Ber'ovice, Slany, CZ, Back 9

#10 requires a climb up a hill, just to get to the tee . . . 8^) . . . then some more hill climbing to play the hole . . . tough . . .

#11 is not so bad, you get to come back down the hill on the other side of the lake.

#12, 162 m on the card, but slightly uphill . . . I hit a half 7wood to make sure I got there against the wind . . .ugly low slice, like we do it  in scotland, laddie . . .

#13 is a welcome par 5 . . . smashed a drive that the wind just beat down.

smashed a fairway wood that suffered a similar fate.

stopped to look at this tiny snake in the fairway my companions viewed with respect.

Dangerous! A yellow triangle on each side of its head. You have been warned.

flew my short iron out of the rough into the back of the green. 3 putt, I assume.

The course is adorned with these unusual, unique features, small, shallow grassbunkers, with close-cropped rough in circular shapes in the fairway . . . they're not really an obstacle, except in an uneven lie kinduva way . . . me, I LIKE a fluffy lie, if my ball tees up for me . . . 8^) . . . my companions said they are called kolkols, for the architect, who I couldn't find on the internet . . . Kolkolnik (?)

you can see on the hole diagram how these kolkols are introduced intentionally into the landing zones.

#15 I don't remember much about . . . striking the ball well, but floundering . . . if you've ever experienced that . . .

#16 is a classic island green par 3 . . .not so long, but the #5 handicap hole . . .  did have a left to right wind this day that may explain that . . . 8^) . . .

Camera foul up...

no pix of 17 & 18 . . . 17  I don't remember, but 18 . . . is an awesome par5 finishing hole . . . drive right of the straight line to the hole forced because of a grassy hill & bunkers, then hit down into the throat of a tight landing area squeezed between the hill and some bunkers backed up by a creek area . . . so naturally I tried to club it over the bunkers on the inside of the dogleg and got caught up in the tall grass above the traps. tried then to play it smart with a 5iron to wedge distance, which flew 40 yds too far into the bunkers on the right . . . l-o-o-o-o-oo-ng bunker shot to the back of the green 3 putt down the treacherous pin location . . . pttthhhhhh.

I think it's a good, if not great layout . . . needs to grow in a little bit . . . which is only to be expected . . . reminded me of Barrandov in Hungary that way . .  . not as tough a walk, but there ARE places, like to start #10 where a walker will know it . . . 8^) . . . Solid 3 on the Scottsdale scale . . . but easily could grown into a solid 2.

Ber'ovice, Slany, CZ Front 9

http://www.gcbr.cz/

Par 72, 6579m(~7100Yds), Slope 137

Berovice looked hilly in the pix I saw on the internet . . . so I was eager to play . . . it WAS a tough walk, but i think it will only improve as a golf course over the next few years as the newness wears off and the strategically plantings mature. It reminded me ofAusterlitz and Balaton in Hungary in that way.

After a rather heavy lunch at the Hotel Hejtmansky in Slany, I toddled over for my round in muggy heat. I found myself in league with 2 golfers and an observer, charming czechs whose names I've forgotten: a young man who complained amiably that his trainer had changed his swing two weeks ago and now he could hardly hit the ball at all, and two young women . . . the golfer was almost expert, the best of the threesome . . .

First hole told me all I needed to know that day: foozle my drive (I never do that anymore), 3 bladed irons, including one into the water, a fat pitch, then a 45 foot putt to salvage a double bogey. Dang.

Mindful of my ineptitude so far, I took an extra club against the wind and j-u-s-t made it over the water on the par 3 2nd. lobbed it up on the green and 3putted for 5. Dang, again.

#3 - don't remember much about this par 5 -- apparently I was playing so bad my photography was forgotten.

#4 a longish par 4 . . . apparently I was taken with the fairway view, as typical, perhaps . . . nice driving vista . . . and apparently I was off in the right rough, again . . .

I would say those are my partners balls, rather than mine . . .

#5, short par 4 . . . good drive, and a foozled wedge . . .floundering

#6 was probably the first good drive I hit, against the wind . . . my partners complimented me, all I could say was I Want More . . . if you see how I mean . . .

#7 is a downhill medium length par 3 . . . not much going on and I didn't play it particularly well, so, well, there you are . . .

#8 seemed to be the first hole I actually played . . . kinduva short par4 . . . not a particularly good drive, into the short rough on the right, sort of on the hill, above the sand trap over there . . . then hit an 8 iron I lost track in the hazy blindness . . . but it wound up 12 ft above the hole. . . missed the birdie.

#9 is a short par 5 . . . looks easy, said I, sad negatory shakes of the heads from my companions . . . there is water, they said . . . I hit a good drive down the middle, but as it turns out that's not good . . . wound up in some gnarly rough . . . tried to just get over the water, but only foozled it to the waters edge . . . 5iron from there to the front of the green and a twoputtpar. easy. like I tho't . . . 8^D . . . just needed the lucky foozle.

Punch Comedy at Ber'ovice, CZ

!st Hole , Golf Club Praha, 2012

course looks great . . . looking forward to the new golf season . . .