Golf summer is here!

Posted on by Alexander Rose

Yihaaa! Every time I played a round of golf this year in windy, rainy, chilly conditions here in central Europe, I yearned to be back in Dubai as I really love warm weather. However Dubai becomes unbearable these days and the spot of the world where I’m currently living gets warmer and warmer! YES!

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The last week was absolutely superb weather-wise. All days extremely sunny, no rain, temperatures around 30°C/90°F and no sight of a change or lightning etc. Simply perfect warm golf weather, you can play at 6:00am or 8:00pm and it’s equally OK to play in shorts, the days are long enough for good daylight and the mood is over the moon in such conditions–at least I feel it that way.

My round today was brilliant. I was grouped together with another player, so a group of 2 in the middle of four-balls… Consequently we had to wait a considerable amount of time but it was allright, we chatted along, discussed golf, business and private stuff and had good fun on the course.

The quality of the course, my home club Bachgrund GC near Frankfurt, Germany, was outstanding, the greens were near perfect, fairways, tee boxes, dunes, etc. all in best of shape.

After a week with my Nike golf clubs I switched back to my Titleist bag and somehow did not regret it. My score today was not optimal, +19 for a 15 handicap (an 18 with course rating), but overall I felt great, had some nice shots into the green, shot a birdie, drove the ball well but still found water quite often or screwed the hole with my putting.

But all in all a great round kicking off summer!

Tomorrow I’ll play a super fancy course in Mainz, Germany, based in an old stone quarry. I was told to bring some balls [literally]… And the week after I’ll play some of Austria’s best golf courses near Kitzbühel. Can’t wait! Thank you summer!

Bouncy season opening 2015

Posted on by Alexander Rose

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Today I played the first round in 2015 at my home club. I was fortunate enough to play three rounds in February on holidays already but the round today I consider as the real kick-off for my 2015 season.

And what a bouncy round it was! Some great shots, some not so great, great tee shots and some really bad putting (on ill-prepared greens to be frank). In the end a score of 88 with three birdies on the card and quite a number double-bogeys. But not too shabby in total I believe. Can’t wait for the 2015 season, the courses, the tournaments, the progress and all the new handicaps!

Continue reading Bouncy season opening 2015

First tournament for quite some time

Posted on by Alexander Rose

Today I played my first tournament for a very long time, probably 1.5 years or so. During my time in England I managed to fit in one or two tournaments, but that was all. So as I’m now pretty much picking up pace with playing golf and my goal for this year is to get a handicap below 12, I thought it’s time to get in tournament mood again.

I played a 9-hole tournament in my new home club, on the 9-hole course. The weather was great and my playing partners, one 60-ish year old fella and two ladies, one early 30’s the other in her 60’s, have been a fun team. Two of them had high handicaps and were far from savvy in terms of basic golf rules but that was fine, nothing to worry about.

I had some beautiful shots, some very nice approaches, nice GIR figures but did some very stupid mistakes also. Result was a total of 34 stableford points with a buffer at 35-36. That meant that my handicap increased from 16.2 to 16.3 – definitely the wrong direction than hoped. But it was my first tournament, a quick 9-hole one and I’m confident to bring down my handicap this year quite extensively. It’s all a question of training and playing practice. End gross result was position 9 out of 51, so not bad at all.

Fingers crossed the next tournament will treat me better. The next on my list is a 18-holes tournament at the champions course, followed by a BBQ and football world cup viewing in the club house (or the terrace). Pretty excited about that one. #GoGermany

Golf pace is picking up! Glad it does!

Posted on by Alexander Rose

What I mean with that is that currently I’m really enjoying the fact that I have a new club around the corner and that I’m able to play that often. Last week I scored two complete rounds and this week I might be able to play even three as we have a bank holiday on Thursday here in Germany and I’ll take Friday off. So it’s a long weekend for me, my GF is at her parents and I have everything I need to feed my current golf addiction (and to improve my game).

Here are some impressions of my course I’m currently playing. Probably I’m testing out another one as well. We’ll see… Have a great week everybody!

 

First round after becoming a member at Bachgrund Golf Club

Posted on by Alexander Rose

You might have read it, since 1st May I’m member of Bachgrund Golf Club, outside of Frankfurt. On Friday I played my first 18 holes as a member – I played there before but that’s three years ago.

Bachgrund features 27-holes, a 18-hole links-style championship course and a 9-hole more parkland-style course. “Nessi”, the 18-hole course is a very interesting course with narrow fairways, lots of water, many bunkers in play and requires both intelligent course strategy and straight drives. It’s a tough one I’d say. Almost impossible to end the round with the very same ball you started with.

On Friday I was grouped together with three Korean gentlemen, all members of the club, apparently very knowledgeable in terms of course details – a shame they didn’t speak any German or English. So it was a rather quiet round…

I really like the course setting although I’m not a big links fan, but the course is tricky and challenging. I will report as regular as possible. Tomorrow I have a 9:20 tee time.

Golf Absolute – 10 courses with 1 membership

Posted on by Alexander Rose

logogolfabsIn January I moved back from the UK to Germany. During my time in London I only played a handful courses, much less than I wished I would play. But it was tricky to create time for golf when my girlfriend was still in Germany and we tried to see each other as often as possible.

So with my move I knew I had to change something. I knew I wanted to play more regularly and definitely improve my handicap dramatically. For that reason I was looking for some appropriate courses around Frankfurt, Germany and took distance from home, fees, course quality and some other factors into account.

