Hencse National

Golf may only have been officially recognised in Hungary since 1989, but Count Géza Andrássy played it on a Hungarian racehorse as far back as 1902 and the first course was opened at Tátralomnic in 1909. The game flourished between the two Great Wars, with Bobby Jones traveling to Budapest in 1936 to play in a competition to mark the 25th anniversary of the Hungarian Golf Club.

Unfortunately, golf went into hibernation in 1949, at the start of the communist era in the country, and it remained that way for another thirty years, prohibited by the authorities. Dr. Ferenc Gáti then returned home from Cuba and reintroduced golf to the nation, forming the Blue Danube Golf Club in 1979. Despite political resistance, club members built a golf course in Kisoroszi and were instrumental in establishing the Hungarian Golf Federation in 1989.

Set among the rolling hills of the Zselic Natural Reserve in the south west of the country, not too far from the Croatian border, Hencse National was laid out by Hungarian entrepreneur Paul Banhidy in 1994, following plans drawn up by Dutch architect Joan Frederik Dudok van Heel. Banhidy sold the business to a group of Irish investors in 2002 (when it became European Lakes) but he then reacquired the business in 2014 when it ran into financial difficulties.

Three years later, the course had still not officially reopened, though holes were being maintained and local golfers in the know were able to play an informal round on an ad-hoc basis. Paul, his wife Judit, and a handful of helpers were overseeing the renovation of the magnificent old manor house, the clubhouse and adjoining accommodation units.

In 2018 a revitalised Hencse National fully reopened.