Zala Springs Golf Resort

Routed around the periphery of a generously proportioned 160-hectare property, the 18-hole layout at Zala Springs Golf Resort forms the sporting focal point of an exciting new residential development which is located only twelve kilometres from the spa town of Hévíz and its famous thermal lake.

Opened for play in 2016, it’s a top-quality golf facility situated at the heart of central Europe where golfers from key markets such as Austria, Croatia, Slovakia and Slovenia have easy access to the course and for those arriving from further afield, it’s a mere two-hour drive from Budapest airport.

The course was built by Garry Ashfield of Golf East, working with lead architect Bruce Charlton from Robert Trent Jones II Golf Design, and the fairways are laid out around several small irrigation lakes that were excavated during construction to provide material for shaping some of the holes.

Large rocks mined from the site during the build have been creatively brought into play on a number of holes – on the right side of the fairway at the 1st, to the left of the fairway on the 7th and they line the creek that cuts across in front of the green at the photogenic short par four 6th.

The outward half begins and ends with a testing par five: the 1st hole is double doglegged, bending right then left to a heavily sand-protected elevated green, with the 9th hole heading left and ever so slightly downhill to a Biarritz green that’s perched on the side of a very attractive pond.

On the back nine, the first water hazard presents itself at the 167-metre 12th, where an all-carry tee shot is required to hit and hold a shallow, angled green on the other side of an intimidating lake. There’s more water in front of the clubhouse at the 18th but the home green sits far enough to the right to minimise the aquatic challenge.