The Golf- und Land-Club Berlin-Wannsee e.V. was founded in 1895 and thus is the oldest golf club in…read moreGermany. It had a very eventful history, at first it was named "Berlin Golf Club" and had its first course in Berlins Westend, by 1924 it moved its location to Wannsee and received its current name. The current german president and two former presidents are members of the club, reflecting its social status here in Berlin. The club is very member-oriented, understandable, considering the amount of money and the effort you have to put in to become a member.
Should you be willing to pay the highest greenfees in Berlin, you can enjoy a 9 hole short course (2.069 meters, Slope: 102, CR 62,3) and an 18 hole championship course (5.875 meters, Slope: 127, CR: 70,5), both embedded into the beautiful Wannsee forest.
Arriving there early monday morning, I originally planned to play the 18 hole course, the friendly secretary at the front desk explained, that the course would be closed all morning for maintenance. So I settled for the 9 hole course and the secretary gave me a silver pitchfork as an excuse. So that's how they keep their members and guests happy.
The driving range is rather small, you hit off mats from a two-storey-building. The range balls are for free, something I expected for this price. There is a small putting green aside the driving range, the bigger putting green and the chipping green are in front of the clubhouse, but you'd have to walk back and forth as the first tee of the championship course is also next to the driving range.
After warming up I strolled over to the first tee of the 9 hole course and enjoyed the morning scenery, the greenkeepers were at work all over the place, mowing the greens, using big blowers to remove leaves from fairways and greens and even raking the pine needles out of the bunkers. The course was really well-manicured. And it dispersed a flair of history. You could feel that this was an old golf venue, the Harris Brothers built it originally in 1926 and the course somewhat showed the tradition.
Although I "only" played the short course, the characteristics showed very well. The old tree poulation comes into play very often and as the whole terrain slopes down from the clubhouse you play up and downhill and from sidehill lies. You really have to shoot straight to get out of some of them teeboxes. As trees align almost every fairway you sometimes only have a very small gap to get your teeshot out on the fairway. My problem was, that my usual ball starts its flight to the right and then comes back with a gentle draw. On wider fairways, no problem, on this course, a handicap. On the seventh hole, you play from an elevated tee box to a fairway that slopes left. My tee shot missed the branches of the trees aligning the right side of the fairway just by a fraction, landed on the right side of the fairway and then rolled to the middle of it at the 150 meter mark. A perfect position for my next shot but it was really hazardous getting the ball there. Precision is the key also on the par 3 8th hole, only 121 meters in length but playing through an 8-10 meter wide corridor and the green is protected to the front by a big trench.
I enjoyed my round very much, the scenery of both courses was very nice, a true parkland course. The greenfees are 45 Euro for the 9 hole course and 80 Euro for the 18 hole course on weekdays. On weekends, guests are only allowed on the course in company of a club member. A 36 handicap is required for the championship course.
