Golfing around... Berlin

Minty Clinch battles with some deceptively tough courses near Berlin, and negotiates some serious water hazards

Sporting Club Berlin

Where is it? 75km south-east of Berlin What’s it like? The Sporting Club is a resort on Scharmutzelsee, a large lake near the spa town of Bad Saarow. The 224-room A-Rosa hotel has a beach and a spa, sailing and tennis schools, and conference facilities. The Arnold Palmer course opened in 1995 and the Nick Faldo two years later. Greenkeeper Jake McEwan has been honoured with his own nine-hole, and the Stan Eby public course was added in 2001. At first sight, Faldo’s flat, open terrain is not intimidating, but what you think you see is not necessarily what you get. As is his custom, he used subtle landscaping and lots of bunkers. The well-drained front nine have a links feel, while trees are used on the final stretch. The result is always austere, often cruel – all liberties are punished to savage effect. Palmer is a marriage of convenience between the 1930s Sporting Club nine-hole course and the newer, and wilder, non-adjacent front nine. While not obviously cohesive, it is playable, enjoyable and less of a card wrecker than the Faldo. Contact 3 Parkallee, Bad Saarow; tel +49 336 3163 300; sporting-club-berlin.de; resort.a-rosa.de Price Faldo €90 (resort guest €70), Palmer €70 (guest €50), Stan Eby €60 (guest €40), McEwan €20 (guest 215). Buggy €35. Club hire Taylor Made (changed annually), €20 per round Club hours 8am-7pm summer, 9am-6pm winter Minimum handicap Faldo: men 24, women 28; Palmer 36; Eby 54 Facilities Three 18-holes – Nick Faldo (par 72, 6,486m), Arnold Palmer (par 72, 6,563m), Stan Eby (par 71, 5,950m). One nine-hole, Jake McEwan (par 27, 1,221m). Golf academy, double-ended covered and grass driving range, practice area and putting green. After the golf Clubhouse restaurant open from 12pm Tues-Thurs/10am Fri-Sun until last customer leaves. Closed Dec 1-Mar 1.  

Golfpark Schloss Wilkendorf

Where is it? 40km north-east of Berlin What’s it like? In the mid-1990s, Sandy Lyle turned a rectangular plot of rolling countryside into a nicely judged layout catering for players of all standards. Using the natural contours, he created broad cambered fairways, many with doglegs, out of fields and woods. The trees are rarely intrusive – the narrow 15th is an exception – and the bunkers, while plentiful, don’t necessarily spoil the chance of a decent score. Water kicks in at the 16th and 17th, set on either side of an irrigation lake, but this is an unpretentious, tranquil course, only marred in wet weather by dead terrain. The 50-room Lakeside Castle Hotel Strausberg (tel +49 334 134 690, thelakeside.de), a 19th-century Gothic property 3km down the road, is similarly relaxing. The cheerful pub serves honest, affordable food and has a pool table. Contact 1 Am Weiler, Altlandsberg; tel +49 334 1330 960; golfpark-schloss-wilkendorf.com Price Sandy Lyle: 18 holes €38-45 weekdays, €65 weekends; nine holes €30 weekdays, €40 weekends, €30 twilight. Westside public course: €30-€38 weekdays, €50 weekends. Six-hole Academy course: €10 weekdays, €15 weekends. Buggy €26. Club hire €14 per round Club hours 9am-6pm Apr-Oct, 9am-5pm Nov-Mar Minimum handicap Lyle 45 (weekends 36), Westside 54 Facilities Two 18-hole courses: Sandy Lyle (par 72, 6,517m), Westside (par 71, 5,792m). Six-hole (par 3). Academy course, driving range, practice area and putting green. Golf Academy (+49 334 1330 910) with separate facilities and clubhouse. After the golf Roman villa-style clubhouse, Restaurant am Grun, opens at 9am. All-day happy hour in the bar.  

Golf and country club Seddiner See

Where is it? 45km south-west of Berlin What’s it like? After the conceptually British North course opened in 1996, Robert Trent Jones Jr was asked to work his American magic on the South course, his first design in Germany. The blueprint for a project located in the Berlin lake district included 11 reservoirs, many of them intrusively incorporated into both courses. Water runs the whole way down the ninth and 18th fairways on the South – a big no-no for hydrophobics. Whereas the North course is fairly routine, the South course benefits from Trent Jones’s intelligent use of flat terrain. Best for low handicappers with a strong sense of strategy and tactics. Contact 44 Zum Weiher, Michendorf; tel +49 332 057 320; gccseddinersee.de Price South: €75 weekdays, €85 weekends. North: €60 weekdays, €70 weekends. Golf Academy: from €25 for 30 minutes, from €50 for one hour. Club hire King Cobra and Callaway, €20 per day Club hours Nov-Mar 8.30am-4pm, Apr-Oct 8am-7pm Minimum handicap South 28, North 36 Facilities Two 18-hole courses: South (par 72, 6,486m) is closed mid-Nov to Mar; North (par 72, 6,259m). Covered and grass driving range, practice area and putting green. After the golf The spacious, glitzy clubhouse restaurant is open May-Oct from 12pm and has an international menu. Tel +49 332 0573 263.  

Golf and country club Berlin Wannsee

Where is it? 26km south-west of Berlin What’s it like? This historic option (see main picture) lies within minutes of a motorway that leads to the heart of Berlin. Founded in 1895, Wannsee was later reshaped to accommodate German and American clubs. In the mid-1990s, the pack was shuffled again to create an 18-hole championship that combines the German layout with the US front nine, leaving the remainder as a stand-alone nine-holer. An expansive hillside with mature trees is dominated by a large clubhouse with an aggressive portico and extensive flower beds. Corporate Berlin loves Wannsee for its convenience, its manicured if sloping fairways, its conference facilities, and its general ambience of money mixed with machismo. Contact 22 Golfweg, Berlin Wannsee; tel +49 308 067 060; glcbw.de Price Championship course: 18 holes €100; nine-hole course: 18-holes €80, nine holes €60. Club hire Various makes, €15 per round Club hours 8am-8pm Minimum handicap 34 Facilities 18-hole course (par 72, 6,001m); nine-hole course (par 32, 2,069m). Driving range, video hut, practice area and putting green. After the golf The clubhouse restaurant has an international menu for lunch and dinner with fresh fish and big meat. Breakfast is served from 10am. Minty Clinch travelled on Stena Line (stenaline.co.uk; +44 (0)870 570 7070), which offers twice-daily six-hour crossings from Harwich to the Hook of Holland, from £49 one-way for a car and driver. She stayed in the Hotel Concorde Berlin (tel +49 30 800 9990; concorde-hotels.com).