Haugschlag (Waldviertel)

In the northern region of Austria, not far from the Czechoslovakian frontier lies one of Austria’s premier golfing destinations, the modern and luxurious resort of Haugschlag. There is not only one but three courses to choose from at Haugschlag, but the course that everyone wants to play is the Waldviertel, three times Austrian Open venue. Waldviertel is so called after the densely wooded area of the same name and the course meanders across pleasantly undulating ground, bordered by the woods and dashed with natural ponds.

Waldviertel was designed and built in 1988 by a group of Austrian architects who call themselves Austrogolf. At that time the company had only been in existence for a couple of years and generally speaking, if you involve too many people in a single course design, you end up with a disjointed layout. Not so at Haugschlag, the course is totally in tune with its surroundings and it flows well. Their design philosophy is very much to work with Nature rather than against it.

The course is blessed with an amazing six teeing areas, three for ladies and three for men. Consequently, the course can be stretched from 5,030 metres to 6,262 metres and we think that the Waldviertel course is the first in Europe to offer three separate ladies tees. The 1995 Austrian Open at Waldviertel proved to be a memorable birdie fest for Alex Cejka. His opening round score of 61 is still the current course record and unsurprisingly, after his electrifying start, he went on to win the event by 3 strokes.

With three courses to choose from, Haugschlag represents an attractive venue for a golf trip and it really does live up to its slogan: “This is the place for golf”. Couple this with a stay at the onsite four-star hotel and you have a marriage in heaven.