Growing up in the Czech spa town of Marianske Lazne, Oldrich Nechanicky resisted the communists in the only way he knew how: by playing golf.
Nechanicky cut the grass at his local course and learned techniques from magazines smuggled in from the west, while the regime pumped money into more socialist team sports such as soccer and ice hockey.
"Golf was not too popular," said Nechanicky, now manager of the course 15km from Germany. "But thanks to enthusiasts and party members who got hooked on it, we kept it alive here despite ideas such as turning the course into a potato field."
Czechs are completing their transition to capitalism by rekindling a passion for golf that dates back a century and never died during four decades of communism. There are 69 golf courses in the Czech Republic, up from 39 in 2002 and more than in the rest of eastern Europe combined.
KPMG predicts about 20 courses will be built within five years in the country of 10.3 million people.
"The Czech golf boom was only a matter of time," said Stepan Slezak, who trains players at the Marianske Lazne course. "In our country, the possibilities have opened up, new courses are built, and golf is marketable."
In the 1900s, golf courses sprang up to allow royals to play during their stays at the Karlovy Vary and Marianske Lazne spa resorts.
Hot springs at Karlovy Vary and the waters at Marianske Lazne were reputed to cure illnesses. Marianske Lazne's course was opened in 1905 by Britain's King Edward 7. The fairways and greens were rejuvenated after World War 2 by US soldiers who liberated the area.
That ended in 1948 when the communists took power. While the communists neglected golf, a small, "tightly knit community" of several hundred people kept the sport alive during the Cold War. Swings and rules were passed on from players as there was no coaching, and golfers searched for every lost ball as no shops stocked them. Clubs were imported by people allowed to travel.
Nechanicky travelled to other countries for tournaments, only to be questioned by the police on his return. A few party members played golf and didn't hide it. Boris Tunkl took up the sport in the 1970s when working at the uranium mine near Marianske Lazne. Tunkl and others would parade through town with youth groups, sports clubs and union members to show support for the party on May Day and other holidays.
"I was a member of the party and you could not get to certain positions without that," said Tunkl, who has an 18 handicap. "For me, golf was a passion."
Golf has captured a new generation of players over the past decade as the Czech economy boomed and per capita gross domestic product tripled since 1990 to the equivalent of $15 661 (R110 880), according to the International Monetary Fund.
Today there are about 27 000 registered golfers in the Czech Republic and thousands more informal players, according to the national golf association. Marianske Lazne has 620 registered members, though it relies on revenue from foreigners and Czechs who pay 1 650 koruna (R569) for a weekend round of golf.
That's pricier than most clubs in Scotland, the home of the sport, and compares with the 20 400 koruna average Czech monthly wage.
Nechanicky inherited his love of golf from his father. "We lived in a golf world and believed in its boom one day," Nechanicky said. - Bloomberg