Golf in Slovakia: Play the Country’s Oldest Course
If you are looking for golf in Slovakia, there is one place where the story of the game in this country began — and where you can still play it today. Piešťany Golf Club, founded on 26 July 1914, is the oldest golf club in Slovakia, laid out on the famous spa island of Piešťany between two arms of the river Váh.
A course born two days before the First World War
The course was established by the Winter brothers, the visionary lessees of the Piešťany spa, who wanted to offer their international clientele — aristocrats, industrialists and royalty taking the thermal waters — the same pastimes they enjoyed in Marienbad or Baden-Baden. Golf arrived on the spa island just two days before the outbreak of the First World War, which makes the club’s founding date one of the most poignant in Central European sport.
The setting quickly earned international recognition: the British magazine Golf Illustrated declared the course “The most beautiful golf course on the Continent” — a testament to its parkland character among century-old trees, with the silhouette of the spa colonnade nearby.
The course today: 9 parkland holes on the spa island
Today the club continues the tradition started more than a century ago. The 9-hole parkland course plays to par 68 over 4,326 metres when two loops are played, with one par 5 and five par 4s. A practice academy with driving range, chipping and putting greens makes it a friendly venue for beginners, while the mature trees and water keep it interesting for experienced players.
The course is open to visitors — no membership required. Green fees range from €29 (9 holes, weekdays) to €49 (18 holes, weekends), with rental clubs, trolleys and buggies available. See the full price list.
More than golf: spa, wellness and a historic clubhouse
The clubhouse occupies a historic state villa — once an exclusive retreat for prominent guests — with a boutique hotel, restaurant, sauna and jacuzzi, tennis court, golf simulator and a wine & cigar lounge. Combining a round of golf with Piešťany’s world-famous thermal spa treatments is exactly what the Winter brothers had in mind in 1914 — and it still works beautifully today.
Getting here
Piešťany lies on the D1 motorway roughly 80 km north-east of Bratislava (about 50 minutes by car) and around two hours from Vienna International Airport. The spa island is a few minutes’ walk from Piešťany railway station, with direct trains from Bratislava.