Schloss Pichlarn

Thanks to the contributions of an enlarged group of panellists, our Austrian listings have been expanded from a Top 40 to a Top 50, with five courses dropping out from the old chart and 15 coming in to help define the new line-up. Only four courses remain in the same position during this revision and one of them is Adamstal, our national #1 which took over the top slot from Fontana in 2018. Adamstal The 18-hole Championship layout at Golf Club Adamstal – Franz Wittmann near Ramsauis is a Jeff Howes redesign from the late 1990s and it has graced our Continental Europe Top 100 over the last ten years, with the course currently residing at #85 in those standings. The Challenge Tour’s Euram Bank Open has been held here since 2018 so it’s a championship-calibre layout capable of testing the top professionals. Earlier this year, a reviewer posted: “Wow. What a course. We played on a hot summer’s day and even for a fairly fit 60-year-old a buggy was essential. Every hole on this course could be described as a signature hole and the views are simply breathtakingly awesome. The condition of the course bearing in mind it’s covered in snow part of the year was superb. A must play if anywhere near.” Linz St Florian The course at Golf Club Linz St. Florian dropped out of the elite Austrian Top 10 echelon in 2018 but it now advances seven places to #9, the joint-highest ranking position it has held in our chart. This manicured parkland layout was originally designed by Donald Harradine in the mid-1970s then Hans-Georg Erhardt conducted a renovation on the Tillysburg Estate during the 1990s.  Seefeld-Wildmoos Soaring nine places up the chart to #10, the course at Golfclub Seefeld-Wildmoos near Innsbruck is another Donald Harradine production dating back half a century to the early 1970s. We understand the architect’s son Peter is due to carry out renovation work later this year (involving the creation of a couple of new irrigation lakes) and this should ensure the Harradine design legacy lives on for at least another fifty years. Just last month our Alpine Correspondent Francois Gacougnolle wrote: “If you want to discover what excellent alpine golf can be, Seefeld-Wildmoos is a great place to start (where) everything must be earned it seems. Just getting there is an adventure as the entrance lies at the end of a 3-km ever-winding, narrow-access road the club shares with hikers most of the way. The clubhouse sits atop a hill some 200 metres from the parking lot. A friendly welcome, and then… the fun and surprises begin.” Klagenfurt - Seltenheim The Perry Dye-designed course at Golfclub Klagenfurt-Seltenheim occupied a Top 10 position for the first four biennial editions of our Austrian chart but it then fell from grace to #18 in 2016, dropping further down the rankings since then. It now enjoys a turnaround in fortunes, climbing eight spots to #15. Older browsers of this site might remember seeing this course appear in the 'Peugeot Golf Guide of Europe’s Top 1000 Golf Courses' where it was awarded a mark of 17 out of 20 in the 2008/9 edition of the book, putting it among the top 25% of featured courses on the continent at that time. Haugschlag Rising eleven to #22, the Haugschlag course at the 36-hole Golfresort Haugschlag lies next to the border with the Czech Republic and it also lies in the shadow of its slightly shorter sibling, the Waldviertel course, which staged the Austrian Open three times in the mid-1990s. The Haugschlag saves the best until last at the short par three 18th, where the round concludes with a tee shot to an island green next to the clubhouse.  Saalbach-Hinterglemm Progressing a remarkable thirteen places to #25, the Kitzeinhorn course at Golfclub Zell am See-Kaprun Saalbach-Hinterglemm sits on the north bank of the Salzach River, named after one of the local mountain peaks. Donald Harradine laid out the original 27 holes at this 36-hole facility, nine of which are used for the Kitzeinhorn, along with another nine that were subsequently added by Hermann Schauer. Ottenstein The highest newcomer arrives at #24 and it’s the course at Diamond Club Ottenstein which is set between the villages of Niedergrünbach and Marbach im Felde in Lower Austria. The first nine holes of the Bird Course were designed by Keith Preston in 1991, with Hans-Georg Erhardt adding another 9-hole loop four years later. Six of the eighteen holes feature water hazards, adding another dimension to the golfing splendour at this fine golfing establishment. To view the entire detailed list of our latest Top 50 Golf Courses of Austria click the link. View list here. If you have any comment to make on the above chart then please use the “Respond to this article” link at the top or bottom of this page. