Ljubljana related
STA, 4 April 2022 - Slovenia's best professional golfer, 18-year-old Pia Babnik, has set a new milestone by taking third place in the first major tournament of the season, the Chevron Championship in California, US. This is by far the best result any Slovenian golfer has ever achieved. She now ranks among the world's top 50 female golfers.
Babnik finished the four-day tournament with a prize money of five million dollars at 11 under par to finish behind two Americans, Jennifer Kupcho (-14) and Jessica Korda (-12).
Having entered the event ranked 109th in the world, she has now climbed to 43rd place in the Rolex Women's World Golf Rankings in what is a career milestone for her.
The third place brought her 334,972 dollars (about EUR 303,100) and 40 points for the rankings, more than she has won in any of the tournaments in her two-year professional career.
Given the eligibility requirements for the remaining two majors in the US, 43rd place means she will be eligible to play in all five majors this season. This feat also gives her the lead in the European rankings for the 2023 Solheim Cup, the biennial competition between Europe and the US.
"I'm exceptionally pleased. This is truly a great achievement since this is my first major in the US. I enjoyed the game, found good ways out of difficult situations and finished the tournament in style," Babnik told the STA.
"This success opens the door wide for me to the largest tournaments in the world."
This was Babnik's third appearance at a major tournament. She will now take a short break from golfing to focus on school. Her next tournament will be a European Series event in Madrid in May.
STA, 29 September 2021 - A Slovenian sports aficionado has come up with a new hybrid sport, a mix between tennis, golf and footgolf that he calls tennigolf. The game is played on a golf course with a racket and a tennis ball, while the target is a footgolf hole half a metre in diameter.
"Tennigolf is a new sport that nobody in the world has registered or patented," Aleksander Kravanja, the inventor of the sport and owner of the Bovec Golf Course, said at the sport's world premiere yesterday.
The Bovec Golf Course has been offering footgolf for a several years now and has even hosted an international competition and national championships in the increasingly popular sport.
According to Kravanja, tennigolf is more accessible than golf, which requires a lot of skill, or footgolf, which requires between three and five kicks of a football for a single hole.
Bovec is currently the only place where it can be played, but next year the plan is to introduce it at several more courses across Slovenia.
In the coming weeks, the new sport will also get more precise rules and a handicap system.
There are quite a few hybrids between golf and other sports. Disc golf is particularly popular and players have five courses available in Slovenia.
Footgolf is much more recent but has exploded in popularity, with an estimated 120,000 active players worldwide at the moment.
Kravanja, 51, took a liking to footgolf several years ago.
"I started with golf and then I realised that other activities can be performed on a golf course. I tried footgolf and I realised people were enthralled with the sport... I'm sure tennigolf will thrive as well and in the future we'll be able to say that Bovec is the homeland of tennigolf," he said.
Visit the Bovec Golf Course
Slovenia’s slow reopening continues along with its vaccination program and those of its neighbours. At present (6 May) outdoor drinking and dining is possible, along with indoors under certain conditions, as set by set by the National Institute of Public Health. Hotels, hostels and B&Bs are also open, albeit currently limited to offering 30 rooms, and visits to galleries, museums, and so on can be made. Moreover, with the EU making plans to enable international tourism, there’s every expectation that the country will have a relatively busy summer season, as people take advantage of their new freedoms to do things they once took for granted.
Of course, when it comes to Slovenian tourism one site stands out above all in the promotional literature – Lake Bled, its island and castle, which reopened for business a few weeks ago – along with the views that surround it.
The oldest and largest golf course in Slovenia
It’s this backdrop that helped Royal Bled win the honour of being added to the World of Leading Golf’s list of “Best and Most Beautiful” courses in 2018, based on the high quality of service, excellent golf courses – both 18- and 9-hole – and the fact that golfers rated it as well worth revisiting.
In February 2020, just before the world shut down, Royal Bled gained further renown when it joined golfscape’s top 100 courses in the world. The oldest and largest course in Slovenia came in at #86, just after The Blue Monster at Trump National Doral Miami, USA, and before Golf de Spérone, France. Unsurprisingly, it was again the beauty of the area that caught the imagination of the authors, with the report noting “the course is flanked by towering mountains and the impressive valleys of the Alps. With excellently manicured grounds, many hail it as one of the most beautiful courses in all of Europe.”
But can you enjoy Royal Bled today, with the epidemic still not over? The simple answer yes, Royal Bled’s golf courses and restaurant are open for business, as is the luxury accommodation that’s available in the King’s House – originally built for King Alexander I of Yugoslavia – and the Lake House, with special “Play & Stay” packages available to ensure comfort, convenience and full golfing pleasure (details here)
Golfers who plan on staying elsewhere can book a tee time online for the 18-hole championship King’s Course (€155), or the 9-hole Lake’s Course (€55), and clubs, trolleys and carts can be rented. Note that the handicap requirements to play on the King’s Course are 29.0 for men and 36.0 for women, with an HCP certificate needed to prove this. There’s also a dress code for both club and restaurant, with details here.
