As an employee at Deutsche Börse I was invited to take part in the 2nd Deutsche Börse Golf Day last Thursday. Last year I had to cancel because I couldn’t make it from London to Frankfurt. This year however I had big hopes for a great day. Mainly because I wanted to get to know more people within my company who play golf, but as well because the course was new to me, the game mode was also and just because currently I’m really crazy about golf.

The course we played is the Golf Club Hof Hausen vor der Sonne, even for German clubs a very long and unusual name. It’s situated in Hofheim, just outside of Frankfurt. And it’s a proper members’ club – that’s what you realise when you drive through the parking lot and your car is basically the smallest and oldest between all these brand new Porsches, BMWs and Audis. Membership costs you 30,000 EUR I was told later!! Absolutely crazy, but unfortunately very common in and around Frankfurt. But anyhow, the people I met were very friendly and the club/course was in very good condition – and that’s basically what we were after that day.

The tournament was played as a Texas Scramble. Two of my playing partners I already knew, the other one was a colleague which they obviously knew very well and hence we had great fun right from the start. Right from the tee box 1 to be precise, where we started the round with a sip of Whiskey.

The nice thing about a Texas Scramble is that you think and act as a team, you discuss course management strategy, putt lines and approaches. You feel a bit more pressure on the one side because your effort counts for the team. On the other hand, if you don’t sink that putt, there are three other guys who might. That was really the best part of the tournament.

Golf Club Hof Hausen vor der Sonne is a very nice venue and worth the play if you are around. The practice areas are huge, the course is not overly spectacular but far from boring and the restaurant serves German, Italian and Indian cuisine – a little weird but delicious combination.

After all it was a great day. In the end – the last 4 holes I’d say – the weather got worse and we had to get out umbrellas and rain gear, but we had loads of fun. Score-wise we scored a 5-under par for the team, 6 birdies, 1 bogey. That were 41 gross points and would have put us on top of the leaderboard, but as it was an amateur tournament the net points counted and there we ended up 3rd place with 57 net Stableford points. Not too shabby at all!!

I can’t wait for the next Deutsche Börse Golf Day!