Seddiner See (Süd) - North East Germany - Germany

If you like playing from sand, then this is your course. The Trent Jones philosophy of "hard par, easy bogey" is certainly operating here, but I wonder how many players find that relevant. Even a legitimate bogey golfer has to make a few pars every round in order to balance out his "others". Therefore a couple of holes, where par is a realistic score for the average Joe, seem to be in order. But Seddiner See Süd follows the principle that it should be hard to get the ball in play and stay in play, unless one were to lay back of the bunkers. Which of course more or less rules out par and makes bogey hard to attain.

Case in point is the 3rd hole (200 yards from the middle tee, see picture): average hitters have a wooden club in hand and need to carry the pond and the bunker and then hold a shallow green. I played this hole into the wind and actually had to hit driver, made a good swing and landed it in the face of the bunker. Which is probably the best result I could get, because of the deep rough behind the green. Without the bunker there would be a realistic run-up shot, but with it the hole becomes one-dimensional. The "easy bogey": hit a mid iron onto the fairway and pitch on. Doable, but how much fun?

In general the site is flat and devoid of surprises, so the holes are rather similar and all about avoiding the sand. It's the very definition of target golf; there is no ground game at all. The soil does not support it and there are no contours that could be used, if it did. Many greens are also closed off to running approaches with the 15th probably taking the cake. It is bunkered in front and again very shallow, so clearly designed for a high wedge shot. However, average hitters will for the most part wield a hopeless mid to long iron. So they can choose to either lay up or overshoot the green (naturally, there's deep rough behind it).

The course has received many accolades, it does what it was designed to do. In that sense it is a high-end course, but I didn't find it particularly entertaining. (UM)

Great Layout from RTJ. The course is always in a good condition. It provides a mixture of long, short, diffucult holes in a nice landscape. From the backtees a realy challange. A Must when you are in Berlin. You won't be dissapointed. This Course is one of the best in Europe.