Schloss Klingenburg

This is an excellent course that all Donald Harradine connoisseurs will truly enjoy. Terrain dictates rhythm – nowhere is this truer than at Schloss Klingenburg, where the clubhouse sits on a steep slope that peters out gradually. Thus the wildest holes are near the clubhouse, where both 9-hole loops start and end.

The opener is a short par four that will mercilessly expose any first tee nerves and the second tee box looks downright impossible – unless you go to the forward tee and peek down into the valley, which will actually accept any reasonable shot. The terrain subsides somewhat over the following uphill par five and downhill par three, but picks up again around the turn. After a bunch of flatter, but also interesting holes, the last two are again of the death-defying sort that Harradine is famous for.

The routing is nothing short of amazing. The only non-golf related walking of any consequence is between car park and first tee. Once on the course, there's a continuous flow of holes and no backtracking to speak of. Despite some tight corners, the layout always keeps its generous character and largely avoids side-by-side holes. What's more, everything takes place in naturally beautiful surroundings and no traffic or other noise will disrupt the proceedings. The soil drains well and can play quite firm, the fairways are appropriately wide and the green complexes are – well, complex. Like most parkland courses and despite a major storm event in 2013, Schloss Klingenburg has to deal with tree encroachment, but thankfully its effect is more on views and less on playability.

What's not to like then? Perhaps two par threes, where average hitters will reach for the driver, is one too many. Maybe a number of par fours in the "slightly shorter than medium length" category could use some variation. And the ultimate quibble: abrupt changes in adrenalin levels may feel jarring to more sensitive characters. Which in turn means that battle-tested golfers will feast on it.

In short it's a magnificent course with a traditional feel that is mirrored perfectly by the atmosphere at the club.