Old Lake - Hungary

The Old Lake course surprised me. Located just off the main highway between Budapest and Vienna, it’s set close to the southern shores of Öreg-tó (which translates as “Old Lake”), around which the small town of Tata is laid out.

The course has been open for less than twenty years but it looks like it’s been there a lot longer. Fairways are lush, greens sensibly contoured and the holes are very lightly bunkered. There’s a relaxed feel to the place in a very peaceful setting – apart from the background traffic noise on a few of the closing holes!

The short stretch from hole 4 to 6 is easily the highlight of the round, with the 319-metre 6th probably the signature hole on the layout. A wetland area lies along the right of the fairway at this hole and a pond eats into the front right side of the green, with the putting surface sloping from back to front.

Four of the six par fours on the front nine measure less than 300 metres in length so there’s plenty of opportunity to pitch and putt for a birdie on these holes. The more undulating inward half plays a good deal longer than the front nine however it also contains three daft 90 degree-dogleg holes at 11, 13 and 17 which detract from the overall golf experience.

No disrespect to the original Canadian/Hungarian designer but if a more renowned architect was given full scope to modify the routing on the back nine then I’m sure Old Lake would greatly benefit from such a move – it’s a good course at the moment with the potential to be distinctly better.

Jim McCann