6223M, Par 72, Slope 131, by Hans-Georg Erhardt...
It has been said: "The first 18-hole golf course on Lake Balaton suitable for organizing international championships is awaiting golf lovers in a picturesque, Mediterranean-style environment. The course, built on 67 hectares, including more than 30 000 m2 water surface, based on plans of the internationally recognized golf-architect, Hans-Georg Erhardt, brings a new dimension of recreation to the shore of Lake Balaton. The golf course lies in a unique natural environment next to Tihany, between Balatonudvari and Örvényes, offering a splendid panorama over Lake Balaton. Four fairways are surrounded by forests and the beauty of the landscape is accented by natural lakes and vineyards. The course is adjacent to the Balaton-Uplands National Park and includes the old quarry of Örvényes which is meanwhile qualified as a nature reserve. The 13th hole bordering the quarry will challenge the best golfers."
I had a sorta package deal that had us staying in Budapest (for the sight seeing) and playing golf in "nearby" golf courses . . . turns out, getting to and from Balaton from Budapest was a 12 hour travail . . . it might not be for everybody, but it was for me . . . getting the car, getting out of Budapest, getting to the ferry with an outdated GPS,
getting across the ferry that leaves only once an hour now, getting my excellent golf, and getting back, thru the streets of Budapest which resemble Prague's in their intense circumnavigtation on a Jumping Friday Night. My daughter had said she knew nothing about Budapest and neither did we, tho' her expectations of livestock in the streets was over-pessimistic . . . I did see such a thing on the other side of Lake Balaton . . . 120 klics out of city-centre . . . 8^D
So I wasted no time getting from the parking lot to the first tee. . . 8^) . . . which is a long par 5, my personal favorite for a starting hole . . .
My first tee shot since xmas was a usable, if weak slice into the right 1st cut, but I foozled 2 straight shots after that. Wedged uponto the green, 2putt bogey. Ok. Only to be expected.
The second is a short par 4, dogleg left around some bodacious bunkerage, with water on the outside of the dogleg. yeowwwww. So I skillfully faded a half 7wood into the fat part of the fairway, right of the bunkers, short of the water, then hit a half9 uponto the green, 2 putt par. . . . these greens, as I would discover repeatedly were contortured and difficile!
It's kind of an unusual start for holes 5-4-5-3, not only for the 2 par5s, but the short par4 and a par3 interleaved . . . very skillfully done, I tho't . . . I ripped a good drive down the right side right at my target bunker. . . I tho't I might've gone in, but it was just short . . . by concentrating entirely on solid contact I laid up with a 5iron with a baby hook, short of the bunkers . . . unfortuneately, the slope of the fairway runs right-to-left down into a marshy area, so my 3rd shot was just to clump it out of the weeds at the edge of the hazard and then wedge on, and 2putt for another bogey.
I hit a sinfully weak 7iron at this short flag that found the bunker . . . then, with unexpected competence, I hit the exact runner I'd planned off that hump behind the flag in the picture that rolled down to a foot within.
So I started bogey-par-bogey-par, with a missed birdie and a sandy . . . felt like I was coping really well.
#5 is not so long a par 4, but the tee shot is perplexing, so in doubt, I fanned my drive over into the hazard on the right, worrying too much about the bunkers on the left. Then chunked my 9iron to the green off the hardpan, chipped up and 2putted for a 6.
The pro at Balaton had joined me on this hole -- Wilhelm Istvan -- what an ace, nice guy too . . . I was so nervous, I made 3 straight 6s with him playing with me, in the shadow of his expertise . . . 8^D . . .
Like here on #6, a shortish par 4. . . I managed to get my drive into a good place, about 20yds behind Wilhelm's, but then I foozled my shortiron on one hop into the creek . . . when I dropped a new ball, I was sorta behind that big tree, so I hit a scottish skinker low to the left side of the green . . . too hard, it rolled over, so up and 2 putt for a 6.
Now I was a little shaky even on the tee, hit one of those drives that rattle the bones in your hand, where the shaft is vibrating like an out-of-tune tuning fork -- bad timing/tempo, is what I reckon . . . the ball flight was a high hook that I figgered was in the bunker, if not OB, but it wound up on top of the last knob around the bunkers, pretty good distance, actually, and not a bad lie . . . so naturally, I foozled my 7iron into the bushes in front of me, raked it out, pitched onto the green and 2putt for a 6 . . . I mean . . . all three of those holes made me want to go back and replay, to show I could do it right . . . rustiness, I hope.
