Domaine Imperial - Switzerland

Imagine for a moment, if you will, that you've just had a lovely, filling and tasty meal: maybe something Italian. Sweets followed and now you've retired to a comfortable leather-upholstered seat with your favourite after-dinner drink. It's cool outside, but a fireplace is radiating warmth and you might even be wearing your favourite slippers. Everything is 'just so'. Well now you know what it feels like to be playing golf at Domaine Imperial: delightfully comfortable.

From the manicured surrounds of the clubhouse and the wonderful views of Lake Geneva (or to be more correct Lac Léman in this francophone region) there is an almost surreal feeling of calm around this wooded-parkland golf course: it is not one for striding boldly down fairways, but rather for wandering between shots, looking at the dappled light on the surrounds, listening to the bubbling of the stream flowing through the front nine and inhaling deeply of the spring, or summertime scents of the surrounding flora. It really is quite wonderful. And there is some seriously good golf here too. Don't be too distracted by the beautiful surroundings because you'll need to thinking about where to position your shots, especially your angles into the green and how best to minimise the risks from the hazards. This course requires thought, but is not overly penal. Plan and execute your shots well and the perfect conditioning will yield the expected results, especially on and around the greens.

Based on the best of German engineering found in the car-park and the elegance of the club and course surrounds, this is clearly where 'the 1%' play their golf. And yet, as a visitor, I had contacted the club beforehand to organise a tee-time, presented my national golf handicap credentials on arrival and paid the rather steep green fee and was permitted to play. What a pity that there is not more like it on the other side of the Atlantic.

I can see why this course is ranked number 1 in Switzerland: delightful golfing experience.

Decent Dye-course, kept in very good condition April-October. Fabulous clubhouse terrace on the lake. Downside: overloaded and subject to severe pace-of-play issues. Plan a five hour round and you might get lucky; typical Swiss golf etiquette does not include letting faster parties play through, so... be warned. I’ve played the course 100+ times.

a great course by the Lake. Top quality fairways helped by the use of quarried gravel as an underlay. Varied and challenging holes in beautiful parkland. A bit of a shame that, in such close proximity to the lake, there are no holes on the shoreline, but the putting green and clubhouse have stunning views. The only negative is the slightly boring linksy nature of some of the back 9 holes

An absolutely fantastic course with an excellent design by Pete Dye. Very well defended Greens which require precise approaches. I had a great time and can only recommend to play the course despite the high green - fee.

Very good golf course in perfect condition. There is really no weak or boring hole. But if the golfcourse is great what can you say about the location of the "clubhouse"? it`s awesome. you sit on the terrace and have a look over the sea to the Mont Blanc.