Bled (Slovenia): King's Course

[Ulrich Mayring]

I played this course yesterday and was a bit disappointed. It certainly is a structurally intact, classic layout with great bunkering and beautiful views. But the conditioning is so awful that it can't play to its potential. I'm all for rough looks and don't need perfectly manicured or fast greens (true rolling is nice, though). However, if the playing surface is designed for firm and fast, but is full of holes and clumps of loam and offers indistinguishable lies whether you hit the fairway or not, then it just isn't much fun to play.

There has been some praise for this course on this board, so I welcome any dissenting opinions. I loved the bunkering, it was very strategic and the stones could be removed, so no harm done. But the rest wasn't good, even though we hardly had any snow this winter and it's been sunny and unusually warm for weeks now.

Here are some pics:

https://picasaweb.google.com/realulim/Bled

Ulrich

PS: Christoph, do you know anything about Rudolf von Gelmini-Kreuzhof, who supposedly designed the original course?

[Frank Pont]

In dire need of tree removal

[Adam Lawrence]

I visited Bled four or five years ago. I thought the King's course had great bones - a strong routing on a beautiful piece of land (in a very appealing resort town - the lake is gorgeous). But I can't agree about the bunkering - most of it had become very dull flat discs, many of which were so shallow you could have putted out of them.

I thought that, with a sensitive touch-up, it could easily be a top 50 course in mainland Europe. Christoph does know a bit about Gelmini-Kreuzhof, because he filled me in on it later. One should also credit Don Harradine, who brought the course back into play in the 1970s, when Yugoslavia started to open up. There is a boutique hotel at the top end of the lake that was previously Tito's personal villa.

There is potential for more really good golf at Bled. The Lake course is not great - Peter Harradine told me it was done when his father's health was failing - but could easily be made excellent. And there is a lot of tremendous sandy ground in the area. If it was marketed properly, it could be one of the best golf destinations in Europe.

[Ulrich Mayring]

Adam, thanks a lot for your opinion, it helps me put things into perspective. You are right about the bones, the course is structurally intact and could be restored. I guess that when you visited it had to play ok, since they had a couple of minor Tour events at that time as well. But as of today all I can say is the course has fallen into disrepair. Must have missed the sandy ground, though, where should that be in this Alpine region?

Interestingly, the Lake course is claimed by the Hauser brothers!

The bunker placement on the King's Course is a strategic masterclass. You are right that they are easy to play out of, but at this point that's probably good, considering the state of the course. It's true that if the fairway and green surrounds were fixed, then part of this restoration could be a more "Coltish" design to the bunkers.

Ulrich

[Christoph Meister]

Ulrich,

Before Tito it was HRH Prince Paul of Yugoslavia who loved the place an in 1936 bought the land for the golf course. The course was opened in July 1937 by the Duke of Windsor it seems.

The course was designed by the Austrian Rudolf von Gelmini-Kreutzhof together with the Hungarian Desider Lauber. Gelmini worked as course manager (or whatever the correct term was at that time) at Brioni Golf Course on Brioni island, which then was part of Italy (today Croatia). Gelmini also took over the management at Bled. Lauber, who was one of Hungary's leading Amateur Golfers was quite experienced as he had also designed the courses at Tatra-Lomnitca (today Slovakia), Budapest (at Svabhegy mountain) and Semmering (some 70km SE of Vienna, today the oldest operating golf course in Austria). It seems Gelmini also worked as the professional at Bled during the 4 years the course was in operation then.

Christoph

Here are some historic pictures from 1937 / 38 and a scorecard/course information brochure 1980c.:


1st Green 1937c.


3rd green 1937c.


4th green 1937c.


7th green 1937c.


9th green 1938 looking backward onto 9th fairway

[Ulrich Mayring]

Thanks Christoph, great information.

Ulrich