This is the English version of an article first published in Polish: read the Polish original. It refers to source material: pologne.travel. The text is our own commentary, not a translation or copy of that source.
Few Wilanów residents know that a few hundred metres from the palace, at ul. Vogla 19, a golf facility has been running for more than twenty years. Golf Parks Poland Wilanów, more widely known as the Royal Wilanów Golf Club, was founded in October 2002 on the initiative of Janusz Herburt Hewell and Andrzej Persona. The club's first president was Kazimierz Marciniak. Since then the site on Vogla street, six hectares of grass just behind the fence of the palace park, has remained one of the oldest places of its kind in Warsaw.
The facility is open daily from 8:00 to 22:00. Its main attraction is a driving range with thirty bays, lit with halogen lights so practice does not stop at dusk. Next to it are a putting green and a chipping green for short game practice, plus a training bunker. There is also an equipment rental point and a pro shop, where clubs can be bought or fitted without a prior reservation.
Not just for golfers
For families with children, mini golf tends to be the more interesting offer, available on site without needing to know the rules of the real game. The golf academy runs individual lessons, both for adults starting from zero and for children, who can train on their own or together with a parent. It is a rare opportunity in this part of Warsaw to introduce a child to a sport usually associated with clubs outside the city and a longer drive to get there.
The facility is also home to the Królewski Klub Golfowy w Wilanowie (Royal Golf Club Wilanów), a separate organisation for people who play golf regularly. Club membership comes with discounts at other courses in the region, including Lisia Polana, where Wilanów club members pay less than the standard rate. The current price list for driving range entries and lessons is best checked by phone, at +48 22 424 70 83, since the figures available online come from different years and do not always agree with each other.
For someone who drives past Vogla every day on the way to the palace or to Jezioro Wilanowskie, this place can be easy to miss. There is no neon sign or billboard by the road, just a fence and a row of practice bays. And yet it is one of the first, and still one of the larger, driving ranges in Warsaw, operating on the same site for more than two decades.
