Golf in Austria?

[Alohaed]

Hi all,

This May my dad is flying to Austria to celebrate his 80th birthday with his brothers and sisters. My brother is going with him. They will be there 3 weeks and he wants to golf a few times. We were told that you need a certain handicap to golf on courses there, and in Germany, and need a card? Anyone know if this is true or not? And also how to go about getting tee times, etc?

[mattshaver]

In Germany, you need a handicap for sure.  Typically under 28 or so.  I would imagine there are similar rules in place in Austria.  However, I've heard that for tourists, they will sometimes make exceptions to the rules if the pro watches you hit a few shots and sees you aren't a complete hacker.

I don't know about a card, but I'd guess it's just to prove you have an official handicap.

To get a tee time (and probably the best way to get concrete information), I'd imagine it's best to just call the course, same as in the states.

Hope that helps.

[benredik]

Where exactly in Austria are you going? If you are going to Vienna there are a few nice Golf courses on the Czech side of the border (incl my home course) It is about 1-1.5 hour drive away from Vienna. There you would not need any established handicap, but you need to be able to keep up a normal pace of play (1 round < 5 hours).

[Alohaed]

They are going to Klagenfurt, Karnten.  I guess he can ask my relatives, although none golf. I wonder also if you can rent clubs, rather than lug his along, only to play one or two rounds.

[mihi4]

It depends on the course they are trying to play on, but usually it's no problem to play golf as a guest. Sometimes you don't even need a handicap.

Here is a list of all courses in Kärnten:

http://www.golf.at/clubs/search_text.asp?lstSites=2

The first 5 courses are relatively close to Klagenfurt, except Golfpark Klopeinersee, which is a bit farther away.

Just send a request to the given email-adresses on the site and ask about their requirements.

HTH and greetings

michi

[mattshaver]

Michi, are you Austrian?  (Falls ja, Gruß Gott!)  I have an Austrian friend named Michi, which is why I ask.  In my experiences, Germans tend to stick with Michael, instead of going to Michi...

[mihi4]

Yes, I'm Austrian and I've been called Michi for as long as I can remember :)

Only my mother called me Michael, and that was in a sharp tone when she was angry about me *rofl*.

@topic: I forgot to add - usually every golf course here has some kind of proshop and there should be no problem renting a set or half-set of clubs for a round.

BTW, your German is perfect!

greetings

michi