Engadin Gollf & Hotel Guide 2018
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ALL IN ONE Engadin Golf & Hotel Guide 2018 English edition Engadine Golf Club Contents Home of Swiss Golf – since 1893! 3 What the Engadiners played before golf was introduced 8 Engadin has a lot to offer golfers 15 The Golf Season Stimedas golfistas e stimos golfists Chers amihs dal gö da golf 16 St.Moritz Gold Cup Que am es ün grand plaschair da pudair bivgnanter ad Els amihs in nom dal En- 19 International Swiss Senior Amateur Championship gadine Golf Club in Engiadina. 21 GolfersChoice® Engadin Pro Am The Engadine Golf Club - founded in 1893 is the oldest golf club in Switzerland. 22 International Autumn Golf Week & Seniors’ Golf Trophy That means 125 years of golf, tradition and many great encounters! 25 Golf included: unlimited golfing from the 3rd overnight stay! The Engadine Golf Club is a place where locals, guests and Engadine lovers have 28 Hotel Suvretta House and Suvretta Golf School always met and still meet, inviting you 33 Tee Time at the Parkhotel Magna and Margna Golf Academy to linger on and off the golf course. Even many celebrities strolled over the fair- 37 Freddie Zwimpfer in the restaurant Foura XIX ways of the Samedan golf course i.a. Prince Max of Baden, for example, the 39 The Mulligans – Barry Romeril’s little empire Bishop of Colchester or Prince Henry of Prussia, who also became a member of 40 Engadin Golf Center the club. Not to mention the Duke of Windsor and Aga Khan or Sean Connery. 45 A wide range of golf courses All sorts of things are planned for the 2018 season! You will find a selection of 52 Interview with Ueli Lamm our highlights in this magazine and we look forward to welcoming you to one of 55 Greenkeeping – the heart of every golf course the events in the Engadine. 58 Corvatsch and Diavolezza: fabulous mountain summer Also for the future we want to let the golf sport, the tradition and this special 63 RE/MAX – the way to the perfect home meeting place be alive and we are all the more pleased to celebrate our anni- versary this year - together with you, your friends, families and just about all Engadine and Golf lovers! Cordiels saluds e ad baindod Ramun Ratti Golf Engadin St. Moritz AG managing Director What the Engadiners played before the Scottish game of «Gouff» was introduced to their valley Mazza 3 By Adriano Testa A look into the past of club and ball games would not be complete if one did not mention those that were popular in the mountain valleys of the Alps. The closest to the Golf is probably the formerly very popular mazza game. Mazza is already described by historian Ulrich Campell (1510-1582). The aim of this game was to bring to the finish with as few strokes as possible a ball of wood that was usually prepared rather raw. The club consisted of a trun- cated cone, for which a particularly tough type of wood was chosen. In order to better execute the piston joint, a recess was cut in the thick end in some places. Depending on the area, round, semicircular or polygonal mazzas were used. The 70-centimetre-long, elastic stem was firmly inserted into the cone, 4 which the people of the Engadine obtained, if possible, from lower areas of land where various well-suited types of deciduous wood grew. The best stems were obtained from the elder bush (also called woolly snowball). They often played over long distances, mostly from village to village. A game is reported that went from S-chanf to La Punt Chamues-ch and back. A whole series of rules of the game, which again varied from village to village, resulted in ad- ditional difficulties, but increased the appeal. Experienced players hit the ball up to 150 meters. They were expected to take no more than five strokes for a distance of 800 meters. In Zuoz, Thomas Geer is said to have hit the ball from the house of Captain Rödel over the roof of the Catholic Church, more than 100 metres away, around 1880, i.e. very far and high. It is obvious that this kind of playing within the villages sometimes led to accidents, which led the authorities to ban Mazza in the agglomerations. Even if occasionally only one window pane was broken, this was a minor catastrophe, because glass was precious, as the fragile property had to be brought into the Engadine on the back of pack horses over the passes. Outside the villages, too, the time was short, since the meadows could only be wal- ked from the melting snow to the so-called meadow call, when the grass was a few centimetres high, and at most again in autumn, when the "Emd" was cut. However, there are also reports of individual games on snow, but for this the snow surface had to be frozen, so that one did not sink in, and this is usually only the case for a short time around spring. MAZZA ON THE FIELD WHERE THE SAMEDAN GOLF COURSE WAS LATER BUILT. In the Engadine in December 1734, Mazza was played on snow-free ground in Flaz (on today's golf course in Samedan) at strong frost. 