Hospitality at the highest level
From Ika Grabowsky
Vorarlberg is a great place to live and play golf. Around two hours from Zurich, Munich or Stuttgart, a wide variety of courses and great hotels await.
Austria's highest golf course in Lech am Arlberg is a busy place. Every season, around 2,000 green fee players are tempted to tee off at 1,500 metres above sea level. No wonder: proverbial golf at the highest level is a must if you want to know what our neighbouring country has to offer. Since the opening of the Lech-Arlberg Golf Club in 2016, the five greenkeepers have been doing a great job. The maintenance conditions at this altitude are much more complex than down in the valley. But Lech also wants to offer its guests spectacular attractions in summer. This seems to be working well. The village is lively and the alpine meadows with their dramatic mountain peaks radiate a powerful tranquillity that is impressive. The cable cars take onlookers up to the Rüfikopf for a circular walk around art installations or to the opposite side of the valley to Oberlech to visit the "Skyspace", an open space that allows visitors to experience the mountain light in a new way.
Height gives distance
"With us, you can tell that golf is a target sport," says Markus Kleissl, CEO of Golf Lech AG, "and with our par 5 over 480 metres, we certainly offer length." After all, the air is thinner at high altitude. The balls actually fly further. But at the same time, you get out of breath more quickly. Although you are in the middle of the mountains, the course is flat. Only on the spectacular hole 7, a downhill par 3, is there a difference in altitude of around 25 metres. The Lech river with its tributary and fish ponds create a natural idyll where deer and roe deer enjoy the fairways before play begins.
Some guests come as day trippers. However, those who stay overnight in the founding establishments such as the Post in Lech receive up to 40 per cent discount on the green fee and can enjoy the concentrated power of Lech's legendary gastronomy. The kindness of the hosts, the extremely high-quality facilities of the hotels and the quality of service are truly impressive. Not to mention the pleasure factor when you first enjoy the unique view from the heated outdoor pool and then indulge in exquisite delicacies from Austrian cuisine. Incidentally, Lech is the village with the highest density of award-winning restaurants per inhabitant - a veritable land of milk and honey for gourmets and connoisseurs.
On the slope in Braz
The nearest 18-hole partner club is located in Bludenz-Braz and can be reached in half an hour by car. This PAR-68 golf course at an altitude of 800 metres has a completely different character. The 18 holes are built into the hillside and offer sweeping views of the surrounding mountain landscape.
"The course helps where it can," says a fellow player, as the ball hurtles into the embankment on the left, but bounces back onto the fairway from there. The rough between the fairways is kept short to ensure an enjoyable and stress-free game.
Up and down in the Bregenzerwald
The Bregenzerwald Golf Park in Riefensberg is very popular with German, Austrian and Swiss golfers. The journey from Lech is an experience in itself, leading through beautiful mountain regions down to around 800 metres. The uphill and downhill journey continues on the 18-hole course. Kurt Rossknecht designed it on over fifty hectares on both sides of the Weissach in 1997. You work your way down to the river, play uphill again on the opposite bank and finally play over the water again at the end. "Most of our 517 members run," says marshal Wolfgang Zoppel. "It keeps you fit." Fitness has less influence on the scores in the Bregenzerwald than the precise reading of the greens. They adapt to the slope of the hills and therefore always provide surprises.
Inka Grabowsky is a freelance editor for Golf & Country, a member of GC Bad Saarow and has an official HCP of 54 due to her respect for tournaments.
Further information about the region:
Vorarlberg Alpine Region
Lech Zürs