Düsseldorfer

Thanks to a special rule in German amateur golf, a club team can nominate one professional for their league games so Düsseldorfer Golf Club recently selected four-time European Tour winner Marcel Siem, while neighbouring Golf Club Hubbelrath countered with Maximilian Kieffer, who is also a European Tour player – such is the competitive spirit between the two clubs, which had their courses built around the same time (1963 v 1961) by two equally prominent (and rival) golf architects.

By virtue of the Hubbelrath course being two years older, Düsseldorfer's architect Fred W. Hawtree was able to take a good look at what Bernhard von Limburger had already produced, especially as the terrain is strikingly similar. Huge rolling landscapes dominate either site and both architects routed the fairways boldly across, instead of along the contours.

It's a toss-up between the two courses as far as quirk and drama is concerned. If anything, Düsseldorfer is a bit more extreme, whereas few clubs can hold a candle to Hubbelrath in terms of its presentation, playability and maintenance.

The Düsseldorfer adventure starts off with three moderate holes and then the rollercoaster is kick started, two holes sooner than at Hubbelrath. After a very slight let-off around the turn, things become positively crazy between holes #11 and #15, including a drive over the access road, where neither the golfers nor the motorists can see each other!

The last hole of this stretch is the signature hole, recently renovated by Christian Althaus: a breath taking drop shot par three with a pond in front of the green that makes club selection unusually difficult. The architect told us that he deems his home club to be a nice parkland design in a rolling topography, where the hilly lies make incoming shots quite demanding. Thus you need an intelligent strategy to play the course, where length off the tee is less important than placement.

Interestingly, the course record is more than 40 years old and stands at a mere 64 by none other than a young Bernhard Langer. But recreational golfers needn’t fear playing here as it's a fun track and not overly long. While it's not a stroll in the park, the routing is very clever and accommodates walkers wherever possible.