CZECH Republic

Golf around the "crown of the world"

Maticka Praha - 'little mother Prague' - capital of Czech Republic, is one of the most attractive city in the world due to its history linked to all European achievements. It is a great destination by itself. But for those who want to play golf, old and new courses take place all around the country.

by R. Bourne

Prague June 2005
Squeezed between Austria, Germany, Poland and the Slovak Republic, the Czech Republic (Bohemia in the west and Moravia in the east) is part of Central Europe and member of EU. It has a beautiful and diverse landscape with famous mineral spas but a tumultuous history.

In 1212, Prinz Otokar II became king of Bohemia, part of the Holy Roman Empire till 950 but the imperial crown went to the Habsburg who brought the Bohemia's Golden Age. Prague grew into one of Europe's largest and most important cities ornamented with Gothic landmarks, still there despite wars and occupations. After the famous defenestration of two Habsburg councillors from a window of the Prague Castle on 23 May 1618, the Czechs lost their rights and identity through forced Catholicization and Germanization. If Prague was the first city in the Austrian Empire to rise in favour of reform after the 1848 revolution in Europe , independent state was created only during the 20 th century when Czechs and Slovaks agreed to form a single federal state.

After the Great Depression (1931/33), the Czechs rebel against the infamous Munich agreement (1938) giving the Sudeteland to Hitler so that the Germans managed to repress severely killing many of the Czech intelligentsia and deporting thousand of Jews in concentration camps. On May 5, 1945, due to the action of the Czech resistance against German forces, the Red Army could enter in a liberated Prague which escaped mass destruction. Under Communist Party, the 1950s were a nightmare: many Czechs were imprisoned, executed or died in labour camps.

After the tentative of Alexander Dubcek's "socialism with human face" the Soviets crush the "Prague Spring" in 1968. Totalitarian rules were re-established and 500 000 members who refused to renounce to their belief were expelled from the Party and lost their jobs. After the fall of the Berlin Wall, Vaclav Havel took the forefront of the "Velvet revolution" and after the separation between Czechs and Slovaks in 1993, he became the first president of the new Czech Republic .

Multiple oppression have influenced Czechs' behaviour developing their resistance to bureaucracy and imperialism and a particular sense of irony which leaks out the literature of Kafka, Kundera or Jaroslav Hasek's famous "Good Soldier Svejk", a tricky but modest guy playing an hilarious idiot to get out from damned nuisances.

Nowadays, Czech Republic recovers due to its solid industrial base and ingenious population. The picture is not all rosy but the new democracy seems to be working and the country has open its doors to international tourism, golf being part of the strategy.

- where to play
   - what to see
   - where to stay
   - information

Czech Republic is part of Central Europe

One of the most attractive city in the world

View from the U Prince Terrace over Clock Tower and old town square

The city of tousand clockers

The Royal Golf is 100 year old

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