Club zur Vahr, Garlstedter Heide, Pics

[Ulrich Mayring]

Hi folks,

there was some interest expressed in this course, which might be Germany's best. They recently closed for an entire year of reconstruction, especially the greens needed attention. Here are some pics of how it looks now and the construction phase:

http://www.golfdesign.de/img/pic/ref_bilder/garlstedt/garlstedt.html

Ulrich

[Philip Gawith]

Thanks for these pics Ulrich - nice to see a German course on GCA! There are some good looking holes. Where is this course?
Do you rate it as others do?

[Bill_McBride]

Ulrich, in 1994, I think, I played the private club in Dusseldorf, cannot remember the name.  I was working at a trade fair at the Messe Dusselfdorf and we went out there one afternoon and talked our way on, rented clubs.

It was quite an experience.  The course was pretty well routed, had some decent contour, but any shot more than 5 yards off the fairway was in knee high rough!  We didn't have that many balls with us so spent a lot of time in search of errant shots, and suffered some hand injuries gouging our way out.

The German golfers we saw were generally very inexperienced.  I guess golf was relatively new to the area.  However, they all appeared to hit straighter shots( if much shorter) than us!  

[Evan_Green]

Please forgive my ignorance of German golf courses (and lack of ability to read the German on the link you provided), but Ullrich I was wondering if this is the same course or a different course from the one featured in the World Golf Atlas? My inkling is that it is another course at the same club, but if you could clarify I would be appreciative.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Evan, it is the same course that is in World Atlas.  There is now a lot more water.  Our map is rather out of date.  

Ulrich, thanks for posting this.  Unfortunately German courses seem to be ignored by the British.  Which courses should GCAers have an interest in?  Hamburger/Falkenstein, Mittelrheinischer (Bad Ems), Krefeld?  There eems to be a large number of new courses.  How good are they?  

[Eric Franzen]

Mark,

Falkenstein is a must for any GCA-aficionado when visiting Hamburg.

I posted some pictures from there a while ago in this thread. http://www.golfclubatlas.com/forums2/index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=20977;start=msg378489#msg378489

Anyway, looking forward to Ulrich take on this and other German courses.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Eric,

Thanks for the link to Falkenstein, I missed it first time round.  It does look the real thing.

[Tim Leahy]

Ulrich and Eric,
Thanks for the pictures, Club zur Vahr was always one of my favorite courses in the book, but the pictures look completely different from what I imagined it looked like. It almost has an Augusta National look to it. Please continue to post any pictures of German courses you get to play. I have relatives in Dortmund that I plan to visit in the future and would love to see any courses in that area.

[Ulrich Mayring]

These are not my pictures, they are from the architect's site, who did the remodelling. I just found the link and posted it, because there was some interest expressed here.

Garlstedter Heide (near Bremen, btw) was built in 1964 and is widely considered Bernhard von Limburger's masterpiece. It supplants an older 9-holer in the racetrack, which dates back to the very late 19th century and is one of the oldest courses in Germany. I need to play this course myself after the restoration, but have heard great things.

The next contender would be Hamburg-Falkenstein, originally a Colt/Alison/Morrison design from the late 1920s, but redone by von Limburger in the 1960s. Basically, von Limburger had his hands on most great German courses, he built almost 10% of today's 650 courses himself.

The classic in Düsseldorf, that was mentioned, is probably Hubbelrath. Yep, you guessed it, von Limburger, 1961. Generally, you can say that von Limburger is Germany's H. S. Colt - very similar parkland style.

Bad Ems is a Simpson design and I like it a lot, but not sure if I love it. I am in that area frequently and will provide a detailed report with photos. But the season is ending here, so it may not be this year.

Finally, Frankfurter. It is not my favorite course and I live there. Too many trees and a bit repetetive. Also Colt/Alison/Morrison late 1920s and, of course, also redone by von Limburger in the 1960s. I may do it injustice, will play there again. But I much prefer nearby Hanau-Wilhelmsbad.

Ulrich

[Eric Franzen]

Ulrich,

Do you have any information on the magnitude of the changes on Falkenstein's layout during von Limburger's work on the course?

[Tony Ristola]

The course is heavily treed. Like a maximum security prison. Get in and you may not get out. I visited the course before the changes, and the only healthy greens were those in the open, exposed to the sun and wind. They were doing just fine. The others were thin and sickly. If they didn't get to cut away a fair bit of timber or move greens out where they can get some light and wind, I'll be interested to see how they perform.

For these reasons the course usually closed earlier than most in the Bremen area.

I do believe the course was to host the national championships last year, but due to problems with their new greens the tournament was switched to another course, WINSTON Golf, in Schwerin, a new course in the former east.

[Mark_Rowlinson]

Do you know if there is any move to restore any pre-WW2 courses that may have been lying fallow in the former DDR?  Indeed, what damage was done to courses such as Falkenstein during the war?  I've been to Hamburg a number of times and never had the opportunity to play it.  Maybe one day....

[Ulrich Mayring]

They rebuilt most, if not all of the greens at Garlstedter Heide. I do not know if they cleared trees, but the pics look great in that regard. There appears to be ample room to play.

In the former DDR all of the Golf courses passed away, probably for good. The racetrack 9 holer in Magdeburg is to my knowledge the only one that was restored. There are plans in Oberhof, though:

http://www.golfika.com/edi06_e.html

Frankfurter, btw, is currently undergoing renovation, I hope they clear some trees. Here are some pics that show the wooden disaster:



Ulrich