At least Péter Sarlós, the manager of Royal Balaton Golf Club told me this. Let's forget about stereotypes: you need time, but you don't need awfully lot of money to play golf. I lack both of them, but I have always been a huge admirer of golf T-shirts.
Balaton Golf (or Royal Balaton Golf & Yacht Club) in Balatonudvari has 67 acres of golf course. The place has perfectly cut turf, 10 acres of pine forest, more than 3 acres of water surface, a 30 meters deep mine pit and of course the stunning view of Balaton, which is likely to make you forget about the game. Don't worry; this place is certainly more exciting than a pair of ironed white shorts. While I'm talking to Péter, four middle-aged British guys walk by and share a laugh. A thought pops into my mind: they looked like the pin up guys for the newest Tommy Hilfiger collection.
The affordable Ferrari
Péter Sarlós says that there are Trabants and Ferraris in golf, too. This golf club in Balatonudvari has unique abilities which make this place a Ferrari for golfers. 'A few members of the European Golf Association rank this course in the top 20 on the continent. They have seen one or two courses, because in Europe there are 400-500 courses in overall. We hosted the Junior European Championship for three years.' It doesn't mean that an average person cannot afford to play here, because the entry only requires a playing ability test. 'Being wealthy is not a condition anymore. Budapest has 9-hole courses, which could give a 3-hour-long program for 5 000 HUF. It's almost like a few cinema tickets. If you find it expensive, don't even consider playing golf.'
If you passed the test, but you haven’t gained membership yet, you can buy tickets for one of the seven 18-hole courses, or one of the 9-hole courses. You can complete the courses casually, because there is no time limit, but there's a basic pace which is followed by every player.
Banned sport
'There are approximately 1500 subscribed golf players in Hungary and there are 1500-2000 foreign players, who are registered as golfers in other countries. 50-60 per cent of the players are from abroad on this golf course.
To make a comparison: in Austria there are 160 000 registered players. Since it was labelled as a western sport playing golf used to be a banned activity in Hungary under the socialist regime. Small group of friends played on abandoned fields, but it has not become a well-known sport among the dbo. It was not banned in the Czech Redbo and in Slovakia, so even though it was not a popular activity, they have more players than us. In Hungary the first golf course opened in 1991. We're running late compared to other nations. In Hungary playing golf is still connected to the image of the middle-aged Richie Rich, who arrives to the club in his Ferrari, wearing fancy clothes. At the same time more and more people start to realize, that completing an 18-hole course can be a challenge for sportsmen and a fun activity with friends as well. Playing golf requires time; it is more like a lifestyle.'
Interesting. I'm standing on the perfectly cut turf on my bare feet facing the fascinating view of Balaton, and it's more than enough for me right now. A future prospect of a picnic makes this sport even friendlier. It's a general rule: when someone's about to swing, there's complete silence around him. The best business deals are always made in a golf club: 'You can talk about everything during the 5-6 hours of play. Everyone uses their own ball and the sets are going simultaneously. You can't blame your opponent, because it's all up to you.'
Ball-stealing fox and rare orchids
'This golf course was built in 2008. A black pine forest surrounds us, but fortunately the authorities allowed us to cut a few trees down, because they are not part of the ecosystem here, they were planted later. This makes the course look like as if it was 20-30 years old. We were lucky to find such a big territory that we could form to our own taste. We share borders with the Balaton-felvidéki National Park. There is a rubble mine in the middle of the course which used to be the stone mine of Örvényes. Now this area is protected by law, because a very rare kind of Hungarian orchid is flowering in the middle of it every July. We are allowed to climb down into the pit only twice a year to collect the balls. We had to clean up 20-25 years' garbage that remained there from when the mine was ranked as a protected area. You can't imagine, there were Trabants, boats, tractor wheels. Mother Nature is starting to wake up, though. Last year a fox appeared and stole a ball from the green, because it thought it was an egg.'
