The Czech Republic is the latest nation to latch on to the golf holiday boom - offering great golf at bargain basement prices. With a variety of courses and other attractions for golfers, this Central European country can deliver packages including four rounds of golf, three nights’ bed and breakfast accommodation and transport for just £395.
Flight, evening meals and beer have to be added to your budget but with Czech Airlines charging from £77 return including taxes, clubhouse food from a couple of quid, and lip-smacking Pilsners from 50p a litre, you can buy much fun for your money.
The only problem for golfers prepared to explore this new destination is internal travel. Though the number of golf clubs in the Republic is growing, there are currently only 64 courses scattered throughout a country that’s half the size of England.
Driving from one to another requires navigational expertise of Marco Polo, the charm of Michael Palin and the local knowledge Slovakian postman. In comparison, the road network gives an English country the status of the A1(M) with many signs only in the local Cyrillic language.
Clubhouse at Marianske
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But the package I experienced for under 400 quid includes a mini-bus and driver for the duration of the holiday – provided you’re at least a two-ball! Individuals will receive airport-hotel and hotel-course transfers (by pre-booked, pre-paid taxi) with larger parties travelling by mini-bus.
After I’d got over the pleasant surprise of the cheap beer (my favourite was Gambrinus, slightly darker and sweeter than the ubiquitous Pilsner Urquell), I was astonished by the maturity of the courses. The Czechs didn’t merely turn to golf to attract tourism – they’ve been playing for 100 years, though only in small numbers, until now.
The golfing pioneers didn’t even stop during the Cold War. Communist governments turned a blind eye to this bourgeois sport. Some didn’t even stop during the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring.
Until recently golf was an elite pursuit of the well-heeled. but it’s spreading like ground elder in a disused park as thousands discover the game which Ivan Lendl took up when he retired from professional tennis. And he’s still the country’s best-known golfer!
The origin of golf in Czech can be traced back to our own King Edward VII, who used to ‘take the waters’ in the spa town of Marianske Lazne. He suggested golf might prove an agreeable pastime and subsequently Royal Golf Club Marianske Lazne was born, and celebrates its centenary this summer. Appropriately Prince Edward is paying a royal visit, which must irritate his brother, the 7-handicap Duke of York, immensely!
7th hole at Karlovy Vary
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Sadly, golf at Marianske Lazne was the least exciting of my trip.It was just too elegant, too English. The course cuts through a pine forest, in unimaginative swathes. There are only three dog-legs and few slopes.
The 448-metre par-5 second fairway falls out of sight from the tee while the par-4 seventh combines a slight dog-leg with a climb towards the green.
At the fourth I ended up in one of the bunkers occupied by Russian troops, brandishing machine guns during the Soviet crushing of the Prague Spring in 1968. The club’s vice-captain told me how he asked the soldiers if he could play through and was waved ahead. How cool was that?
By comparison modern Golf Resort Karlstejn built on a hill, about 30 miles from Prague, is just 10 years old with magnificent views of a schloss-like castle across the valley. But it was physically exhausting.
The 526-metre par-5 13th took me on a journey towards the castle past countless bunkers and grassy mounds. It zig-zags through the first set of bunkers and mounds only to dip through a fairway-wide trench before climbing to a raised green. I could see the castle at every turn and imagined a damsel in the tower laughing at my distress.
Karlstejn’s castle always in view
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Signature hole is the 308-metre par-4 second - the highest point on the course. The choice is to go for the small fairway far below that falls away towards a lake, or take the Tiger line for the green. Whichever the choice – calamity beckons.
Karlovy Vary is a spa town about 80 miles from Prague claiming senior rights over Marianske by one year (1904). The original nine-hole course was abandoned in the 1930s and replaced by 18-holes similarly mature but more interesting.
We had the course to ourselves though at weekends the 720 Czech members paying nearly £4,000 to join but then an annual fee of only £70 to play as much golf as they like.
At 2,000 feet above sea level, the ball eats up the course’s 6000 metres initially played over open parkland, before forest starts to close in. By the par-4 ninth the fairway is down to just 25 yards wide. You might need plenty of balls before re-merging into parkland at the 18th and the ultra modern clubhouse.
Karlovy Vary course combines the maturity of Marianske Lazne with the elevation of Karlstejn and a stunning test from May to October, avoiding the harsh Czech winter.