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Outstanding Golf Resorts in Central Europe We began our look at resort golf twelve months ago in Portugal’s Algarve region. We’ve since been round the Mediterranean to a variety of places on the Spanish Costas, Belek in Turkey and the island of Mallorca. Venturing further south, we’ve looked at courses in Tunisia, Marrakech in Morocco and the Canary Islands in the Atlantic. Only France and Italy from the more “mainstream” European nations have appeared in this series so it’s now time to cast the spotlight on a few other central European countries with great resort offerings. The weather window for playing here is shorter but the golf product is often as good as you’ll find in the hotspots that we’ve previously written about. Czech Republic – Beroun Host venue for the last three editions of the Czech Ladies Open, Royal Beroun Golf Club is situated 30 kilometres southwest of Prague city centre, with an entertaining Les Furber-designed parkland golf course which is complemented by a fabulous, multi-function clubhouse. The club’s website calls this an “ambitiously dimensioned” building and that’s exactly what it is, featuring a restaurant, private clubroom, wellness and fitness centre with an outdoor pool, and a large conference room. The boutique hotel occupies the upper floor of the clubhouse, with seven double rooms and two deluxe rooms. Slovakia – Black Stork  Positioned close to Poprad in the southern foothills of the High Tatra Mountains, the Black Stork Golf Resort at Vel’ká Lomnica operates a 27-hole facility which has evolved from the original 9-hole setup unveiled at the start of the new millennium. The course lies within the Tatra National Park in an unspoilt landscape with sensational mountain views in a clean, fresh air environment. The on-site Hotel International offers accommodation in twenty-eight double rooms (one of which is specially adapted for less mobile visitors) and one suite. The wellness centre includes indoor and outdoor pools, a whirlpool, steam room and sauna, along with a fully equipped gymnasium. Austria – Diamond Austria’s only European Tour Destination venue, Diamond Country Club has staged the Austrian Open since 2010 on its Jeremy Pern-designed Diamond course. There are actually thirty-nine holes in play at this facility, with the main 18-hole layout complemented by the 9-hole Park and 12-hole Country courses. The club’s 42-room onsite Aparthotel affords spacious accommodation and easy access to the golf courses and the twinned 4-star Diamond City Hotel on the south bank of the Danube in nearby Tulln provides guests with another city stay alternative. Hungary – Zala Springs  Located close to the small spa town of Hévíz, which is famous for its large thermal lake, the Zala Springs Golf Resort boasts an 18-hole golf course designed by Robert Trent Jones Junior as its sporting focal point. Opened for play in 2016, the complex now includes a boutique spa with swimming pool, classic steam cabin and authentic Finnish sauna. Accommodation options close to the clubhouse include Junior Suites and Golf Studio Suites with Terrace. For larger groups, there are Grand Premium Family Suites comprising two bedrooms, a large living room, modern kitchen and dining room. An artisan breakfast and use of the spa is included for every stay. Slovenia – Royal Bled Dating back to 1937, when the Yugoslav King Aleksander Karađorđević chose Bled as his summer residence, the golf course at Golf Resort Royal Bled has attracted players from far and wide. Donald Harradine re-designed the layout in the early 1970s then another 9-hole course was added in the 1990s. Only five years ago, Swan Golf Designs upgraded the main 18-hole King’s course when the firm carried out an extensive renovation to completely revitalize the course’s fortunes. Like both Diamond Country Club and Zala Springs, Royal Bled is a member of the IMG Prestige global network. The accommodation extends to ten elegantly furnished rooms upstairs in the King’s House clubhouse, along with four double rooms in the adjacent Lake’s House which can be configured for families or groups hiring out the entire building. Switzerland – Bad Ragaz Golf Club Bad Ragaz was founded in 1905 and down the years the club’s golfing ground has been worked on by three generations of the Harradine family: Donald Harradine’s stepfather improved the original 9-hole course in 1925, Donald himself constructed the existing 18-hole layout in the mid-1950s then his son Peter Harradine subsequently added the 9-hole executive track. The golf facility lies on the floodplain of the River Rhein so the wooded landscape’s a bit flat but the towering mountain surroundings make this one of the most picturesque places for the older professionals to tee it up when they compete in the annual Swiss Seniors Open on the Legends Tour. The adjoining Grand Resort Bad Ragaz contains three high-end establishments: the Grand Hotel Quellenhof & Spa Suites; Grand Hotel Hof Ragaz; and the Palais Bad Ragaz. In total, there are 247 rooms and suites allocated across these three hotels. In addition to the associated thermal pools, saunas and fitness equipment in the wellness centre, the resort operates a medical centre staffed by an Interdisciplinary team of more than seventy doctors and therapists.  Germany – Bad Griesbach Quellness & Golf Resort Bad Giresbach (renamed in recent years from its original Hartl Resort title) in Bavaria is the largest golf complex in Europe, with ten different golfing layouts and a massive circular Golfodrom training centre. Two of Bad Griesbach’s five 18-hole layouts – the Brunnwies and Beckenbauer – were designed by Bernard Langer and both are listed in our German standings. Three 9-hole courses, a 6-hole “hacker’s” track and a 6-hole children’s short course completes the golfing line-up at this impressive operation. There are a total of 105 rooms available for stay and play on the Brunnwies, Penning and Uttlau estates in addition to three superior hotels at the resort: the 5-star Maximilian (205 bedrooms); the 4-star Fuerstenhof (145 bedrooms); and Das Ludwig (168 bedrooms). If you have any comment to make on the above article then please use the “WRITE A RESPONSE” link at the bottom of this page. