Korenc / Sokrates, Czech Republic

Par 72, 5524 Meters, Slope ~115

Not so difficult course, not so great condition, not so clever a layout.

Cold, Windy, Foggy conditions.

Shot 39-45 with a birdie . . . 

Back 9 is 270 meters longer than the front . . .

depressing to think that is difference between 39 & 45.

#1 over a ridge to a green that goes away from the fairway. Extra tall flag so you can see it from the fairway.

kind of dangerous with duffers around . . . #1 green is behind those trees, where a shank WILL GO.

Nice par3. uphill, but not too long. we both missed the green, only just, and still couldn't get up and down.

Hit my stride here . . . pound the drive, short iron in, 2 putt on the terrible bumpy greens.

Par 5 # 5. . . no real challenge.

Partner Mike almost drove the green -- on his 2nd tee shot . . . 1st was in the woods . . he parlayed that into a 7, then as we were leaving the hole we found his ball in that greenside bunker . . . he'd hooked it around the woods, like he was trying to do but the slope pushed it right where we never thot to look.

another slightly uphill par 3 . . . GIR, but 30 ft away . . . after missing 6 & 8 footers for birdie the last 4 holes, I was just trying to lag it close, and so it of course went in . . . over a giant tier-slope, bumpy irrigation holes, breaking about 7 ft left. Birdie.

very perplexing from the tee, not clear where to go.

Almost a  real golf hole . . . 8^) . . .

signature ornament . . .like some druid monument . . . maybe celtic . . . 

dog leg right . . . hung up in trees inside dogleg. missed the 1putt par.

agggh. putting has gone south. . . instead of tapin pars, now have scrambling bogies.

very troublesome tee shot . . . for the first timer, at least . . .chain of holding ponds perplex one, in addition to the blind landing area . . . I solved it by hooking into the next fairway, then powering an 8iron over the back of the green, then taking 4 to get up-and-down.

Easy Par.

#14, par 5, #1 handicap hole . . . I have no picture of the tee shot, which is perplexing because its one of those risk-reward thingys, with a row of traps guarding the landing area. Partner mike challenged them ,and wound up on top of the mound behind the traps . . . an awkward lie . . . I hit a fairway wood to lay up, then 5iron, craftily, into another fairway bunker . . . but, as I always say, bein' from West Texas, that don't bother me none: easily flew it onto the green with a wedge and 2 putted par.

nuthin little par 3 . . . we didn't get that close, but it didn't matter.

#17, bogey, just from being cold & tired.

#18 is a real golf hole. Partner mike challenged the hazards again, and just barely got over . . . but they got into my head and I foozled off the tee, more or less, for the first time today. Hit a good shot to the 100m marker, then pureed a 9iron over the green, to finish un-strongly with double-bogey.

no really remarkable holes, fun enough to play, but in clement weather would be even less of a challenge.

4 on the scottsdale standard.

Creta Golf Club Front 9

5831 Meters, Par 71, Slope 145

A personal note, first: Cab from the hotel left me at the wrong place, 2 km away . . . so I had to hot-hoof it down the highway to the course to make my tee-time. I was pretty frosted when I got there . . . so I did not suffer the indignities of renting clubs well, 98Euros for Clubs, Cart, balls & tees . . ."Huh, i grumbled, like a drug dealer, the golf is almost free, but the extras are killer!" Golf Course cashier was not amused. I hope I was successful for getting the a-hole fired . . . I think he was the hotel clerks nephew or something 

MG=Missed Green

MB=Missed Birdie

SK=Shank

S=Sand

Fn=Number of Foozles

Sort of tough 1st hole . . . Course is not that long, but very narrow . . . I mean it looks like a typical resort course on the card, but whew! Worried how I will do, since I'm wearing my bifocals, using rented Calloways, in high wind conditions on a hilly, narrow course I've never played before . . . first drive was a wind-cheating power fade, that I decided was as good as one could expect . . . had  a 8iron left to the green, uphill into the wind, but used a 9 . . . went so high I was boggled, and came up short. Pitched up 4 ft and missed it.

#2 is also short, but still scary . . . since you cant see the green. Mashed the drive again, fatted the wedge, pitched up on the green and missed the par, again.

#3 a longer par 4, back into the wind. Hammered a high bullet down the right side of the fairway -- very pleased -- leaving an 8iron that really flew thru the wind to the back of the green. 3putt bogey.