Against all odds, I managed a good drive on #8, but then bladed my 8iron low over the sandtrap in front of me . . . I tho't it was in . . . the inevitable followed on our trek towards the green. Will had hit his drive, from the tips, OVER the big tree on the right . . . he'd seemd concerned about it, but it wasn't even really close . . . 8^D . . .so he says, "Y'know, I can help you with your swing, tell you what you are doing wrong." "I know, I know," I said, "but it is no use, I am the kokopelli! I bend my arm, I jump out of my shoes, I crouch, I use a baseball grip . . . it is what it is . . . " He shrugged good naturedly, but with the pained expression of the gifted in audience of the, um, not-so-gifted . . . Turned out my ball was pin-high, had rolled thru the swale up behind the trap onto the green, like 40 yds . .. the luck of the kokopelli! another 2 putt par.
Oh, #9 is a par3, one of my least favorite architectural choices . . . I wussed out and pulled my 4iron way left, up and 2putt, bogey. Phooey.
I think Will expected trouble for me on #10, an uphill monster with a tight fairway surrounded by growing pines . . . but this is my home . .. they were half the size of the loblollies at Walden . . . 8^D . . . Had no trouble hitting a decent drive onto the right side of the fairway. Then hit a half7wood the rest of the way uphill, almost pin high on the left side . . . pretty proud of that. 3putt bogey. . . not so proud.
#11 comes back down the same hill. I pulled my drive leftish, near a tree but with no trouble. I had trouble picking a club, against the wind, downhill, to a narrow green . . . I tried to be aggressive, but still came up short. counting that greenside chip, a 3putt bogey . . . Hey! My Game!
#12 is a short par5, but uphill, and I just mangled it. Thot my drive had hooked OB, but we did find it, in jail in some trees. "Just get out onto the fairway" said Will, like I didn't know that, but, like a duffer, I didn't. Tried to get too much out of it, then chickend because of the trees not-quite-interfering with my swing, and just pouched the ball 75 yds still in the left rough. Topped the next one, too. I had to look at Will with the knowing look, "Dang, just get it back onto the shortgrass!" He sorta laughed.
I should have said along here that he was burning edges like a pyromanic, musta had like 9 tapin pars. On this hole he hit a monster driver/3wood to come up Just Short of the green in 2, chipped up and burned this edge too . . . 8^D . . .
Oh, we hadda talk about #13 -- his favorite hole -- for a while . . . Very difficult for a first timer, without a guide, I would say . . . He said it was 297 meters as-the-crow-flies, which is I suppose driveable for the Pros, but risk-reward wise, because of the total carry over the quarry, not such a good idea. He drove (3wood(?)) at such an angle as he said would do for me . . . and oddly enough, I followed him.
So he hit his ball first, and came up short -- twice . . . neither was a bad shot by my reckoning, just a foot short . . . he did a very american thing there and didn't play anymore that hole, just looked for his balls on the treacherous, precipitous slope in front . . . found one, anyway.
I OTOH, hit one of my few good shortirons all day that landed on the middle front of the green and released down the slope towards the pin . . . I tho't it might go in, but it rolled 6ft past . . . I made Will stop looking for balls to watch my putt, in case it went in, but I was another total mis-read, straight and even breaking right where I had read left. One of those misbegotten greens that slope away from the fairway. . . 8^/ . . .
I told Will here. Geez, I'm tired, not in training yet, and this course is a tough walk -- and I told him about Austerlitz, another tough walk -- but, I said, I like to finish strong, even if I'm tired . . . so I meant to par in . . . well, a duffer's reach SHOULD exceed his grasp, like the old pro Browning said . . .
Will says he believes his is the best course in Hungary, and I'm willing to believe it . . . I wish my photos were better . . . in the spring and summer, it must be a hugely bucolic location, there by the largest lake in Europe. I think the layout is super, intelligent, fair, and challenging, with some amazing holes, and no dogs. So many holes here left me with the disquiet that I wished I could replay them right away to do better than I did . . . Given that Will putted so well, I don't think I could criticize the greens . . . 8^D . . . The bunkering and mounding are gorgeous. . . . So I would say a 2 ranking on the Scottsdale scale . . . As good and interesting, in perpetuity as Austerlitz.
But I would stay over near the Golf Course, rather than Budapest, to take some of the anxiety out of the experience. I think in Summer the place would be a madhouse with all the tourists, and crossing the ferry might take even longer. Maybe in the Merleghaz -- the scale house, which looked very comfortable from the 14th tee . . . 8^D