What I came up with is a new club which I’m member of since beginning of May. It’s the Golf Club Bachgrund, a Golf Absolute club.

Golf Absolute is a golf course management company, run by Dr. Weiland, which currently owns ten courses in the south-west of Germany. You pay a monthly fee and you are allowed to play all courses without extra charge. So in theory one could play ten different courses in ten days and wouldn’t pay any greenfees – just the standard monthly fee for the home club. That’s pretty smart I think – and unique in Germany. Weiland therefore is the biggest golf course manager in Germany.

Here is a small map of the courses which belong to the Golf Absolute umbrella.

For more information please check out my new club’s website: Golf Club Bachgrund or the Golf Absolute website.

18 holes in the morning sun!

Posted on by Alexander Rose

me, tuesday morning, 20°C outside, enjoying the sunny weather and 18 holes of golf at bachgrund golf club near frankfurt, germany. there are not many people that have the possibility to play on a tuesday morning, that’s what i was thinking. but 18 retired men and women waiting at the first tee showed that there might be some more than i thought…

nevertheless i enjoyed the round at which i played together with another man and his female friend. bachgrund (nessie course) is – as i already explained – a links-styled course with some tricky up-and-down fairways and lots of water! and i guess that’s why i lost so many balls and so many points…

my ball striking was completely out of it, every drive was a real school book hook and i was devastated pretty early. from that point on i only was teeing off with my 4 iron, which was flying not perfectly but pretty much acceptable. i definitely need some training help in the next week… there’s my first 2011 tournament on the 26th…

monster nessie tamed

Posted on by Alexander Rose

i can’t help it. something is pulling me onto the golf course. at 2°C and quite some fog i played a round at bachgrund golf club on thursday. this time i opted with my partner for the 18-hole championship course that is called ‘nessie’. it is a links-looking course with all the expected environment – just lacking the sea!

i never played a course like this, and i really enjoyed it! it is tricky to play it and hard to be good at it, because there are lots of water hazards, deep and hilly rough, ondulated greens, narrow fairways and a silly bunch of bunkers – unfortunately right at my driving distance!

so you have to play this course really thoughtfully and carefully. keep the ball in play and don’t risk too much. i only had two situations where i could use my driver. rest is wood, hybrid or even iron tee shots!

in these circumstances – cold, foggy, wet and first time being there – i played quite a decent round. sure, i had some 3-putts and even a 4-putt, but putting wasn’t on my training list yet this year. and i lost two balls in the water but overall i had fun, and that’s currently the most important thing for me. when it’s getting warmer and the greens are getting better and firmer, i definitely will practise that. promised.

if you’re living in the rhein-main area around frankfurt, i would really recommend to come here and play the nessie course. i doubt that this is the one and only links course of that kind in germany but there won’t be many. that’s for sure!

follow this link to the albrecht golf guide site to find some additional relevant information.

after-work-golf on a saturday morning

Posted on by Alexander Rose

some of you might know XING, as being an online network facility just like linkedin for serious business contacts. within that functionality there is a group of some voluntaries that organize after-work-golf rounds for those who are interested in some nice shots and some business network chats.

due to the fact that at 6pm, when the tournaments usually start, there is nothing than darkness on a golf course, they organized a saturday-january-round for some golf enthusiasts like me, who are willing to play at 0°C. so basically the hard core of the group found itself at bachgrund golf club near frankfurt to have some fun on the course and some interesting talks afterwards. some of us brought cake, muffins, tea (with and without rum), glühwein and some other sweets. and it was really fun!

my game wasn’t too shabby though. we played 9 holes on tricky winter greens and i shot +9… which is, aggregated to 18 holes a +18 and that’s better than my current handicap! so i’m curious what this year has to offer! but chance had a hand in this too: a water hazard on the 6th hole was totally frozen and therefore my second shot bounced some times on the ice until it reached the other waterside, where the ball landed softly on the fairway, just a chip away from the flag. lucky me! :)

first round of the year!

Posted on by Alexander Rose

cold, foggy, freezy… but what a nice first round this was! 9.30h in the morning -2°C in frankfurt and i’m going to have my first round of 2011. unfortunately i forgot to book a tee-time so it was impossible to play the “nessie” course at golf club bachgrund, but the 9-hole “happy luck” course i was sent to was not as bad as expected.

“happy luck” is a par 35, 3000m, 9-hole course which was the basis for the golf park with its current 36 holes. while “nessie” is a championship-course, “happy luck” is more or less a training course (next to another short-course). despite the fact that it’s still winter, the course was in appropriate condition. it was wet and a bit muddy, but possible to play summer greens and that was a surprisingly good information.

i definitely plan to play the “nessie” course this year, but i guess to really enjoy it, i have to make some progress in my game first. btw, my score wasn’t too bad today. after 2 double-bogeys i shot some constant pars and bogeys. felt nice. pars are highly welcome this year!

if you want to have some more information about bachgrund (20 mins from frankfurt, germany), visit the club website. a specialty about the club is, being a member (of the club and therefore as well of the “golf absolute” organization) allows to play several other courses in the region as well. it’s just like the club had 10 courses spread around south-west germany where you can play free of charge (meaning no extra greenfee).

stay tuned for more (and more detailed) course reviews to come. this was just the beginning…