#4 is also mid-length, but severely downhill, with the first dogleg that makes it a blind landing . . . dang, all these seem like blind tee-shots. Maybe you could drive the green, but not high reward-risk, if you know what I mean. . . kept downshifting till I finally decided on 5iron . . .good choice, but pulled left just over a trap but still in the trap depression . . . hit another 9iron that flew even higher than the others from the uphill lie and fanned it so that it sliced into a greenside bunker. blasted out easily from the very firm sand, but it rolled off onto the fringe. . . 3 putt bogey

Par 5 with the wind, but pretty long, but I still tho't I might get there in two, but I pulled left rough, so that the trees on the inside of the 90 degree dogleg, so I hadda hit 8 iron to get back to the middle of the fairway in the dogleg, then another 9iron that came up short. couldn't get up and down, another bogey.

#6 is an intimidating par 3, but I was feeling confident and just lofted a 6iron and let the wind bring it back . . . landed on the front of the green and rolled right by the pin . . . onto the back fringe. par.

I was very pleased with the callaways, never played them before . . . really threw the ball high . . . After that pro shot I hadda photo them.

#7, an intimidating looking par 4, not too long, but #1 handicap hole. Tried to keep calm and smooth the drive, but instead smother hooked over the trash, short but safe . . . shanked a 4iron, pitched up on the green, missed the par.

#8 is a nuthin par 3, but I was worried about the strong tailwind, and I think I got confused between meterage and yardage . . . came up short of the green, right at the pin . . . chipped up not so well, short, but then made the 30ft putt.

#9 par 4 gets my nomination for hardest hole -- maybe just for a first-timer -- that tee shot felt very awkward to me . . . tiny landing area, unless you lay waaaaaay back pulled this tee-shot right again . . . into a rocky hill-side . . . my ball pin-balled back and forth on the rocky slope till it finally bounced back into the fairway. shaken, I foozled 2 shots trying to get onto the green without shanking, then took 4 shots to get into the hole. shudder.

Creta Golf Club Back 9

#10, short par 4 downwind . . . but . . . wtf? , , , can't go left, or right, and it looks like they want us to lay up . . . on the scorecard it looks straight . . .just like the front 9, good drive, flukey approach that misses the green, can't get up and down, bogey

#11, same deal, but on this one there was the extra twist that the scorecard map was backwards . . . the hole doglegs RIGHT not LEFT . . . my tee-shot actually came up short of the trash I was aiming at left in confusion . . . the hole is downwind, but blind-landing, but I still think I could drive it . . . 8^D

#12 par 5, tried to sling a hook around the dogleg, but blocked it instead . . . 5iron and 9iron later got a 2putt par.

#13 is bodacious par 4, #2 handicap hole, signature hole quality, skied a ball so authoritatively the wind didn't bother it, 8iron to the green, finally a bonafide missed birdie (aka GIR). I had to take a pic of the cliff next to the green.

. . . but this is looking back up to the fairway from the back of the green . . . 

. . . and from above the hole on the next tee.

sort of an uphill into-the-wind par 3, #14. . . hit an impossibly high 8iron (dang these callaways, but a pro-shot), pulled left into the sand trap, pin high. blasted out long, 2 putt bogey

#15 par 5 really is unfair in how completely camouflaged the hole is . . . I finally just flared a 4iron onto the right side of the fairway, cuz that was the most club I could envision hitting . . . could have hit 3iron safely, or something longer not a driver if it was perfectly straight. Foolzed a 5iron, out of uncertainty even from there where the hole was going. STILL could not see, so I hit a 9iron over the trap -- , er, into the trap, from where I could see I still had 120 m . . . hit a patented cactus-dave fairway bunker 7iron onto the back fringe, 2putt bogey

Don't remember #16 at all. Par.

#17 par 4, breather hole, except for the way the green goes away from the fairway . . . not the only hole that way, you know . . . after doing the algebra, I hit an 8iron to the back of the green . . . wasn't displeased . . . algebra not my best subject . . . 8^)

#18 is another scary, narrow, short par 4 . . . but AT LEAST there is a fairway marker to aim at . . . hit a towering, wind fighting drive to the end of that top level of the fairway . . . a few yards from that marker . . . pureed a 9iron to the back of the green and 2putt for par.

Not a typical resort course . . . sort of like Sanctuary in Scottsdale that way . . . short, narrow, windy and difficult . . . all the holes kinda feel the same, with blind landings . . .#7 & #13 are great holes, the rest are just very nice . . . only that 1 par 3 #16 didn't seem that interesting . . . but maybe 16 & 17 as breather holes is a good idea . . . sort of a high 3 (not quite a 2) on the Scottsdale scale . . . but I was playing really well, despite low expectations and that may have made it seem less challenging that it would be on another day . . . .would love to play it again, knowing the course a little better . . .