Black Stork, A PGA Golf Course, Velká Lomnica (Taylor Braid)

Overview: The Taylor and Braid combination at Black Stork is an 18-hole routing within a 27-hole resort in Veľká Lomnica, on the southern side of the High Tatra National Park. The two nine-hole loops create a par-72 round with mountain views, a mostly open setting, water features and the Skalnatý stream crossing the property. The resort’s current course material lists three combinations, Taylor and Braid, Braid and Vardon, and Taylor and Vardon, so this profile refers specifically to the ranked Taylor and Braid combination rather than to all 27 holes. The open corridors invite confident tee shots, but the lakes, stream crossings and protected natural areas place a premium on choosing the correct line.

History: Black Stork’s modern story began with a practice meadow in 1999 and a natural nine-hole course in 2000. A contemporary 2006 account records the opening for play of the new 18-hole course in early July, with Martin Munka named as designer and Hans-Georg Erhardt supervising construction. The resort later added the third nine, creating the flexible 27-hole complex used today. The official history also records the A PGA Golf Course quality mark awarded in 2011. That sequence matters because the Taylor and Braid row is an exact 18-hole combination inside a facility whose layout developed in stages.

Did You Know? The resort takes its name from the black stork, a rare bird that regularly appears above the golf property because of nearby marshes and the wetland habitats protected within the site. Those biozones were planned into the resort during construction, and golfers are kept out of them. The result is an unusual relationship between a working golf landscape and the bird habitat that gives Black Stork its name.