In a new feature for 2019, the European Challenge Tour will speak to someone with a close connection to every club we visit during the season to get the keys to the course from the person who knows it best.
Next up, it’s Challenge Tour member Filip Mruzek who knows his way around Kaskáda Golf Resort, the venue for the Grand Final Czech PGA Tour, and the host for this week’s D+D REAL Czech Challenge.
Mruzek has spent many seasons playing the Brno course as it hosts the Grand Final Czech PGA Tour year on year. With the venue making its debut on the Challenge Tour this week, local knowledge could be an important advantage.
“I’ve never seen rough like this here,” he said. “We played this course five or six times as the Grand Final for the Czech PGA Tour, which is usually in October, so the grass isn’t growing as much which means the rough is a little bit lighter.
“The setup in October is a little bit easier than now because this week we have thicker rough and faster greens. There is a higher first and second cut, so if you can keep the ball on the fairway then you’ll give yourself a chance to be well placed on the greens.
“During my practise round I hit a driver off the fifth tee five yards into the rough and nearly lost the ball, but that is how it should be.
“We want to see good golf and if you make a bad swing or miss the fairway then you should be penalised, but if you’re on the fairway you should be able to have a good shot at the green and that makes it fair.”
There are many elevation changes around the 7053-yard par 71 course, especially from the second tee which drops down before a dogleg right takes the players up to the elevated green.
“You need to give yourself an advantage off the tee and sometimes that is the danger line, but it is not too dangerous if you can calculate the 25, 40 and sometimes 60 metres change in elevation,” Mruzek said.
“There are some difficult and some easy holes on both the front and back nine. If you can keep the ball on the fairway, even on the difficult par four 12th hole, where you will take driver and then a five, six or seven iron, and par is a good score, then you should be able to score well.”
