Lipiny Golf Resort Is Entering Its Tenth Season

STYL Lipiny Golf Resort Is Entering Its Tenth Season 23,000 golfers: that is the result of last season at the Karviná resort, surrounded by the poppet-heads of ČSM, Darkov and ČSA mines. The Golf Resort Lipiny team do not waste time and are preparing their programme for their tenth anniversary season. Could you please summarize last year, for starters. What happened at Lipiny and what, on the other hand, didn‘t go well? The 2020 season was undoubtedly strange for all of us. Years ago it was unimaginable to play in face masks, not to be able to shake hands before and after the game, to have the usage of toilets or changing rooms forbidden and to have the restaurant closed. We want to thank all of our visitors that they obeyed all directions and restrictions as they came. We are grateful that the disease was not found in any of the Lipiny Golf Resort employees. Luckily, golf was classified as one of the less risky sports from the start, so we could start our “summer holes” season on 9 April. Although there were restrictions--for several months it was possible to play only in flights of two and entry to the Lipiny premises was completely banned for three weeks by governmental direction--23,831 rounds were played. In 2019, it was 21,000 rounds. Both courses were usually full throughout the whole season; maybe it was also due to the fact that other sports were not so lucky. In the pauses when the regulations were relaxed, we managed to organize forty tournaments and events in the end. The last tournament was the 2020 Lipiny Cup, which took place on 10 October, just days before another ban of all events. Both courses, master and public, remained operational and in good condition up to 9 December, which is a historical record! 80 ǀ POSITIV 1/2021 The climate changes and thus the season for summer greens was prolonged to an amazing 244 days. For the rest of the year, we play on shorter “winter holes”, if the weather is good and there is no snow on the course. The driving range is operational all year. Therefore, players can train their golf swing and shoot balls even into the snow. 2020 also taught us that golf itself, and a nice coffee or beer after the game on the restaurant terrace, is not granted. What has changed since the grand opening in 2012? Public reception of golf is better after ten years. We have a lot of work with kids, mainly in the form of day camps, organized in collaboration with the Lipiny Golf Club and supported by the OKD Foundation. On the other hand, we know that it is long-term work to get new players. We try to approach them by Saturday‘s starters’ lessons with training for a public course, including the introduction of the necessary golf etiquette. How many players from the Karviná region have you introduced to golf? Since opening in 2012, we have trained 5,000 new golfers that would otherwise never have entered a golf course if not for our convenient prices. Also, golfers from Poland discovered Lipiny and each year there are more of them. We have fifty boys and girls in the children‘s golf school. At Dělnická primary school in Karviná they even added golf as a facultative subject. The pupils that choose it, of course, train at our course. What are you planning for this season? We are staying optimistic and planning seventy-one tournaments and events for this year. From Friday‘s ‘nines’ with barbecue, children’s tournaments, eighteen-hole tournaments for handicap improvement, club tournaments, introductory lessons for rookies, Ladies’ Days, etc. In short: everyone can choose something they like. If the situation and weather allow us, we will start the season in April with the eighteenhole doubles Texas Scrabble tournament. Do you consider the fact that the course is located in an industrial region to be an advantage? Definitely. You are in Karviná, but you don‘t feel like you are in town at all when you’re on the course. You are walking on green grass, around ponds, sand obstacles and you can even meet seven swans that nest next to the second hole. It is truly perfect. Actually, you don‘t even have to play. You can just come to sit at our restaurant with a nice view, look at the surroundings and enjoy a nice day. I am looking forward to meeting you in the tenth anniversary season of Lipiny. Thank you for the interview.