Rethmar

Rethmar Golf Links was constructed in 1997 as part of Hannover’s World Expo three years later – considering that world expositions are meant to be the third largest event in the world after the World Cup and Olympics, this one rather passed us by at the time!

Created by Arnold Palmer on a 300-acre site near the city centre and close to the exhibition grounds, Rethmar is one of less than a dozen designs by the great man in all of Europe (though he also put his name to another German course at one of the three 18-hole Sporting Club Berlin courses).

The course is laid out on fairly level, open land with a handful of ponds that come into play at half a dozen holes, two on the front nine and four on the back. The round starts with stroke index 1 on the card and ends with the hardest hole on the back nine so no easy start or weak finish here.

The conditioning is second to none at Rethmar and the club rightly claims to be one of the very best golf facilities in the country. The course is most certainly not (as some have termed it) a “links” because the nearest coast is hundreds of miles away! Nonetheless, apart from the mainly large, modern bunkers, there are a number of links design elements to be found in the landscaping which make for a very enjoyable round here.