Croatia's Approach Shot

Investors see it as the first hot golf destination in the postwar Balkans

David Yoder for TIME

Croatian employees of IBM play a round of golf on the island Brijuni, a favorite playground of Tito.

Bill Clinton was on the White House putting green on a sunny July day in 1995 when he and his advisers decided to consider military intervention in the Balkans in the midst of the violent disintegration of Yugoslavia. Then it would have been the unlikeliest of scenarios, but today parts of the Balkans--that powder keg of Europe--are on the verge of a golfing boom. At KPMG's Golf Business Forum in Budapest in May, Croatia attracted attention from big-name developers. Montenegro is also generating interest. And while Serbia and Bosnia are unlikely to attract foreign golfers--as neither share Croatia's tradition of tourism--both...

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