The tournament season at the club begins in June, with the Royal Bled International Pro Am running from the 10th to 13th, open to a maximum of 22 teams of four players including one professional, with more details here. July then sees the 47th Golden Lion Trophy on the 17th, while the 28th to 31st is the 48th Golf Week, sponsored by Tesla, Castrol, Optisis and SK Golf, all played with those beautiful views.
In short, if you’ve spent the last year trapped at home and dreaming of wide open spaces, great natural beauty, and a good walk enhanced with a game, then now’s the time to visit the Royal Bled website and plan your trip to one of the best golf courses in Slovenia.
Golf Resort Royal Bled, Vrba 37a, 4248 Lesce, Slovenia
Related: How to spend from four to 48 hours in Bled
How many golf courses are there in Slovenia?
At last count there were 14 golf clubs in Slovenia, offering both 9- and 18-hole courses. Lean more about them here.
STA, 2 November 2020 - Slovenia's Ana Belac has won the women's Carolina Classic golf tournament to achieve by far the greatest success for Slovenian golf ever and come very close to making it to the world elite in the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
The 23-year-old Portorož native finished first at the US$200,000 tournament in the Pinehurst resort near Fayetteville, North Carolina, in what is her first season among professional female golfers.
Belac led at the tournament from start to finish, leaving the closest competitor, Allison Emrey of the US, four shots behind.
With the first title for Slovenian golf at professional tournaments, she has taken the second place in the overall rankings of the Symetra Tour, which is the entry point for the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA).
Belac's result is seen as an exceptional achievement in the Symetra Tour, as this was only her eighth tournament among professionals since she finished her studies at Duke University in April.
After Saturday's win, Belac told the STA that making it to the LPGA Tour was only the first of her career goals, as the final one is to become the best female golfer in the world.
While virtually securing a ticket for the LPGA Tour, where an average prize money for a single tournament is US$2 million, she has also been invited to the US Open championship in Houston in December.
"I wanted to win and I knew I could win. This time I practically played on the home court, on which I have trained a lot with the university, so I was more confident and determined to show what I can do," Belac added.
One of the three Slovenian women with the status of professional golf player, along Katja Pogačar and Pia Babnik, who mostly play in Europe, was not bothered by the strong wind and rain in the last two days of the tournament.
"Other players were complaining over the conditions in which they had to play, while I enjoyed myself and played my game. The experience from Europe, meaning the bora wind around Lipica, where I started my golf career, certainly helped me."
Royal Bled already appears on the list of the best and most beautiful golf courses in the region of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and now it has another recognition, named as among golfscape’s top 100 courses in the world. The largest and oldest course in the country comes in at #86, just after The Blue Monster at Trump National Doral Miami, USA, and before Golf de Spérone, France.
Once again it’s the beauty of the area that catches the imagination of the authors, with the report noting “the course is flanked by towering mountains and the impressive valleys of the Alps. With excellently manicured grounds, many hail it as one of the most beautiful courses in all of Europe.”
If you’d like to play a round at Royal Bled then note that it’s open from March to November, with both 18- and 9-hole course, and due to its status and appeal is one of the pricier golfing options in the country – but you get what you pay for. The website is here, while our look at all the 6-, 9- and 18-hole courses in Slovenia is here.
STA, 22 April 2019 - Pia Babnik, a 15-year-old Slovenian golf player, has won a major tournament in Scotland as she affirmed her status as one of the best up-and-coming female players in Europe.
Babnik took home the Helen Holm Scottish Women's Open Championship over the weekend with a seven-shot win over France's Charlotte Bunel.
Ranked 37th in the global standings of amateur golfers, Babnik led the field from day one with an opening round of 66 at the Royal Troon golf course.
In the end, she had a seven-shot margin over France's Charlotte Bunel and a record 15-under aggregate.
? | CHAMPION @PiaBabnik completes the wire-to-wire victory at #HelenHolm.
— Scottish Golf (@ScottishGolf) April 21, 2019
More to follow from @RoyalTroonGC. pic.twitter.com/swtmx6Zh1R
BBC reported that the teenager is now targeting a return to Scotland for September's Junior Solheim Cup, the youth version of the team event pitting Europe against the US.
"For me, it would be a very special day to be part of the European team," Babnik told the BBC.
The Courier, a UK news portal, said the spectators may have been "early witnesses to a new phenomenon in golf".
All our stories on golf are here
Whether you tend to birdie, bogie, or blow up, the country has enough varied courses to keep both residents and visitors coming back for more.
A chance for buyers and sellers to meet and grow.
Another move to promote the country as a golfing destination.