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Top 100 Golf Courses revises its Alpine rankings 2020 We re-ranked our Top 100 Golf Courses in Continental Europe a month ago and since then we’ve been updating the various national listings and issuing news releases to coincide with these chart revisions. This Alpine edition for Austria and Switzerland is the ninth and final publication in a sequence that has taken us all the way from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the Atlantic Ocean in the north. Austria There are only two non-movers in our newly extended Top 40 for Austria and one of them is the Championship course at Adamstal, which remains our national #1 layout. Located in a gorgeous mountain setting near the small town of Ramau, an hour’s drive southwest of Vienna, the course is a mid-1990s production developed by former rally driver Franz Wittmann, with architect Jeff Howes extending the original 9-hole set-up to form the 18-hole Championship course then adding another 9-hole track called the Wallerbach. Adamstal - Championship course Reviewers last year were fulsome in their praise for Adamstal: “the sites for both courses are quite dramatic. The mountainous terrain has been heavily massaged to produce golf holes threaded through dense forest and across, up and down some severe slopes… it is a truly glorious course to see and to play… top scenic environment and the most challenging golf course.” Moving higher up the Austrian Top 10 tier, the course at Golfclub Am Mondsee rises four places to No.6. Laid out on former farmland next to Lake Mondsee in the mid-1980s, this 18-hole Max Graf Lamberg design is configured as two returning nines, each of which concludes with a curving par five hole on either side of the imposing Drachensee Lake inlet. Mondsee The biggest climb in our Austrian chart is made by the course at Dachstein-Tauern Golf & Country Club near the Schladming ski resort in Styria (up nine to #10), reversing a fall of seven places when we last updated the European national listings two years ago. CEO Franz Wittmann Junior, son of the Adamstal owner, is working hard to raise the all-round standards at the club and the course has come on leaps and bounds in recent times. Dachstein-Tauern The East course at Colony Club Gutenhof lies in the shadow of the West course at this fabulous 36-hole golf facility on the southern outskirts of the capital but the gap between the two layouts has closed considerably with the East advancing seven spots to No.14 in our new Austrian standings. Co-designed by Kurt Rossknecht and Hans Erhardt, these parkland tracks opened for play in 1990 and both have challenged and entertained in equal measure during the last thirty years of operation. The course at Golfclub Schloss Frauenthal is the highest of our ten new entries, debuting ahead of the other newcomers at #20. Our Alpine correspondent François Gacougnolle was here a few months ago and had this to say about the layout: “this course is definitely not trying to compete in the ‘monster’ category and it will probably never attract professionals… since length off the tee was never going to be the real issue here, the creators of Frauenthal used just about everything else you can find on a golf course to make your par a little more challenging to score.” Schloss Frauenthal Rank/ To view the complete detailed list of the Top 40 Golf Courses of Austria click the link. Switzerland The top three courses in Switzerland remain in the same position so that means the 18-hole layout at Golf-Club Domaine Imperial is still the national No. 1. It’s a rare Pete Dye European design, inaugurated by Seve Ballesteros in the summer of 1987, located close to Lake Geneva, less than ten kilometres from the French border. Mentioned last year in a review as a “delightfully comfortable” place to visit, the course was also described in the same post as “clearly where ‘the 1%’ play their golf”. Domaine Imperial Only four courses move forward in the newly expanded Swiss chart and the biggest jump is made by the new millennium design of Jeremy Pern at Golf Club Vuissens, which is now three places better off at No. 4. It’s a personal favourite of our man in the Alps, François Gacougnolle, who regards it as “not easy, physically and mentally tiring, but a lot of fun!” In his opinion, “its only weakness is that it is far from just about everywhere, and not easy to find.” Sometimes, going the extra kilometre or two can bring its own rewards. Vuissens The first of five chart debutants arrives at No. 15 and it’s the course at Golfclub Breitenloo, situated eight kilometres northeast of Zurich airport in a hilly area between Kloten and Wintherthur, with lovely views of the Glat Valley and the Alps. The club was founded in 1964 and both Donald Harradine and Frank Pennink are credited with involvement in the initial development of the club’s 18-hole course before Kurt Rossknecht carried out a major renovation early in the new millennium. Breitenloo To view the complete detailed list of the Top 25 Golf Courses of Switzerland click the link. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses