Introducing: Krysztina Batta twice Amateur Golf Champion from Hungary

Crysztina Batta from Hungary won the Cadiz Cup 2011, which took place at the Arcos Gardens golfcourse in Spain, May 5th 2011 this spring. She has twice won the Hungarian Amateur Golf Championship. She started writing about golf on a golfnews webpage but is now a md at a golftravel agency, which specializes in inbound and outbound golftourism in Hungary. Chrysztina is as nice and lovely as she is beautiful and… she is a pretty darn good golfer aswell. Here is the interview with Crysztina:

Name: Crysztina Batta.

Where and when were you born? I was born in Budapest, October 31st 1968.

Where were you raised? I was born and  raised in Hungary, but I´ve lived abroad quite a bit, in Italy, Canada and Belgium.

What were you doing in Italy? I was studying languages, English and Italian.

When did you start playing golf?  That was 11 years ago – in 2000.

Why did you start playing golf? I had a boyfriend. He really wanted to start playing golf, but I told him that was just a sport for old folks. I started playing because of him… now we´ve broken up… but I´m still playing golf…

What´s your occupation?   I´m a psychiatrist and worked as a headhunter for travelagencies i.e. finding qualified employees. Now I work as md at the travel agency Golf Travel and I have a website where I write about golf in Hungary. Here you can see Krisztina´s travelagencys´homepage: GOLF TRAVEL

Which one do you like more parkland courses og links style courses? I usually play on parkland courses because of where Hungary is situated – but I find  links style courses exotic.

How many golfcourses are in Hungary?  There are 8, 18 hole courses.

Which one is your favorite course in Hungary? Pannonia Golf and CC in Mariavolgy, which is about 40 km from Budapest.

What is your favorite golfcourse in the world apart from Hungary? Oitavos in Portugal in Cascais. (That´s a links style course).

What is the most special course you have played on and why ? International Club du Rova in Madagascar. That´s the only 18 hole golfcourse on the island. And why? Because the greens were huge and made of sand.

What is your handicap? 5,6

What is your lowest score and on which golfcourse did you get it? 73  in Budapest in a tournament.

Have you participated in other sports?  Yes, I have played volleyball and gymnastics from age 3. My parents wanted me to succeed and I was sent to a special school where we spent 4 hrs. each day practicing. When I was 11 yrs. old I had to choose between gymnastics and volleyball and I chose the latter. I was starting to play professionally when I hurt my knee and ankle and had to quit.

What is your favorite food, favorite drink, favorite music, favorite movie and favorite music?  My favorite food is  soup; my favorite drink is redwine in the winter and white wine in the summer; my favorite music is pop; my favorite movie is the Thomas Crowne Affair and finally my favorite book is Silk by Alessandro Baricco.

Who are your favorite golfers name one male and one female golfer? Male: Phil Mickelson . Female: Annika Sörenstam.

Who are the best male and female golfers in Hungary? Male: Daniel Kovari. Female.: Csilla Rozsa.

What´s in your golf bag and what´s your favorite club? Everything in my bag is from Cleveland and my favorite club is my 4 iron.

What do you like best about golf? The mental part.

Now there are rather few golfcourses in Hungary – aren´t people interested in golf in Hungary?  The Russians destroyed golf in Hungary. We had quite a golfing tradition and in fact we´re celebrating 100 years of golf in Hungary this year. But because of communism all our golfcourses were destroyed. They said this was an expensive, snobbish, bourgeois sport which didn´t fit into their doctrines.

Do you have an hungarian male or female golfer who have played on the European Tour or in the Staates on the L(PGA)? No, but in the 1920´s and 1930´s we had golfers from Hungary, who were very good.

Is golf a public sport in Hungary or is it something elitarian or something for rich people? Unfortunately it´s still rather a sport for those who are well off. 

Finally: What is your maingoal in life? To be happy.