You’ll never score the winner at the new Wembley, nor finesse your forehand lob on Wimbledon’s Centre Court. Not unless you’re a real-life Rooney or Roddick. But golf is different: grab yourself a bag of clubs, a green fee and possibly a handicap certificate to prove you can hit the ball in the air, and you too can walk in the spike-marks of the game’s greats.

This Thursday, the European golf tour kicks off in earnest, with the Open de España in Madrid. Over the next six months, the likes of Paul Casey, Padraig Harrington and Sergio Garcia will be teeing it up all over the Continent, and almost all of the great courses they’ll play are open to ordinary Sunday golfers. So, grab a pencil and let us mark your card.

Unless stated, package prices are based on two sharing. To play additional courses, and for handicap limits, call the venue or ask the tour operator

MILAN

The tournament: Telecom Italia Open, May 3-6. The course: Castello di Tolcinasco (00 39 02 907 22740, www.golftolcinasco.it ) is like its designer, Arnold Palmer: dapper, muscular and rather fond of booming drives. Plotted across flattish terrain, just a few miles south of Milan, its 27 holes stretch out languidly around the pink pepper-pot towers of a 16th-century castle: the yellow and blue nines have hosted the Italian Open for four years. A day’s play costs £30 weekdays, £54 weekends.

The break: Milan isn’t just tops for fashion, it’s Italy’s number-one target for golf, with a gloveful of highly rated courses within an hour of the city. That makes it easy to combine punching your irons with bending your plastic on the cobbled catwalks around Via Sant’ Andrea and Via Monte Napoleone. As you’d expect, the golf is all taste and style: well-groomed greens and tailored traps on course, cashmere sweaters and Oakley shades in the clubhouse.

Tolcinasco is chessboard golf: you need to negotiate a careful course around Arnie’s American-style lakes and traps. For landscape drama, though, make plans to play the near-neighbour layouts at Castelconturbia and Bogogno.

The package: three nights with Momentum Golf Italia (020 7371 9111), including flights from Heathrow to Milan Malpensa, car hire, B&B at the three-star Hotel La Perla Nera in Stresa, and 18 holes each at Tolcinasco, Castelconturbia and Bogogno, start from £534pp.

LIMERICK

The tournament: Irish Open, May 17-20. The course: Adare Manor (00 353 61 605 200, www.adaremanor.com ) is one of those juggernaut country-house golf resorts the Irish do so well, and its three-year deal to host the Open has been a big hit with the pros — Paul McGinley reckons this is the best parkland course in Ireland. Designed by the king of spade-wielders, Robert Trent Jones Sr, and opened in 1995, it feels much older, thanks to a sumptuous sylvan setting beside the Earl of Dunraven’s castle. A round starts from £50.

The break: there are other great tracks within driving range — notably Killarney, Lahinch and the rollercoaster links at Ballybunion, Tom Watson’s favourite course on the planet. But nobody would blame you for spending the entire break hunkering in your five-star bunker at Adare. (The estate’s two-bedroom “townhouses” are best value for foursomes and families.) When you tire of chasing birdies, go after trout in the River Maigue, or “laser clays” in the park.

The package: three nights’ B&B in a townhouse with Leisure Link (01277 247520, www.leisurelinkgolf.com ), based on four sharing and including car hire, two rounds on the championship course and one at Ballybunion, cost £649pp, excluding flights. Shannon is served by Ryanair (0871 246 0000, www.ryanair.com ) and Aer Lingus (0870 876 5000, www.aerlingus.com ).

PARIS

The tournament: Open de France Alstom, June 28-July 1. The course: Le Golf National (00 33 1 30 43 36 00, www.golf-national.com ) is a Gallic Belfry — home to the French Golf Federation as well as the national championship — and its Albatros layout has qualities similar to those of the Ryder Cup course. Close to the Palace of Versailles, it is purpose-built for tournament golf, a big, bruising “links with lakes”. There is also the Aigle course, a tamer bird at just 5,000 metres from the blue tees. Weekday green fees are £50 and £40 respectively; £68 and £47 at weekends.

The break: famous French golfers are rarer than les dents de la poule. But the precincts of Paris have a world-class roster of courses: Chantilly, Fontainebleau, St Germain. Some are private, others pricey, but all of the above are worth pitching for.

Chantilly and Fontainebleau are especially pretty — couched in heather and forest, a bit reminiscent of the Surrey sand belt. There’s a worthy newcomer, too — Béthemont, designed by Bernhard Langer, with hilly holes and Seine-side scenery. The package: two nights with Your Golf Holidays (08000 325425, www.yourgolfholidays.com ) start from £249pp, including Eurotunnel with car, B&B at the three-star Résidence du Berry, 36 holes at Le Golf National’s Albatros and 18 at Béthemont.

THE ALGARVE

The tournament: Portugal Masters, October 18-21. The course: new tournament, new test — £12m Victoria Clube de Golfe (00 351 289 320 100, www.oceanicogolf.com ) is another monster creation from Architect Arnie, opened three years ago and host to the 2005 World Cup. Its shimmering wetland setting reflects in the hole names — Purple Heron, White Storks, Kingfisher — but you’ll find birdies hard to come by on the longest layout in Portugal. That’s from the pro tees, though, and there are four others to choose from. Playing here also demands a big wedge: £118 for 18 holes, though you can find discounts on the net.

The break: the Algarve is sprinkled with thoroughbred courses, and Victoria is the fifth (and most exclusive) in Vilamoura. You’ve lots of choice both for places to hole up and places to hole out: from Vilamoura Old Course and Pinhal, English-style designs with umbrella pines and a relaxed vibe to the linksy Laguna and Vila Sol, a veteran Portuguese Open venue. Quinta do Lago is within easy hitting distance, too — many rate its San Lorenzo course the top track in the country.

The package: three nights with Bill Goff (0800 652 1828, www.billgoff.com ), including car hire, B&B at the four-star Vila Gale Ampalius, and rounds at Victoria and Pinhal, cost from £319pp in June. Flights are extra. Airlines flying to Faro include British Airways (0870 850 9850, www.ba.com ) and EasyJet (www.easyjet.com ).

ANDALUSIA

The tournament: the Volvo Masters, November 1-4. The course: Rocca beat Tiger, Seve danced... and the 1997 Ryder Cup cemented the place of Valderrama (00 34 956 791 200, www.valderrama.com ) as the number-one course on the Continent. Now regular host to the season-climaxing Volvo Masters, it is a stunning place to play, couched among the ancient cork oaks of Sotogrande. Expect seat-of-your-pants shot-making: who could resist gunning for the green in two at the notorious par-five 17th, where Tiger spun back into the lake? The green fees are frightening, too — £176 weekdays, £196 weekends — but a package deal will make it more affordable. And it’s worth every penny.

The break: even if your game (or your wallet) isn’t up to Valderrama, there are more than 40 alternatives on the Costa del Golf. The “golden triangle” west of Marbella also offers slick San Roque, home to the tour’s qualifying school and a full-tilt sport-resort playground, plus Sotogrande, grande dame of Spanish golf.

The package: four nights with Golf Amigos (0845 230 3100, www.golfamigos.co.uk ), with B&B at the NH Sotogrande hotel, car hire and 18 holes at each of Valderrama, La Reserva and Almenara, cost £569pp between July 27 and August 26. Flights are extra: contact the operator.

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