Many beginners are surprised that buying an annual membership for a sophisticated fitness club is more expensive than golf.

Millions of people play golf around the world with varying degrees of regularity, because golf is not just a popular way to spend one’s free-time but is also an excellent way to network and mingle with colleagues. After a hiatus of almost 50 years, an increasing number of people in Hungary are now realising that golf is not a sport restricted to “bored billionaires”, instead it is an affordable social pastime.

Why should I play golf?

You can get to know people and network in the fresh air and in an elegant and cultured environment, not to mention the benefits for your health.

Who plays golf?

The youngest player at Highland Golf Club is 6 years-old, the most elderly is 83 years-young. Our players include university students and business people, workers and pensioners. United by the desire for a cultured setting and social contact, they come from a wide range of backgrounds.

What’s golf all about?

In a nutshell: you have to put a small ball into a hole in as few shots as possible. There are of course a few more rules than this, but we’ll get to that later.

What types of course are there?

Courses can be grouped in many ways, one of which is their size. The majority of golf courses are 18-hole courses (meaning there are 18 holes on the course), and these are suitable for “professional” players. Beginner golfers and those with busy schedules – who do not have the time or do not want to devote too much time to the game whenever they play – prefer 9-hole courses. (Playing an 18-hole course can take up to 4-5 hours.)

Highland Golf Club is a 9-hole course in Budapest, and very easy to reach. For example, one of our most dedicated club members, Steve Hajdú, visits the golf club almost every day; he generally has time for a game, a meeting or a chat before he is due in the studio or on stage.

How many people play golf?

Golfers generally play in “flights” (groups) of 3-4 people. This offers a great opportunity to get to know others and network, as it is easy for people to be drawn together that previously did not know each other. As the American saying goes, “the best deals are made on the golf course”. Of course, golf isn’t just ideal for business networking, generally speaking you get to know new people and friends both on the course and in the clubhouse, where you can relax and have a coffee or lunch after the game.

Who can go onto the golf course?

There are various types of golf club. Some are private clubs, where only club members can enter after paying their annual dues, and there are public courses, where everyone is welcome, even just for one time. Highland Golf Club falls into the latter category of public courses.

Do I need to sit an exam to go onto the course?

Yes, this is something that is asked for around the world. Firstly, if you are not familiar with the basic rules and shots, you do not know how to play; secondly, you put both yourself and others at risk; thirdly, you prevent those who know how to play from enjoying their round.

You can obtain this golf “licence” with just a few weeks of intensive learning; after sitting the beginner and intermediate courses at Highland Golf Club (2×8 hours) there is generally no problem in passing the exam.

One of the great benefits of Highland Golf Club is that we can offer a real golfing experience even before you obtain your “licence”, as we have designed a smaller par-3 course specifically for beginners.

How long does a game last?

Playing a full 18-hole course can take 4-5 hours, if the golfers walk round and do not use golf carts. Highland Golf Club is a 9-hole course, where a game takes approximately 2-2.5 hours.

What should I wear on the course, what is the etiquette?

In private clubs there are strict rules on what you can and cannot wear. Besides the characteristic polo shirt this means canvas trousers (ladies may also wear skirts) and special golf shoes.

At public clubs like Highland Golf Club, the dress code is much more informal. Members play in canvas trousers, polo shirts and trainers, but if you want you can of course buy the full golfing outfit. This is not compulsory though, especially if you are only getting to know the sport.

How much does golf cost?

You don’t need to start by buying expensive equipment. Nobody knows at the outset exactly what type of clubs and equipment they will need as it depends on your style of play. Everything can be hired cheaply, and this is the best way to start. There is a pro-shop in the golf club, and you are well advised to have a look round here first, learning about all the different pieces of equipment, asking for advice from the sales people, pros and more experienced golfers.

First of all you have to learn the main rules and shots. A beginner’s 8-hour course at Highland Golf Club costs HUF 29,990 per person, which includes the balls needed to practice. Throughout the duration of the lessons it’s worthwhile coming out to the golf club yourself to practise your shots, all you need is a bucket of balls (each bucket contains 48 balls and costs HUF 790) and a club. Practice makes perfect. And this certainly applies to golf too.

How can I become a golfer?

