Potsdamer Golf Club

Two courses in the Berlin-Brandenburg area are left that I haven’t played yet. One of them I tackled yesterday, the Potsdamer Golf Club situated in Tremmen near Berlin. The Club features an 18 hole course (5.759 meters, CR 71,2, Slope 129) and a six hole pitch’n'putt course.

The Potsdamer Golf Club – the oldest club in Brandenburg – is embedded in a former tree nursery and surrounded by other nurseries, so from an agricultural point of view the course and its biotopes are in good hands. The clubhouse and the restaurant are situated in the existing old brick buildings, the adjacent barn serves as venue for festivities.

Fifth green in front of the barn.

You start your round on a par 5, the left side of the fairway is aligned by high trees and separates the first and sixth fairway. The green is offset to the right side, when you leave your second shot short, you’ll have to aim over some apple trees towards the slightly elevated green.

The course has a nice rhythm, a good alteration between par 3, 4 and par 5 holes in different lengths. The omnipresent trees make nice obstacles on the course or trim the fairways. Playing the course in the beginning of fall makes it sometimes difficult to spot your ball again, as leaves and apples lie all over the place. But it is a nice and natural touch.

Swans guarding the greenside bunker on the 9th hole

Hole 7 through 11 are the water hazard holes, a creek or pond is to be crossed on every one, very picturesque on the par 3 9th hole where you hit your tee shot over a carp pond, the green being protected by a greenside bunker and bunker swans, as you can see in the above picture.

Definitely the most interesting hole ist the par 5 11th. With 532 meters, it has a respectable length, but that is not the hardest issue. Look at the layout, you have to cross two creeks lined with reed. In spring, you may have a chance to look over it, but this time of year it is like a jungle. I made the mistake not to look at the course layout before hitting my tee shot and didn’t have a birdie book with me. So I stood in the middle of the fairway with some 150m to the first creek left and had no clue whatsoever where the hole continued.

So I layed up to the first creek, walked over to the second part of the fairway, still didn’t have a clue where the pin was, walked back and aimed at the third part of the fairway through the trees and hoped my guess would be correct. My shot cleared the water and the trees and with a slight draw rolled out some 50 meters ahead of the green. Still I had to walk over the bridges throught the reed to find out. I settled for double-bogey, which was fine for me. I loved the layout of the hole, giving you really something to think about course management.

Holes 13 through 16 aren’t that interesting anymore, most of them go straight with little bunkers or water hazards. As they had cut the grass short in between the fairways, the course didn’t have a visible contour, that made it kind of boring. Speaking of bunkers, I wish they hade designed them a little bigger or put some more on the map. This definitely would add some spice to the course.

The 17th is a short par 4 with only 230 meters. High trees, a biotope and a pond make it impossible to drive the green, I used 8 iron and PW to get to the green and my birdie putt missed the cup only by a fraction.

The 18th hole is a straight par 5, the only problem is the offset green over a creek. Be sure to place your approach shot to the left of the fairway. I didn’t and found myself in front of a big tree between me, the creek, and the green. So I had to make a blind lobwedge shot over it, that luckily found itself close to the pin. Satisfying bogey to close off the round.

Speaking of my score, I was going into the round with a playing handicap of 30 and shot a 97, 41 stableford points on a course that I hadn’t been played before. Why couldn’t I have played like this last saturday at the tournament. Damnit! But it’s good to know that I don’t have to throw my stuff into the next pond right away.

At the 19th hole I had a delicious lunch, nice menu at affordable prices. As for the prices, I played the course on a thursday and payed only 28 Euros for the round (same prices apply on mondays). That is the best deal you can get in all Berlin/Brandenburg for a full round of golf on a really nice course. On other weekdays you pay 38 Euros and on weekends 50 Euros. Still worth the money.

Not only because of the low greenfees yould I recommend playing the course, it is visually interesting and has some challenging holes, also for the ambitious golfer.

Potsdamer Golf-Club e.V.
Zachower Str.
14669 Ketzin (OT Tremmen)
Tel. 033233/7050
Fax 033233/70519
E-Mail: clubsekretariat@potsdamer-golfclub.de