G&CC Fleesensee: Schloss Course

The Fleesensee resort is where my ‘golf career’ began, my wife and I made our first steps there, passed our “Platzreife” there and since then returned often to play one of the courses there. Except for the Schloss Course. So it was time to step up to the challenge to play the most demanding course the resort has to offer.

The club issues a handicap recommendation of -28 for the course, so on paper I should be able to master it. From yellow, it has a length of 5.919 meters (6.473 yards) and a slope rating of 133.

From our earlier visits I still remembered the advice given by a fellow golfer to take some extra golf balls with me should I play the Schloss Course. On a sunny november morning I showed up well armed and in an excellent mood, after the warm reception at the pro shop I strolled down through the park from the castle to the first tee. Whilst warming up, I was joined by Volker, a 61 year old retiree from nearby Untergöhren and after a quick chat, we decided to take on the course together. Good decision as it later turned out, as Volker knew the course very well and caddied a little for me in giving me some advice about the course and the tricky corners.

From the first hole – overlooking holes 1/2 and 17/18 – you play a downhill tee shot onto the 327 meter par 4. Beutiful scenery to begin with:

The fairways were soaked with water that day, so we didn’t get some extra meters from bounces or rolls. No, we had to work it all the way. The fairway and the green was separated by a water hazard (see above) and I soon found out that a) there were a lot of them and b) they were all placed in the landing areas of my ball. How could Stan Eby guess my club lenghts so precisely?

I managed to avoid the water on the first and second hole, but in the third I left my tee shot short and thought it landed in the small depression in front of the green. Well, the depression was a small creek and the ball was in it. I even found water in places it doesn’t belong (like in the bunker on the 8th):

That’s what I call temporary water by the book.

I didn’t get into the groove on the front nine but I didn’t care too much as the scenery and landscape around me was so beautiful and the course layout was so interesting.

Take the par 5 fourth for example. From the tee box you overhit a biotope into a dogleg left fairway. Being able to play a solid draw helps you a lot setting up your second shot in the second dogleg of the fairway – to the right this time. Deliberate shot shaping isn’t in my repertoire yet, first ball was lost in the biotope, the second in the woods, leaving me with a snowman on the scorecard here. Ok, it is the hardest hole on the course, the fairway is guarded by water to the left and the right and theres a water hazard in the middle of the fairway and it is a double dogleg. Enough excuses?

After the fifth hole the course turned its character into a more open landscape, the sixth and seventh are more flat out, but beware of too much cockyness at the water hazard on the seventh. I had two in the drink, stupid me. And Volker already had warned me.

The eight is a beautiful par 3 guarded by water and a big bunker in front of the green (that’s the one with the pond in it).

On the ninth I found parts of my game again. Good tee shot, a small whack on the fairway but then a beautiful PW onto the green and within a meter of the stick. Was a little overexcited about the first par putt of the day and went off with a bogey.

The 10th goes uphill and left, we had to play it almost blind as we had to hit our shots into the low sun, we played provisional balls parallel as we weren’t sure where the balls had landed. Found everything alright, another bogey.

A nice layout on the 11th, you play downhill, the fairway bends right and there is yet another water hazard on the right side. Volker and I both were lucky as we landed our tee shots just meters in front of the pond. He had a better lie and a direct shot at the green, I had to go over the water and the bushes behind the water to find my way onto the green. Bogey.

Somehow all of the holes have their little individual attribute, being it the giant oak tree on the 12th or the beautiful bunker landscape on the 13th and 16th. My favourite hole was definitely the 14th, a 166 meter par 3. The green is framed by old trees and well guarded by a pond protecting it from the front. Really scenic.

Volker always pushed me to use my woods for practice reasons and as I walked up to the tee box with a five iron in my hand he teased me:” You’ll never reach the green with that.” So we agreed that I would play two tee shots, one with the five wood and one with the five iron. The five wood I hooked behind the pond to the last inch of the fairway, the five iron was a dream shot to within 2 meters of the flag. Volker was impressed as was I as I don’t produce shots like that on a daily basis.

We easily played it home, but before the end of the round we had to master 18: an uphill par 4 with 377 meters in length. Bogey feels like birdie on this one. A very welcoming view as you play towards the castle where your after round drink awaits you.

I very much enjoyed the course, but I left it with the ambition to perform better the next time. It deserves good golf. Winter greefee is € 35,00, during summer it is € 70,00, there is no range fee for the GolfArena or the Schloss Course range. Fleesensee can be reached from Hamburg or Berlin in 1,5 – 2 hours by car, check out the clubs website for further details.

Fleesensee GmbH & Co. Sportanlagen KG
Golf & Country Club Fleesensee e. V.
Tannenweg 1
D-17213 Göhren-Lebbin
Telefon : +49 (0) 39932 – 80 40 0
Telefax : +49 (0) 39932 – 80 40 20
info@golfclub-fleesensee.de

Thanks to Sandrina Pommerenke and Perry Einfeldt for the invitation, to Oliver Heuler for arranging it all and to Volker, my playing partner. I enjoyed it a lot.