Basic exam

After completing the beginner’s course you can sit a basic exam. While this doesn’t yet mean you can go out to the “big” 9-hole course, one of the great advantages of Highland Golf Club is that we have designed a smaller “par-3” course, which is essentially a small golf course but affords the same enjoyable experience as the main course. A “season ticket” giving unlimited use of this par-3 course costs HUF 39,990; but if you manage to pass the exam for the “big course” in the following weeks and months and want to buy a club membership that gives access to the 9-hole course, then we will deduct the entire cost of the par-3 course membership from the price.

Intermediate course and licence

The next, intermediate course also costs HUF 29,990, and after completing it you have an excellent chance of passing the exam which lets you play on any golf course around the world. It is also possible to continue learning with individual golf lessons from your golf pro. If several of you want to come for lessons at the same time, then the price is similar to the “set courses” (our detailed price list is on the website).

After passing the exam your big day finally arrives, and you can go out to the 9-hole course. If you would like to visit Highland Golf Club frequently then it’s worthwhile buying an annual club membership; if you can’t come as often then you can buy a green-fee every time you play.

What do I need to know about the lessons?

You can register for golf lessons at any time, the times are listed on the website. Groups are started with 6-8 golfers, and the course comprises 4 x 2 hours of lessons and 8 buckets of balls. It’s worthwhile reading the course materials at home, as this will make things much easier for you during the lessons.

How do we play, how do we keep score?

Let’s summarise the main points of the game and the most important concepts; this is just for starters of course, listing the detailed rules would take a lot more time.

So, we finish our drink on the clubhouse terrace and head out to play. The first shot is on the tee; the ball is placed onto a small plastic tee pressed into the ground, which raises the ball slightly before we hit it. As mentioned earlier, the objective on each hole is to sink your ball, but we’ve got a bit to go before we get there. So, we hit the ball, and if everything has gone well we land on the fairway, here we hit the ball again and again towards the hole. There are various obstacles and hazards in our way, such as sand bunkers, small lakes, or the relatively high grass (rough) along the side of the fairway. If we’re lucky, we manage to avoid them, if not, then we have to try and rescue the ball if we can (for example, you can bid farewell to a ball that has sunk to the bottom of the lake, here you can hit a new ball but you have to take a penalty shot.)

Sooner or later we reach the green, which is an area with very short grass. This is where we want to be. The hole on the green is a “cup” with a diameter of roughly 10cm, marked by a flag. Once we have managed to put the ball into the hole, that’s the first hole over. (As mentioned before, some golf courses have 18 holes, Highland Golf Club has 9 holes.)

We add up how many shots, or strokes, we took; every shot and attempt at a shot counts (even those that didn’t succeed). There is a standard number of strokes set for each hole and therefore the course as a whole, which refers to the number of shots an experienced player should need to finish the hole. We call this par, so on a par-4 hole the standard number of shots is four. Most 18-hole courses are a par-72 (which means a total of 72 strokes), but of course, the total can be more or less, it depends on the actual course.

We can measure our own performance on the individual holes and the whole course compared to this standard, this average number of strokes, whether we needed more or fewer strokes to complete the hole, whether we were clever, or less so.

Clubs, types of clubs

We don’t just play with one club when going round the course, we have several clubs all with different functions. You can see on photos and in films how golfers pull little golf carts behind them that hold the clubs. The rules are that you can carry no more than 14 clubs, but as to the exact combination of clubs, the decision is yours.

There are three main types of club:

• woods
• irons
• putters.

Depending on how far you want to hit the ball, you will need a different type of club.

The “woods” have the longest shafts, and we use them to hit the ball the furthest. (We should point out that the “woods” description is more a legacy from the past and reminds us of golf and its traditions; today, these clubs are made from graphite, steel and other special materials.)

The length of the shaft and the loft of the club head influences the path of the ball. The angle of the club head, or the loft, determines how high the ball flies, and the clubs are numbered accordingly. The lower the loft, the higher the ball flies.

For example, when we hit a ball from the tee at the start of a hole we need a relatively low trajectory to go as far as possible, so we need a low-numbered “wood” with a low loft. Later on we need more accurate and delicate shots going smaller distances with a higher trajectory, before we eventually roll the ball into the hole.

As the loft of the “woods” increases, their number rises too, even moving up to nine.

The shafts of the “irons” are shorter, but they are also numbered based on the loft, from one to nine, while we have a pitching wedge (ten) and a sand wedge (eleven) too.

When we finally reach the green and want to put the ball into the hole we use a putter, which is a specially designed club that many will recognise from mini-golf courses.