Konopiste Golf Resort, Radecky, Czech Republic

http://www.gcko.mmit.cz/index.php?lang=en&textID=63&idmenu=6&idsubmenu=51

6484M, Par 72, Slope 125

#1 for both courses are adjacent, and provide an excellent contrast . . . DÉste is more severely & completely uphill par 4, Radecky is tighter par 5, with sidehill challenges . . . IF you can get a good drive mostly up the hill, then I think you could go for the downhill green, or just hit the easiest shot in golf, the 2nd shot on a par 5 5iron, but in either case, you GOT to keep it on the hill & fairway, and not let it run down into the deep rough or that bunker 80m short of the green . . .  the trees and the slope work together to make this very difficult. and that is some huge, contortured green!

#2 is -- even this early -- a well deserved breather . . .  drive up to the top of the hill, and short iron on.

Oh, dang, I didn't get a shot of this #3 green . . . another good drive & mid / shortiron to a huge green

then a long very pleasant walk in cool woods to #4

#4 has gotta be one of the shortest par5s ever made . . . but the narrow fairway landing zone, combined with the long bunker on the right and creek on the left with very tall rough defend par ably . . . both times I've played the course I've gone ahead and hit a driver and let the chips fall where they may . . . it's no problem for me to hit it straight, but both times I've been screened from the green by a few trees that intrude from the left . . . from 125m away, I still have only Par/Bogey to show for it. . . next time 3wood! 

another ingenious plotting, concatenating the narrow par 5 #4 with the even narrower par 4 #6 . . . it's easy enough if the mental obstacles don't bother you . . . this time I caught a flier out of the right rough and went over the green with a shortiron, so, on these two holes that I feel like should be easy 4-4 or even 3-3, my best is 5-4 . . . .kinda thing that brings the duffer back to play again . . . .

On the scorecard, a very manageable par 3, but on the physical plane, you have to add 2 or 3 clubs and adjust for the wind, then putt your ass off.

There's so many holes like #7 on Radecky I get them confused . . . the dogleg enhances the slope of the mountain, to make me feel like I'm getting spun off a merry-go-round, if you see how I mean . . . if you bite too much off the corner trying to keep it on the short grass, you can wind up in tall weeds on the hill . . . except for how many people have done that and tramped down the grass, it's a fools errand . . . but if OTOH, you slice or even fade a bit . . . your ball will be going sideways, downhill, and away from the hole.

This moderate par 3 plays longer than I think. . . came up short twice trying to hit half7woods.

Very hard hole #9 par 4 for the first timer, with no feel for how it will play . . . first time I staid way right away from the corner, then jacked my 7iron into the woods on the left from performance anxiety . . . 2nd time, I jacked a worm-burner down the left edge of the fairway off the tee, it rolled under a rake by the trap on the inside of the dogleg, left me in pretty good shape, tho a little obstructed by the trees from the green.

so I gave a little ground to the trees, and lobbed a 9iron for the right corner of the green . . . landed just right,  short of the green, then rolled ALL the way across into the water hazard nestled up next to the green . . . I mean: fudge & horsehockey.

#10 is a simple par 3. . . it looks tight, but the trees didn't bother me . . . rolling into the water on the previous hole apparently did tho, cuz I muscle-turned the ball over in a high hook that went into the bunker. . . tough up-and-down, which I did not complete, needless to say. . . .

#11 is a nice par 4 . . . with the wind you can drive almost to that little tree in the fairway . . . so you can cut the corner . . . against the wind . . . you have to stay right . . . it's still oughtta be a shortiron, but you have to add a club for the wind, and another for the uphill & elevated green, and one for the pot, if you know what I mean . . . probly best to plan for a 2putt bogey . . . in that case.

Kinduva squirrlley design on par 5 #12: 120 degree dogleg right, with deep rough, fairway bunkers, and growing pine trees inside the dogleg . . . the idea is: bust a drive, staying left of the trouble, but right side of the fairway *(Hah! as-if!)* then hit a fairway wood onto the green for an eagle shot . . .  first time, downwind, I blew past the bunkers, but my 5wood caught the top of pine tree, made the fairway, but still shortiron away . . . 2nd time, against the wind, I came up short on the hump of the bunker, pulled my 7iron "safety"shot left into the outside of the dogleg, then dug it out of the deep grass with  a career 3iron for a birdie attempt . . . partner had played as imagined, and wound up the same distance away, so I was chuffing him about that, until I 3jacked and he tapped-in for par. 

As those trees grow, that could turn eventually into a 4 shot hole for duffers . . . 

#13 is basically the same hole as #7, cut the corner, if you can, hold it on the hill, keep the midiron approach left, allowing for the downhill bounce . . . 

#14, long, straight par 5 . . . just don't foozle a fairway wood, and a birdie attempt is possible.

#15 just kinda blurs into so many similar looks you get at Radecky . . . still have to play it, but not very distinctive . . . 

#16 is gettin'up there into "hit all you got"territory for me . . . 192m I would play as 215yds, a small 5wood for me, not counting uphill & wind . . . did not do well either time . . . doesn't fit my eye, as they say . . . too open . . .  tough hole

Inspired, you might say, by my poor performance on the previous par 3, I put a little West Texas RedAss on my drive . . .over the ridge . . . 295m, then correctly lobbed a PW bounce in approach to easy birdie range . . . didn't make the putt, dammitall

#18 Radecky isn't quite as messed up as #18 DÉste, but it's close . . . this is a not entirely uncommon design, with the tree in the fairway, with a creek behind (#16 Brackenridge Park, In San Antonio, also comes to mind), but the length is a little longer than one might consider "fair" for such a collection of obstacles . . . from the whites, you have to hit all you got with driver, then hope you have a clear shot, and not be hitting some trick shot under, over, or around that giant pine tree in the middle of the fairway, over the water hazard AND a hidden creek bed before the green . . . seemed like to me the first time I hit 3wood & 7iron then 3putted from the front of the green . . . second time, after my almost-a-birdie, hit OB, then behind the tree, then in the water trying to hook around with a 4iron . . . wound up with a 9 . . . very different results . . .  

So, just based on the maturity of the course (as opposed to DÉste, in a compare & contrast way, if you see how I mean), I would give this one a 2 on the Scottsdale scale . . . There some trees growing that will really re-define the look and play of the course, as much as on DÉste, but it's good right now . . . 

the front 9 is very interesting, with the uphill start and the breather 2nd (not as brutal as the start of DÉste, but more interesting, to me), then 3, 4, 5,6,7, maybe 8, and 9, for sure are all interesting & challenging in very different ways. .  .

I like the start of the back9 of Radecky much more than of DÉste: the charming par 3, the math-challenging par 4 #11, the squirelly par 5 #12 are all very fine . . .

#13 is so similar to #7 it seems redundant, #14 is so straightforward, #15 is a blur of sameness, & #16 just doesn't fit my eye, so these I'm not so thrilled about . . . 

#17 has elevation challenges & shot values I enjoy very much and #18 is a real rubiks cube of shot choices, which is all to the good.

Great course, love to play it again . . .