Karlstejn Golf Resort (Czech Republic)
I visited the Czech Republic along with Poland, Germany, Austria, and Slovakia as part of my 25th anniversary trip that my kids invited themselves to, hijacked and reset our itinerary so they could “Czech” a bunch of countries off their map. They let me work in a few rounds of golf so I acquiesced. I talk about the Austria/Munich part of the trip in my Gut Altentann golf review. Here I’ll talk about the other places we visited (and golfed).
When I was told we were going to Prague by my “bosses”, I decided to look at my golf options near there. I found Karlstejn. It looked nice, there was a famous castle pretty much on property (you don’t see that on your average Philadelphia-area publinks), it hosted a European event, so I decided to book an early morning round there so I could get back for a full day of Pragueing.
We did a Vrbo in pretty much downtown Prague after flying into Munich, driving to Regensburg, Germany, golfing there (detailed later), spending the night there then heading to Prague early the next morning. We were all really spent (especially me after walking 18 holes fresh from a red eye) from the first day so had a low-key night. I took off from Prague early, early the next morning (pre-6 AM) and drove about 45 minutes through unmarked country roads (thank God for GPS) into the middle of nowhere to get to Karlstejn.
If you like to push yourself out of your comfort zone, might I suggest that as a way to do it. The pro was literally opening up the pro shop at the course when I got there and didn’t speak a word of English (and I never bothered to learn a phrase or two of Czech). I was able to communicate enough to say I had a tee time and he let me out first. I read elsewhere that Karlstejn gets a good amount of play but I never saw anyone on the course all day.
I got a buggy (golf cart), thank God, and headed out to play the original 18 holes (they since added another nine). The first is a par five that took a pretty hard dogleg left (around some bunkers). Of course all distance was marked in meters. so I added 10% to convert to yards and despite the exhaustion, played the first pretty well, settling for a bogey. The photo above shows the pretty severe bunkering and how hard of a dogleg the first takes from the clubhouse.
The second is one of the most memorable holes on the course (for me). It’s a short (about 310-yards), downhill par-four where it’s easy to outdrive the fairway right into a pond. I laid it up off the tee, hit the small-ish green and two-putt for a par. A fun hole. I struggled here on the front beyond that and after a perfectly average 45 on the back, I shot a 93.
The castle comes into view around the 5th hole and it is part of the backdrop for at least a half dozen holes. There are a lot of great, elevation changes throughout the course and there were a lot of variety in the holes there. The photos show the conditioning – decent greens and fairways but spotty and brownish tees and rough. Overall if you placed this course in the Philly suburbs, it would be a slightly above average course. – thanks to the elevation changes. Throw the castle in and the fact that you’re in a former Eastern Bloc, cold war enemy country and this was a treat.
Is Prague a guys’ trip locale? Meh. I like the city and certainly like Bohemian Pilsners better than the Belgian beers or IPA crap. The courses were a bit out there and if you’re from the states doing a European guy’s golf trip, I’d suggest the UK, Amsterdam, Costa del Sol (Southern Spain), well before here.
In the city, you have to do the Prague Castle and if you’re an architectural geek, there are some well-known buildings/landmarks here. We ate at Grosseto Marina which was nice and right on the river and a little more upscale was Hergetova Cihelna (highly recommended), on the other side of the river. There’s a Czech Military museum (don’t) and an Eifel-like Tower (meh). The one-day road trip to Jelenia Gora in far western Poland was a neat drive and a nice town to spend the day.
We stopped in Regensburg, Germany on the way here and I golfed at Golfanlage Bad Abbach-Deutenhof. Sounds like an SNL Sprockets thing.
But I digress. While I rank Bad Abbach pretty well below Karlstejn, the topography, conditioning, et al were really similar. I guess it missed some of the scenery (like the Castle) and the clubhouse wasn’t as nice I guess. Plus I almost died here. So I walked and the distances between tees and greens were a bit much. Plus it was hilly and the handle kept yanking out of my pull cart until I realized it was a push cart. Also, as noted, I was fresh off a red eye and a drive from Munich to Regensburg. I was really thinking I was going to have a heart attack somewhere around the 15th hole that I had to stop and take a break. From the next week on I joined the gym, and even after COVID when I hit the treadmill at home, I’ve walked/jogged/ellipticalled/rowed/biked at least 5 days a week every week so I never get so winded walking a golf course again. Six years and counting!
Regensburg is another out of the way town you should try. I forget where we ate and we didn’t spend a lot of time here (me even less with the golf) but I liked what we did see. A couple photos below.
Karlstejn
Golfanlage Bad Abbach-Deutenhof/Regensburg
Golf Scrapbook 