GC Kallin

Hole 11, a 155m par 3

The GC Kallin (satellite view) is besides Prenden, the course I played most of the time in my short golf career. My wife and I played the – very narrow – nine hole course very often and after my handicap got below 45, I played the 18 hole course more often. Last sunday the GC Kallin was venue to my second tournament of the year, including the Red Bull Final 5 valuation (as already introduced).

After my disastrous tournament at GC Semlin it was time to overcome the disbelief in my game and give things a new shot. Playing on home turf surely helps there. I arrived way ahead of my tee time and took all the time it took to warm up. The plan was clear: no woods, only solid irons, no experiments. Luckily, my 4 iron felt good at warmup, so it earned a spot in the relevant set for the tournament.

Tee time was relatively late at 14.16, we finally started with a delay at 14.30 onto the first hole, a 476 m par five. And I did what I always did on that hole, my first tee shot went out of bounds on the right side of the fairway. Damnit. So I started out with an eight what could have been bogey without the stupid error.

The signature hole of the course is the par 3 second hole. The fairway is just a narrow path between two water hazards, you are limited to the right side and behind the green by the out-of-bounds-line. Plan was to use a 6 iron to place the ball to the left side of the green, but then it bounced from the fairway into the water hazard, so I walked off the green with a six.

The following holes play pretty easy, no big hazards and you can get into the groove after the thrilling start. You surely have to have a good length off the tee and on the fairway, the par 4 fifth and eight are pretty long. The eigth is the hardest hole of the course, not only being long but the green is very demanding. Playing this baby bogey was the highlight of the day.

The back nine starts with a par five dogleg, relatively easy to play. My third shot went into the water hazard right to the green and instead of taking a penalty and playing it from the greensiode rough I tried to play it out of the water hazard and ended up with an eight. So I gave away a probable bogey there.

The 11th is the hardest par 3 of the course, you play from an elevated green over a water hazard onto a sloped green. My tee shot made the upper part of the green but had too much roll and ended in the bunker behind the green. But I was happy with it as it was my best tee shot at that hole yet.

The “Red Bull Bar” at the 12th tee box

At the 12th teebox, the preparation for the Red Bull Final 5 started with an energy drink for every player, so that the energy boost could kick in time for the 14th hole. And what happened? I totally fucked up the tee shot on 14, but still could save a double bogey six. On the 16th I was able to do a little scorecard cosmetics with a beautiful par. It really was, the birdieputt just came up a couple of inches short.

Maybe I was a little too excited about this result and wasn’t as concentrated on the 17th tee, losing my ball in the water hazard. This still is a tournament record in playing 16 holes straight without losing one ball.

My 4 iron was a very good companion on that round, the good feeling from the range prevailed and I gave my flight partners a hard time in drive length – them hitting driver . Can somebody please establish a special valuation called “Longest Iron”? Count me in for that. By the way, when you say “I drove the green”, shouldn’t that not rather say “I ironed the green” when you hit iron?

In the end I didn’t have anything to do with winning the tournament or the Final 5 (I shot 9 points, the scoreboard leader shot 16), but I helluva good time with my flight partners and gained confidence again in my game.

My flightpartners: thanks guys for the nice round!

My humble scorecard

Some final words about the GC Kallin, it’s really a nice and friendly club, the clubhouse terrace is a relaxing hangout after a nice round with a beautiful scenery over the 9th and 18th green. The pro staff at the golf school is also recommendable (I take lessons with one of their pros, Tim Raisner) the range offers good practice facilities and the greenfees are modest (30 EUR on weekday, 45 EUR on weekends and a special sundown tarrif (starting at 17.00) for 20 EUR.

Golfanlage Kallin
Am Kallin 1
14641 Nauen OT Börnicke
Tel.: (03 32 30) 89 40
Fax.: (03 32 30) 8 94 19
E-Mail: info@golf-kallin.de