I spent three days earlier this week checking out Casa Serena in the Czech Republic, about 70km south east of Prague.
It was designed in by GCA's own Robin Hiseman (European Golf Design -
www.egd.com) for the owner of consumer electronics manufacturer Foxconn. It's entirely private at present, aside from hosting one of the most lucrative events on the European Senior Tour each September since 2008 (when it opened), but there are thoughts of opening the course, and the adjoining 17th Century Chateau Roztez, to the occasional corporate booking.
The course is remarkably bold in its contouring and hazards, befitting a site with the strong changes of elevation, wide corridors and expansive vistas.
The width of the playing areas meant beautiful long undulations could be fashioned, with fescue rough separating many of the holes. The landforms in many cases extend across a number of holes, tying them together and giving the feeling of cohesion as you move through the round.
The bunkering is particularly bold: large and strategically placed, with many shaped with a number of bays. There's also good use of bunkers on horizon points to foreshorten the visuals, playing havoc with distance perception (there are no sprinkler head yardages, just 100/150/200m markers to the front of greens).
A lot of it is artfully done, but most fit a general strategy that makes for lots of fun heroic drives for the better golfer but wide, welcoming bail-out areas for the rest. There's lots on diagonals at play off the tee, creating a gradually sterner test.
The greens aren't as wild as some other new courses, in large part due to the client's desire for them to be able to get up to speeds of 11.5 and 12 on the stimpmeter. But they contain plenty of interest in the form of long shaping that is more subtle to the eye and takes some reading. The green shapes also make for some wonderfully wicked pin positions that you'll see in the pics to follow: front left on 1, front right on 5, back left on 11, front right on 16 and just above the false front on 17.
There are 1001 lessons to be learned and honed on repeat plays, which suits a course that will largely be played repeatedly by a small group of people.
I have to give a particular shout-out to the par fives: 6, 14 and 18. Having played his new holes at Dornoch on the Struie (10, which unfortunately has lost many of its bunkers, and 13), and now these three, Robin seems to have a particular talent for creating interest over a 470y+ hole, whether it's being played in two shots or three. I only hope my pics can do those holes justice.
ALL DISTANCES IN METRES - because they are sensible on the Continent and, to borrow from Vincent Vega in Pulp fFction, "they got the metric system over there" - add 10% for yards.
Also, the pics are a combo of those I took this week and some from last summer, showing the course in a few different conditions.1st - par 4 - 316/309/281The opening hole sweeps left, offering a wide fairway for the first swing of the day, but a diagonal string of bunkers cut down the left offering some risk and reward for anyone willing to get into it from the word go.
There is generally good benefit to be gained by chancing the sand, unless the pin is hard left, in which case playing to the right-hand-side and as close to the green as possible seems wise. As with many holes, it pays to consider the pin position before you pull a club from your bag on the tee.
As we came to the green one one of our walks around the course, a Czech greenkeeper drove by, greeted Robin warmly and proudly told him "zis eez my favourite hole". Robin asked why. "I play it one day and hit good drive, then seven iron, I pitch to zis pin, very difficult pin, and make an eagle!".
One thing that stood out among the greenkeepers (lead by two Englishman - Stu and Sam) is just how passionate they seemed about the course. The conditioning is amazing. The area had received seven weeks of constant heavy rain prior to last week but I wouldn't have had more than three or four squealchy steps the whole time I was there - a testament to their work and to the drainage (casa Serena is built on clay).
The drive:
Approach from the left:
Approach from very close to the green, 270m or so from the tee:
2nd - par 3 - 202/187/141mWhile 143m is the shortest men's tee, it's the one used in the Casa Serena Open and the one we played from. The green, one of the most severe on the course with fall-aways to three sides suits a mid-iron approach.
The bunker short doesn't really come into play - at least it shouldn't - but it catches your eye and asserts itself visually. It's a theme also cleverly used at 4, 8 and 12.
The thin dark line above the large bunker is a small greenside bunker around the back of which the green wraps.
