Casa Serena

The second to the 4th is one of the most eye-catching shots I have seen in my travels

The 9th has some great Redan qualities, with a long, hard-to-read green

Taking a risk and taking on the fairway bunkers at the 12th earns you this look at the green

The historic well short of the 17th green was discovered during construction and became a feature of the hole, which features a strong slope that will reject anything underclubbed

Course name: Casa Serena
Location: Roztez, Czech Republic
Four Word Course Review: The ultimate private escape

Casa Serena is an entirely private playground for the owner and executives of one of the world's biggest electronics companies, but I managed to spend a couple of days playing the course, with a few nights spent in the incredible Chateau Roztez next door.

The course was built from scratch on rolling Czech countryside by EGD's Robin Hiseman, opening in late 2008 to host a European Senior Tour event, won by Bernhard Langer.

It's a wonderfully strategic layout calling for more than a few heroic decisions, none more so than choosing to take dead aim over the fairway bunker on the long, downhill par four 4th, trying to find the kick pad that will send your ball to within wedge range.

Similarly, the reachable 5th, cascading 8th, tightrope 11th, gorgeous 12th and deceptive 15th all pose strong risk/reward choices on the tee. That's a lot of adjectives for one sentence, but Casa Serena is that kind of place: memorable holes with great aesthetics that reward smart placement in an amazingly relaxing location.

The par threes all hold some venom for the golfer who overestimates his strangth, with false fronts at the 13th and 17th, a deep bunker on the uphill 2nd and a tough lag putt if you find yourself a long way from the flag on the Redan-ish 9th.

But for all those strengths, let's not leave out the par fives: choices galore on the seond shot at the 6th with the ideal layup changing with the pin position, fantastic long undulations at the 14th and a monstrous cross bunker to be encountered on the second shot at the home hole. They are all thinkers' holes that can be reached in two shots, but not by brute force alone.

The earth has been moved in many places to create land that is good for golf, but the way single landforms have been formed to extend across several holes makes what's there look amazingly natural - no chocolate drops placed equidistant down the side of each fairway here!

Utopia awaits if they ever decide to shave down the runoffs around many of the greens, which would create a short game paradise like few I have ever seen.

With even a passable golf course built in this idyllic countryside in the shadow of Chateau Roztez, this would have been a wonderful place for R&R, but with such a wonderful, challenging and engaging - not to mention FUN - course it's one to dream of.