Albatross Golf Resort, Czech Republic

http://www.albatross.cz/en/
6689M, Par 72, Slope 147

Konopiste Golf Resort, Déste Course, Czech Republic

www.golf-konopiste.cz/index.php?lang=en

6086M, Par 72, Slope 125

Prince Ferdinand DÉste . . . later victim of Serbian Nationalist Assassin, occasioning WWI  .. . shot 275,000 animals on his estate where the golf course now lies. . . I shot not as high, but pretty bad . . . 

1st hole a rather long uphill par 4 

#2 another even longer uphill par 4

#3 par 5, #1 HCP hole . . . nowhere as hard as 1st two holes, f'rinstance . . . .mostly flat . . .  doesn't mean that I didn't hash it up into a double bogey . . . took 5 to get down from 80M

Gee, the scorecard time to get around is an un-ambitious 5 hours . . . so we wuz waitin' . . . a lot . . .  a nice breather par 3 with the front pin position.

#4 is a par 4 dogleg left . . . my partner said it was similar to #9 on Radecky, which it is, sorta . . .not as many trees, obviously, not as steep a decline . . . the main obstacle is not to try to cut the corner, since it seems so wide open . . . he got a par . . . I had a bogey, even tho we both had birdie putts.

#5, a very pretty, interesting, short, but uphill par 4 . . . be even better once the trees grow in . . .

so these are 3 interesting holes, 4,5,6 . . . 1 & 2 are just brutal, #3 is #1 hcp hole, so you could make a case for great design here . . . 

ordinary duffer MUST lay up here short of the water at the bottom of the hill . . . hit 3 wood, 7wood, 9iron to get into birdie position -- that's my ball behind my partner in the pic . . . couldn't play anybetter . . . 2 putt par nonetheless . . . tough.

Now this is a very challenging Par 3, 218m . . . Pin high, 70m left . . . 1st clew I had that the legs were giving out . . . din't realize it, yet . . . 

#9, a short-ish downhill par 4 with an island green . . . you'd think, with a shortiron in your hand that the island green wouldn't be such a big deal . . . we both pulled our drives left, then partner pulled his shortiron left into the trash near the green, and I splashed down right . . . could have still been just a bogey, but was a 6 . . . sigh . . . 

49 on the front for me, looking to improve on the back, still confident, unaware that 2 days of hilly walking was wearing on my legs, invisibly . . . simply hit my drive into the little pine tree forest with knee deep grass on the right (hidden behind that grassy mound on the right), floundered to double bogey on a relatively easy hole from there . . . 

#11 par 3, 177m . . . mebbe it's made this way to take advantage of duffers grumbling about their double-bogey on easylooking #10 . . . 8^) . . . partner had a birdie putt, but my half-7wood inexplicably faded instead of my natural draw into a bunker . . . bogey.

Oh, I quit taking 3 shots on par 5s, not enough to say, usually, especially if I play well, but the lake in the middle of this par 5 ought to be shown . . . hit all you got off the tee, then Get Over That Water, then short iron to the green . . . partner didnot get over, and my fat 7wood, did, just barely, then we both hashed up the hole from there . . . it is uphill, and a huge green, but it shouldn't be THAT difficult . . . 

#13 long par 4, #2 hcp hole . . . paying very indifferently now, still not aware of why, very frustrating , very sunny & warm, shudda been my metier . . . but I get this fever sometimes on wide open courses, overswinging, where a tight course keeps me concentrated, instead of spraying the ball left & right

#14 par 4, resolving to get it together, still sprayed my drive right into the bunker at the corner of the dogleg, half-foozled out of the bunker (this ought to be one of my specialities, bein'from West Texas), miss the green, 3putt triple bogey . . . so much for knuckling down . . .  

Surrendering to the Misery, hit a straight drive, but misjudged the distance on my 2nd to come up short, missed a short par putt after a long chip, for what I took to be an encouraging bogey.

totally mangled the #16 par 5, spraying every shot, leading to 3putt 9.

#17 is a nuthin'little par 3 down hill . . . din't help me. I was done . . . 

All this leading up to what my partner called "the hardest hole in the Czech Republic". . . #18 Par 4, 377m, where you hit down to a severely constricted landing area ALSO blocked off in the middle by a large tree . . .

waiting on the tee, you see a lot of back-and-forth for the group ahead of you as they try to thread the needle, on 2nd & 3rd shots. . . .my dead-weary legs betrayed my attempt to smooth a drive in the middle into a sweeping hook that rolled into the deep rough behind the trees . . . 1st attempt to safety-back into play caught the trees, and the 2nd attempt disappeared into the water fronting the green on two sides, I guess, never did find it . . . so yeah, seems like a tough hole . . . 

meanwhile, my partner accidentally discovered the best way to play the hole . . . slice the drive into the light rough short of the trees, then bounce a 6iron between the ponds up onto the back of the green then nail the 16ft putt for a birdie.

Was he setting me up or what ?  . . . 8^D

So

the course is so new it still hasn't grown in, it feels wide-open but the rough is very tough . . . 

arguably, the front9 is very fine, with mature trees: with the brutal starting 3 holes, the very challenging middle holes, and the exacting finish, it is all very interesting . . . the back9, except for the par5 12th and the heinous 18th par 4, not so much . . . course will only get better, I reckon . . . partner said it was very much more grown in than even a couple of years ago . . .  so I would give it a 3 on the scottsdale scale, with a bullet . . . if you see how I mean . . . 8^) . . .