Elmpter Wald

You don't get permission to build a golf course on heathland in Germany. Unless you've just won the war, in which case you can do whatever the hell you please – which is exactly what the Royal Air Force did in the 1950s.

They built a base including an airport and golf course in the middle of nowhere but, more importantly, neighbouring the Dutch province of Limburg, which is known for its glorious heathlands.

The nearest railway station was in Brüggen and so the RAF Germany Golf Club Bruggen sprang into existence in 1955. When the Royal Air Force had no further use for the base, it was handed over to the British Army in 2002 to become Elmpt Station, Javelin Barracks.

The RAF Bruggen golf club morphed into the West Rhine Golf Club, which in turn closed shop in 2015, when the British military left for good. The golf course was then handed over to the newly founded German club "Elmpter Wald" and so, thanks to this early "Brexit", Germany is now one heathland course richer.

One of the most notorious events in British history took place in 1984, when a nuclear warhead, eight times more powerful than the Hiroshima bomb, fell off a transport truck, while being lugged around the base.

Interestingly, this story has since been declassified, whereas the origins of the golf course – who built it and under which circumstances – are still shrouded in secrecy. Rumours are aplenty, with perhaps the most entertaining one being that sappers were sent out to build "18 emergency landing strips with areas of sand to put out any fires".

Be that as it may, the days of secrecy are over for good. Elmpter Wald is open to all, even though the logistics to get there – through miles of rotting military installations – are still a bit involved. But it is worth the effort, especially for the front nine.

Despite being a bit on the short side, it must rank as one of the best in Germany. It has strategy, quirk, sandy fairways and heather galore. The stretch between #3 and #7 is epic: "driveable and blind par 4, majestic par 5, driveable par 4, majestic par 3, spectacular par 4".

The back nine has another great sequence from #11 to #13, which reads "short par 3, short risk/reward par 5, monster par 4". There are some filler holes here and there, but overall this is a true heathland experience and as such a complete rarity in Germany..