Area guide: Munich, Germany
Golf in Munich: Worthsee
Woerthsee is west of Munich and this club’s history stretches back to 1961, when the Filser family bought the Schluifeld estate on which the course sits.
A rudimentary nine-hole course was initially laid out by the family in 1984 and it was the tree planting back then that has most impact on the course that you enjoy today. Within two years an 18-hole course was open.
This pleasant, natural-feeling parkland is stiff enough to have hosted Lufthansa Ladies German Open and was renovated in 2003, including new greens and a redesigned 12th.
The best stretch is probably the holes to the 12th at the start of the back nine: the 10th plays over water for the second shot then 11 is a really nice par 3 from an elevated tee to a wide green that has water all across its front edge. The 12th has water snaking up the right and OB on left making it a tight test up towards a wide but shallow green.
“This fun and varied challenge is a big hit with travelling golfers,” says Gomer. “The high quality and attention to detail goes through all aspects of the club. This is a great place to play if you love risk/reward holes and a beautiful clubhouse setting to recount your round.”
Golf in Munich: Egmating
“Ask a golf tourist what they want from a course and many will the say the best greens and a setting to typify where you are – Egmating delivers on both and is often voted the pick of the courses played by visiting groups,” says Gomer.
This doesn’t surprise me because this Rossknecht design from the 1990s fits beautifully into the natural environment. It was in the top two of the courses we visited.
It’s championship length but doesn’t feel like a slog, with Rossknecht moulding the courses into the significantly undulating but wide fairways skilfully while also creating some large, fabulous green complexes.
There is more movement in these greens than elsewhere in Munich and these funky complexes are defended by bunkers and water hazards. It includes a virtual island green on the short 4th.
Golf in Munich: Aschheim
“At just 15 minutes from Munich city centre and with unique features as a result of being carved through a former quarry, Aschheim is handy and a lot of fun,” says Gomer.
That’s exactly how we found this friendly club and course, laid out among mature trees and over fairways that follow a pleasingly undulating landscape with greens that vary between tricky tiered ones and flatter ones.
There is plenty of water to challenge as well as an island green – the 13th, a short hole played downhill.
With woodland surrounding the course on most of its perimeter, you will likely spot some combination of pheasant, rabbit and deer alongside the fairways or even the very active beaver in the streams. Also expect fantastic views of the Munich city skyscape and on a clear day the the Olympic Tower and even the Alps on the horizon.
Golf in Munich: The package
Allow bavaria4golf to build your perfect golf break to Munich.
You can enjoy two nights B&B and three rounds, from €395 per person sharing. April-October 2019. Other conditions apply.
You can find all their details on the bavaria4golf website.
Golf in Munich: Off the course
You’ll find a competitive edge exists between Munich and Berlin. The latter is revered as the hipster city and Munich the less cool but wealthy southern cousin.
That’s changing a bit now because while giants such as BMW and Siemens still furnace the city’s economy, there is more nuance to the off-course offering than there used to be.
That represents itself in aspects such as the food, which is taken extremely seriously here, with Bavarian classics such as pork knuckle being joined by an experimental attitude to cuisine albeit one often with a heathy Italian influence.
Italy also influences the architecture of the city, carefully rebuilt after world war bombings, and now with echoes of Florence and Milan.
You will want to time a walk through Marienplatz, Munich’s central square, to coincide with the cuckoo clock coming to life in the tower balcony of the Neues Rathaus. It is over 100 years old and a Glockenspiel depicts the city’s history in 43 bells and 32 life-sized figures, twice at day at 11am and 5pm.
You might like to browse in Midnightbazar market, or stroll through the pretty Glockenbachviertel district and its chic boutiques, cafes and bars.
For an alternative experience, you can surf the waves of Munich’s Eisbach (Ice Stream) River! Or swim in the beautifully restored baths of Müllersches Volksbad.
Munich is home of BMW at Maisach Academy, 40 minutes from the centre, where you can take the latest models at high speed on a track.
And then there is Bayern Munich’s museum, a must for all football fans….
Golf in Munich: The Bayern experience
Watching a game at their new Allianz stadium is a memorable experience, from seeing some of the world’s best players in the flesh to the noise and atmosphere created by the home fans.
But there is another aspect that you really must also do, and that is go to Bayern’s incredible museum in the stadium itself.
It is so comprehensive and fascinating you need to allow yourself 90 minutes to do it justice.
Here you’ll see the boots worn by the club’s great players, a recreation of the boardroom complete with stories by the likes of Bayern grandee Franz Beckenbauer and sections charting their great teams and triumphs.
Golf in Munich: Where to stay
The stylish Hilton Munich City is ideal for golfers, with the city centre right on its doorstep and all of the courses we mention no more than a 30-minute drive away.
Its main advantage is its location right next to the Rosenheimer Platz tube stop that links you to the airport as well as the rest of the underground system, but it is so central you don’t even need to use it to get to the main attractions at Marienplatz.
This four-star hotel has rooms with flat-screen TVs and free WiFi. There is a gym and parking, albeit the latter has a charge.
One of its key attractions is the new Juliet Rose bar, an uber-stylish place to eat and drink within the hotel which is now popular with non-residents too.
The bar’s name is carried across the food and drinks menus, which have been split into four categories relating to botanical properties from root to fruit; woody, herbal, floral and fruity with varied options in each category.
The hotel’s main restaurant is currently being refurbished to bring it up to the eye-catching standard of Juliet Rose but even as it is now you will enjoy the vast buffet breakfasts.
Area guide: Marrakesh, Morocco
Area guide: Cape Kaliakra, Bulgaria
Area guide: Costa Blanca, Spain
Chris Bertram
Chris Bertram is a specialist in all things golf courses.
He was born and brought up in Dumfriesshire and has been a sports journalist since 1996, initially as a junior writer with National Club Golfer magazine.
Chris then spent four years writing about football and rugby union for the Press Association but returned to be Editor and then Publisher of NCG.
He has been freelance since 2010 and spends the majority of his time playing golf and writing about the world’s finest golf courses.
