Super fun! This is actually a very far cry from the typical "Hit and Run" job by a famous name in an underdeveloped country. The terrain at first appears to be not entirely suitable, but the routing through a valley complete with stream, trees and assorted slopes can only be called inspired. Nothing here looks like it has been imported from somewhere else. What a light-hearted layout and how comfortable it sits on the land!

You get to hit your opening drive into wide open country, there's the always popular drop shot par 3 and a diagonal "bite off as much as you can chew" drive across the scenic river Tepla.

The course compares very favorably to the graver and more famous Royals close by. And I say that even though Cihelny is marketed as "Scottish architecture", a concept that does not immediately come to mind when thinking of the Gary Player design company working in the wooded hills of Bohemia

It pains me to award only four and a half balls, but my tally came up just a hair short of five. Maybe it's the sole responsibility of the 15th hole, which I believe was messed up royally.

The longish par 4 dogleg right has an alternate fairway that makes the hole so much easier that I suppose everyone used it and the club decided to make it harder again by turning the fairway into rough. Of course, standing on the tee I couldn't see how long the grass was and after a perfect shot was rewarded with a gnarly lie. The words "inept", "clumsy", "bumbling" and "heavy-handed" come to mind.

Be that as it may, but now let's get to the best feature: they have this unbelievable railway line, which I have not seen bettered anywhere else. So this time, instead of showing off some beautiful hole, I'll give you perhaps the most charming single-tracker in golf. (UM)