Andy Mossack walks in the footsteps of British royalty at Kärntner Golf Club Dellach.
Many of the golf courses I’ve played around the world might well look beautiful, they might well be challenging, and they might even have breathtaking views. But many lack the one other thing that adds something special to the experience. The one ingredient very few have. And that is a storied history.
There’s no doubt in my mind that walking in the footsteps of legendary players or playing a famous championship course perhaps designed by Old Tom Morris just elevates the whole experience. History really matters in my opinion.
Kärntner Golf Club Dellach in Carinthia alongside Lake Wörthersee is certainly not famous, at least outside of Austria, in fact it’s quite a modest place if I’m honest. But what a history. it’s almost one hundred years old now and one of the oldest courses in Austria having opened in 1927. It’s also got royal connections as the Duke of Windsor played here frequently following his abdication and subsequent marriage to Wallis Simpson. Even the British army had a hand in its expansion after WW2 when it was stationed in the area and officers wanted to play golf during down time.
If fairways could talk, they would have a tale or two to tell I’m sure.
The club might be modest, but the course is quite the opposite. A real beauty but challenging and uncompromising with huge elevations, sweeping fairways and fast greens. It runs alongside Lake Wörthersee Carinthia’s largest lake which, backdropped by the Alps, offers some simply staggering views.
It’s not until the back nine that you get tantalising glimpses of the lake, but at the par 3 13th the full panoramic splendour is unveiled. But by that time, you may well be out of balls if you’ve been wayward!
Kärntner Golf Club Dellach is a stunning alpine parkland course lined with mature trees making every hole an individual adventure. It’s quite compact and at 5,600 metres not that long but make no mistake, you need to be very accurate as danger lurks everywhere you look particularly on the front 9. Take the 1st for example. It’s a short par 4 but doglegs left over a stream with out of bounds to the left and the fencing of the driving range on the right. If you’re a long hitter you can try to carry the stream, but the safety shot is short and right. It’s a course where crucial decision making is on nearly every hole.
I have more than a few memorable holes.
The beast that is the 3rd par 5 is one of them. The tee faces a vertical hill that only a monster drive will clear the summit. Then it’s a downhill lie just as steep, then through a narrow chute to the green. I was lucky to escape with a six.
But there’s more. The long 5th with its three tiered green, the sensational 10th with its elevated tee and huge sweeping downhill left to right fairway, the signature 13th as mentioned above (I birdied that by the way), the almost impossible par 16th, downhill but long, over a stream and massive incline by the green. And even the final hole, another par 3 but very long, with the driving range to cross over, an undulating green bookended by two bunkers and out of bounds behind. Phew. Rumour has it Colin Montgomery was so intimidated by the pin position during an exhibition game here, he demanded it to be moved.
Kärntner Golf Club Dellach is right up there in my alpine golf hall of fame, a wonderful design, heavenly views of Lake Wörthersee and, considering its only open 7 months a year, a fantastic testament to outstanding greenkeeping.
But don’t forget that glorious history too. Outstanding.
Image credits: Andy Mossack, Visit Carinthia, Gert Perauer and KGC..
Tell me more about Kärntner Golf Club Dellach
Kärntner Golf Club Dellach, Golfstraße 3, 9082 Maria Wörth, Austria
T:+43 4273 2515 E: office@kgc-dellach.at
Green fees €95
Golf in Carinthia with the Alpe-Adria-Golf Card
Most courses in Carinthia are characterised by wonderful views of the mountains and their proximity to a bathing lake. There are no limits to the variety you can experience in just one day of your holiday. Sometimes, in spring, it is even possible to ski and play golf on the same day
The cross-border Alpe-Adria-Golf Card covers the whole Alps-Adriatic region (Austria, Italy, Slovenia). This means you can use Carinthia as a base for golfing in three countries.
3 green fees: € 240 4 green fees: € 310, 5 green fees: € 375.