5 Mazza was usually played in Spring after the snow has melted while the grass was still short, mostly on Sundays, but often also on Easter Monday, some- times on hard snow, which is said to have been beautiful. That was a com- mon occurrence in Samedan and Zernez. The different Mazza strokes 2. How to hold the Mazza to "drive" 3. How to throw the ball to strike 5. How to "chip" 6. How to "putt" 7. How to throw out opponent's ball from the "house" 8. Such a mischief permitted to repeat the stroke 9. How to "hole-out" (house) From Sils to Zuoz Engadin has a lot to offer golfers Engadin has just about everything a golfer could want – apart from Florida’s alligators and palm trees, perhaps. Whether you are a beginner or an expert, a passionate player focused on training or a more laid-back 8 type who enjoys soaking up the atmosphere on a gentle nine-hole round, you will find what you are looking for here. What is more, both of our courses are easy to get around in a golf cart. Samedan Built in 1893, the Samedan course is the oldest in Switzerland and one of the most venerable in continental Europe. Take a deep breath and feel right at home as you play on this classic course surrounded by the capti- vating mountain landscape of Upper Engadin. Standing amid the many larch trees, some over 700 years old, is not something you will forget in a hurry. 9 Facts & Figures 18-hole championship course, par 72, 6,217 m total distance. Clubhouse with restaurant and Academy Engadin Golf Center with three PGA Teaching Pros offering individual and group lessons. Spacious short-game area with water hazards and bunkers and driving range with 30 mat and turf tees, some covered, for extended training sessions. Bodmer Performance Center for swing diagnostics featuring TrackMan, FlightScope, RoboGolfPro and SAM Putt Lab – the full ranging of golfing expertise. For details of play, tournaments and more, see www.engadin-golf.ch Clubhaus ClubClClubCluClub-b haush aus Zuoz-Madulain Head just a few tee shots’ distance down the valley, and you will find the grandson to Samedan’s “granddaddy”: the Zuoz-Madulain course, opened in 2003. You will need good course management and a lot of pre- cision to master this complex challenge. As well as the sophisticated de- sign of the holes, Zuoz also offers diversity in its natural backdrop, not least in the form of colourful mountain blooms nestling along the edge of 11 the fairway. Facts & Figures 18-hole championship course, par 72, 6,007 m total distance. Restaurant, pro shop with rental clubs and Academy Engadin Golf Center with three PGA Teaching Pros. Chip and putt area and driving range with 40 mat and turf tees, some covered, offering an ideal training environment. For details of play, tournaments and more, see www.engadin-golf.ch GOLF ACADEMY Golf Academy by Parkhotel Margna Ready to try your hand at golf for the first time, or simply keen to play a few relaxed holes while enjoying the calm of the Sils plain? Whatever you are looking for, you are sure to find it here: six-hole Executive Golf Academy with driving range, putting and chipping green and PGA Teaching Pros. For details of play see www.margna.ch 13 Kulm Golf St.Moritz The newly designed nine-hole Kulm Golf St. Moritz course (par 27) opened in summer 2001. One of the highest courses in Europe at 1,860 m above sea level and featuring curtailed holes in a hilly setting, it poses a chal- lenge for any golfer and is great for honing your short game. The imposing view of the mountains and the unique lake-filled plateau below is a treat for the eyes. Facts & Figures Nine-hole executive course, par 27, with driving range and PGA Teaching Pro. For details of play, tournaments and more, see www.stmoritz-golfclub.ch Summer in the Engadin 2018 Golf Season This year too we have tried to put together a versatile tournament program 15 for you. Our golf events are for everyone and for any golf level. You will find just the right thing! Sporty and ambitious tournament competition or rather légère in "pleasure mode"..