Born six centuries ago, golf seems to be a game of many mysteries. But in reality, most challenges are just assumptions and all you need to do is come to a golf course and hit a golf ball into 18 or 9 holes with as few strikes as possible.
The Crimean Magazine explored golf courses on the peninsula, training fees and gear.
Early years
Golf was first mentioned in Russian history during the Romanovs’ reign. Emperor Nicholas II and his family liked to play mini-golf, or putt-putt, taking training sessions in their summer residence in the Finnish municipality of Virolahti. The first golf course in Russia was created in the late 19th century in Murino, a trendy suburb of St Petersburg. It was first mentioned in 1891, making the year supposedly the time when Russian golf originated.
After the revolution, the sport of aristocrats was forgotten for a long time. The first golf course in the Soviet Union was not built until 1987. Pelé, Mike Tyson, Sven Tumba and Alexander Ragulin made symbolic swings at the foundation ceremony.
When golf became an Olympic sport in 2016, the world learned that Russia plays golf. Russian golfer Maria Verchyonova set a record by playing the best round among men and women. Despite the professional success, the game did not gain much popularity in the country.
Where to play
The first training golf course in Crimea was built at the Incomsport Sports Centre in Kuibyshevo, Bakhchisaraisky District. The first tournament took place on its opening day, November 7, 2010.
Director of the sports centre Igor Kashperko says that he has been a golf enthusiast for quite some time. He started working on his strikes on a football pitch with little knowledge about the game. In 2006, he began visiting classic golf courses where he met owners and learned from their experience.
“Those encounters determined my future. At the opening of the training course at Incomsport, my colleagues who had shared their expertise with me, presented me with a golf cart that works to this day. We never managed to build a full-size golf course with 18 holes. We have six holes on 10 hectares so we play in three rounds,” Igor Kashperko explains.
Incomsport holds competitions once or twice a year. Alexander Novosad from Yalta, multiple winner of international tournaments, won the Sevastopol championship last April. The Taurida Cup is coming up on November 5.
Playing golf at Incomsport is an aesthetic pleasure. The course is located in the heart of the Belbek Valley, surrounded by mountains and woods. It is a good place for a weekend getaway, with a hotel, a banquet hall, fitness facilities and barbecue spots.
Crimea’s second golf course opened last year in the Baidar Valley in Shirokoye, Sevastopol. Baidary Golf Country owner Maxim Molodshy received an investment offer ten years ago to open a golf club on the peninsula. The project never came through so Maxim decided to proceed without an investor.
“The Baidary course is about 35 hectares, with nine holes. There are some artificial hazards such as a sand-filled bunkers and rocks. More hazards make the game more challenging and exciting. Water obstacles and moats are particularly valuable. Some courses have an incline of several dozen metres. Our course is mostly flat with no natural hazards, so we created artificial ones. Now we are building one more site on a slope,” Maxim shared.
Baidary Golf Country has a unique location in the “Switzerland” of Crimea. There is a restaurant with a summer terrace on site and a large parking lot.
“We have a special microclimate. Grass is often covered in dew, which is good for irrigation. Our grass stays green until February when it “goes into hibernation” for the cold season. However, we can easily play in January and February,” Maxim Molodshy adds.
Easy and affordable
Maxim Molodshy promises that golf being an expensive sport is a myth.
“It is simple and affordable. Now is the right time to join the golfing community quickly and achieve good results. There are good opportunities for this in Russia in general and in Crimea, specifically.”
As for golf equipment and gear, you need golf clubs, balls, gloves, tees, markers and an umbrella. You also need a golf club bag and a trolley to transport clubs across the course. There is no store selling golf equipment in Crimea yet and Crimean golfers buy everything online.
A new set of golf clubs costs up to 100,000 roubles, down to 30,000 if the set is used. Golf clubs is an investment of sorts: even after a few years in use, they can be sold at half price or higher. One can start by purchasing one club and a basket of balls. A game set will contain up to 14 golf clubs. There are more than 30 types, each for swinging to a certain range and suitable for different surfaces. Golfers who are not ready to commit to this sport usually opt for using the gear provided by golf clubs.
“Here at Baidary, we offer miniature children’s golf clubs, sets designed for right-handed and left-handed players, for youth and women. We have 15 different sets. When a beginner acquires the taste for golf, they will pick their own clubs. Some like shafts made of carbon fibre as it is lightweight and bendable. Some will only buy metal clubs but they are heavier. Certainly, there are many other accessories. You don’t need all of them at once and can purchase them as you go,” Maxim Molodshy says.
Rules and training
It may appear that all you do in golfing is stroll across a course. In reality, it is an energy-consuming sport for all muscle groups. Playing an 18-hole game requires walking almost 10 km. It is also an intellectual challenge just like chess when you must be able to calculate your own and your competitor’s hits.
Maxim Molodshy says there are many rules in golf but the two primary ones are play the ball as it falls and accept the course as it is; and when both are impossible, do what’s fair. The goal is to hit a ball into a hole with as few strikes as possible. The player must always track the ball’s trajectory.
Training sessions will help improve posture and ball striking technique. For example, Maxim Molodshy films his trainees on his smart phone while teaching strikes and then reviews their posture during a strike, club movement and ball flight.
One day is enough to get a good hang of the game, learn how to hit balls and score several holes. The technique will be built after several sessions, and you are ready to play.
Golf as a lifestyle
Both Igor Kashperko and Maxim Molodshy say that golf is a sport of special mentality. It bears no hassle. Communication is another important skill as players learn to establish dialogue with their partners. It is also a good place for networking and socialising.
“Golf is my life. I play almost every weekend and make annual trips to a play on a big golf course. Almost my entire family loves this sport. I often play with my grandson,” Igor Kashperko shares.
Maxim Molodshy plays with his wife and their teenage sons.
“We play in a flight, or a grouping of three to four players moving together across the course. My sons are 10 and 15. I have heard stories of a two-year-old toddler picking up a club and starting to play at three. Our plan at Baidary is to open a children’s golf academy.”
Golf as business
Golfing can contribute to the economic growth of the tourist industry. Golf courses add investment appeal to a region, prompting construction of new hotels and housing communities, restaurants, shopping facilities and other infrastructure, which creates jobs. It is still too early to talk about the rise of the golf industry in Crimea and in Russia in general.
According to Maxim Molodshy, there are currently around 3,600 professional golfers in Russia. For this sport to become an industry, there must be at least two million. Some believe half a million may be sufficient. Golf is still an exotic pastime for Crimeans. The main goal today is to attract as many players as possible. Incomsport Director Igor Kashperko believes that not everybody warms up to golf after one lesson.
“We like to say that you need to catch a golf bug. We hold master classes for schoolchildren to spike interest in the game. I can immediately see if a child has potential for success in golf,” he says.
Baidary Golf Country attracts new visitors with entertainment programmes. There are concerts on the golf course on weekend nights. A jazz festival is planned for late August.
Golf trivia
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The word “golf” comes from the Dutch language although the game itself originated in St Andrews, Scotland. “Kolve” or “kolf” mean “club” in Dutch. Scots borrowed the word in the 14th century as “gof” and later “golf.”
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Golf started as a way for bored shepherds to pass time. They used sticks as clubs and rocks instead of balls.
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A ball can fly as fast as 150 kmph. Professional golfer Tiger Woods’ strike is so powerful that a ball can reach 200 kmph in flight.
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Every golf ball has 336 dimples. The pattern never changes and contributes to flying properties.
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Every golf course is unique. There are no identical courses as there can be no identical strikes.
- Golf is in the top ten of most popular sports, especially among businesspeople.
Photo: Yevgeny Letov
