafugata (Lady of flight), the resort boasts the Gary Player Parkland course, which hosted the 2011 inaugural Sicilian Open (won by Raphael Jacquelin) and the fabulous 6,674-par 72 Links, created by Italian architect Franco Piras.

There is a new Darren Clarke Academy of Excellence, where you can traumatise the pro, Davide Terrinoni, with your grip, take-away, terminal shank and incurable top.

And, if you have been on salami and Birra Moretti, with your breath too.

The 202-room, two-swimming-pool, three-restaurant Donnafugata is not the best base to explore the rest of southeast Sicily, because you don’t want to leave.

You don’t want to leave the spa with its almond body scrub.

You especially don’t ever want to be too far from the sommelier, because Sicilian wines like Donnafugata Tancredi, Lumera Rose and Cusamano Insolia are magnifici.

The resort is the only place I’ve seen a Harmonium, from Avola, on the wine list.

Head chef Damiano Bassano tests your will power and the elasticated, active waist of your golf shorts and slacks with ravioli stuffed with aubergine and mozzarella, beef carpaccio, suckling pig in bacon crisp with apple potato cake and marsala and chocolate and banana semifreddo.

In Il Carruba (Carob) restaurant he does things with cherry tomatoes that you could not imagine. He will test your tuna and swordfish threshold and his desserts will make you hesitant to go topless on the local beaches of Punta Secca and Sampieri.

You have to bring a hearty appetite and a lot of golf balls to Donnafugata... and a pair of binoculars. You can even see Malta from some holes.

Both courses are moderately hard for average players. They give ample opportunity to swear at the Agrostis grass and blame mating moorhens for your three-putts.

The greens are so fast you think they may have been watered with olive oil, while the wickedly high heather, stone walls, lakes, bunkers and the heat make Donnafugata a challenge.

As, of course, does all that food and the strategically placed ancient burial sites.

• For details, visit www.donnafugatagolfresort.com or e-mail nhdonnafugata@nh-hotels.com.

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