Austria - Put the skis away
Along with Wimbledon, the Tour de France, the Monaco Grand Prix and the British Open, Kitzbühel’s Downhill, the famous Hahnenkamm, two miles of glittering ice cliff skied by the aces at close on 90mph, rates among the world’s top 10 annual sporting events.
Eichenheim
Eichenheim
Telephone:
+43 5356 66615
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Website:
Courses:
6,200 yards, par 71
But golf and Kitzbühel? At one time only an Austrian might see much connection. No longer. This medieval Tyrolean town of 8,000, which swells to 35,000 for the Hahnenkamm, is home to four readily accessible golf clubs. Within relatively easy reach are another 19. Outstandingly, on the road out to Aurach, there is Eichenheim, ranked Austria’s number 1 among Europe’s Top 100 by the Peugeot Golf Guide. Kyle Phillips used all the imagination he put in to Kingsbarns to create this masterpiece beneath the Wilder Kaiser mountains, a rugged background to many a Hahnenkamm TV shot.
Kitzbühel in prime winter season has the glitz of St Moritz, the pizzazz of Aspen and the prego of Cortina d’Ampezzo. In summer, it settles down to a simpler life beneath the arches and wrought-iron shop signs of busy, narrow streets. The Krankenhaus, or hospital, will be shorn of skiing’s torn knees and shattered femurs. But hotels and inns remain warm and practised hosts for summer hikers, mountain bikers, riders, rafters – and, these days, golfers of all levels.
At 2,000 feet, Kitzbühel is relatively low, but it sits in a cockpit of stunningly good-looking mountains. Much of the golf is in a set of approachable valleys, and the season is from early May to mid-October.
Although Vienna boasted the country’s first golf club as far back as 1910, most Austrian courses are of fairly recent construction, with plenty of water and sand coming in to play. Some of the topography needs creative treatment, and it’s worth a pro-shop check on distances from greens to following tees. A buggy may be a wise choice.
Being a latecomer, Austria has few ‘ol’ guy’ rituals, not least because 40 per cent of Austrian players are female, and, by the look of them, as effective with a seven-iron as they are on a ski slope. Clubhouses have some of the best food in town, and are visited as much for that as for golf. If Germanic society defers, it is to academic and business status rather than handicap.
