Dresden Golf Club, Bad Weißer Hirsch. (1929 - WW2)

Like many cities in Germany following WW1 golf course construction, for obvious reasons, was not a top priority.

It took until 1929 before a new golf club was founded in Dresden, the Dresdner Golf-Club e.V.

During the autumn of 1930 the first trees were cut down on Dresdner Heide and by 1931 the club was a member of the German Golf Association. On July 9th of the same year a modern golf clubhouse in a true Bauhaus style, designed by Prof. Dr. Wilhelm Kreis, one of the leading architects in Germany around 1930, was officially opened.

 

Dresden Golf Club. The clubhouse and course in 1932.

The clubhouse and course in 1932.

 

The nine-hole golf course was designed by Harry Colt & John S.F. Morrison at Dresden Bühlau with the   construction work being carried out by the Berlin-based landscape-gardeners, Späth. The official opening of the first nine holes, covering 30.5 ha, took place in spring 1932.

Plans had already been drawn by Morrison with regard to a desired extension to 18-holes and an option to rent additional 20 hectares was signed. Due to the poor economic climate at the time the extension of the course never materialized.

As Germany’s leading golf course architect Bernhard von Limburger stated, there was no bad hole as such, with many pleasant views to see. The course only had two short holes; the 143m third and the 138m eighth; The seventh was also a very challenging  hole  where  the  tee  shot  had  to  be carried over a mound; The ninth was the longest hole  at 501m.

The Dresden golf course was in such good condition that the German Golf Federation decided that the German Junior Golf Championships would be played on the course for the first time in 1937.

The land at Dresden, right in the centre of the Dresdener Heide (Dresden Heath) was well suited as a golf course and golfers who played the course in the 1930s stated that the course closely resembled Frankfurter Golf Club at Niederrad. There were more earth movements in Dresden than in Frankfurt and more moisture in the ground leading to the construction of three artificial ponds on the course.

Even after the start of World War 2 golf was still being played on this golf course at Bühlau and there were even competitions held, although the number of golfers was significantly reduced due to the war.

When the war ended the course was used by Soviet troops as a horse pasture, during this time a Soviet Major destroyed all remaining golf clubs, as golf professional Heinz Krüger reported in May 1945.

In 1949 a single and last remaining fairway was taken over and used as allotment gardens. For more than 60 years the allotment sheds have covered the fairways at Dresden-Bühlau.

The clubhouse still stands next to what used to be the first fairway, even though today’s guests won’t think about golf while enjoying a cold drink at the “Bühlauer Waldgaststätte”.

 

Dresden Golf Club, Bad Weißer Hirsch. Course layout.

Course layout.

 

Dresden Golf Club, Bad Weißer Hirsch. The clubhouse.

The clubhouse.

 

Dresden Golf Club, Bad Weißer Hirsch. Dresden Golf Club, Bad Weißer Hirsch. View of the golf course.

View of the course.