Modry Las Golf Club is celebrating its first award for its championship course in miniature by launching a unique time-limited offer. After receiving one of Poland’s top honours, the West Pomeranian resort is gifting a complimentary round of the award-winning Orli Las nine-hole course when one round on the 18-hole course is played during the month of May.
The offer follows the ‘PGA’ – Polish Golf Awards, which are considered a highlight of Poland’s golfing calendar, having been awarded to the country’s foremost golf venues and personalities since 2007. For the latest awards, Orli Las, opened in 2015, was a clear contender for the nine-hole category with its multiple tee options, lush tree-lined fairways and stunning infinity greens.
However, as the resort’s Director of Development, Pamela Gromadzki, explained, receiving an initial award was as much about confirmation as it is about elation. “The idea behind Orli Las was to move with the times,” she said. “We wanted to create a nine-hole layout that would appeal to everyone – not just beginners. We wanted to create a facility that offered good players a quick but testing round. Attempting to design a visually appealing course that delivered all this was a huge challenge but this award suggests we got it right.”
Measuring just 560 meters (613 yards) and covering 2.5 hectares (6.2 acres), Orli Las is a short-course layout that can be enjoyed by players of all standards in under an hour. Indeed, while the intention was to create a design where the longest hole would be just 91 meters (100 yards), visual aesthetics were of equal importance with the course weaving through a lush Polish forest with stunning lakeside views.
“It is a very scenic course set in an undulating forest on a beautiful lake edge,” said South African golf course designer Theo Geertshuis who carved the original 18-hole course at Modry Las for Gary Player and masterminded Orli Las. “Although it is beautiful, it is also an extremely rewarding challenge. On each hole, I tried to create intrigue to keep the golfer on his toes. In the end, Orli Las turned out to be one of the best short courses I have seen anywhere.”
The average size of the greens at Orli Las is just 120m2 but contained within each are numerous pin placements and countless breaks and borrows. Each green features undulations and testing surrounds that offer various approach options or recovery routes.
“On many holes, you have either glimpses of the lake through the trees or the green appears to be right on the water’s edge,” said Gromadzki. “That combined with the undulations on and around the greens mean you have to be a pretty good player to get it right.”
Modry Las Golf Club consists of Orli Las and an 18-hole championship course designed by Gary Player that has hosted the World Amateur Golfers Championship and the International Polish Ladies Championship. Visitors to the resort who play Modry Las during the month of May will be invited to test their short game on the acclaimed nine-holer. It is an offer that should appeal to golfers of all abilities.
“The PGA award recognises the significance of thinking creatively,” noted Gromadzki. “To continue this idea, we wanted to make Orli Las available to as many people as possible, so we are offering complimentary rounds during May and will look forward to hearing the responses. We want to create a resort where players of all ages and abilities can enjoy nature and sport. Orli Las is a little jewel. We feel it is a great way of achieving this goal.”
Modry Las Golf Club www.modrylas.pl