Budersand Sylt

Hörnum (Sylt), Schleswig-Holstein

Rankings

AddressFernsicht 1, 25997 Hörnum (Sylt), Germany

The Frisian Islands that lie off the west coast of Jutland between Denmark and Germany are very popular with the type of tourist who wants to “get back to nature”, but Sylt, one of the main islands in this archipelago, has always attracted the rich and famous as well. Westerland and Kampen are the principal resort towns, perhaps because they're located centrally on the island, where everyone steps (or drives) off the trains from the mainland, which is connected via the Hindenburgdamm causeway.

However, an influx of golfers arriving to sample some serious links action at the new Budersand course has started to turn the previously sleepy village of Hörnum on the southern tip of the island into a small destination of its own. Local architect Rolf-Stephan Hansen has transformed a former military base – Sylt was the first part of Germany to have bombs dropped on it during World War II – into a stunning new 18-holer that effortlessly joined the ranks of the top links courses that run down the west coast of Europe between Denmark and France.

On a site surrounded by natural dunes, the eighteen holes here have been so well laid out to blend in with their surroundings that it is difficult not to think they were fashioned at the hands of an experienced master designer, never mind a German rookie on his first project! Surprisingly, there is not an ounce of modernism to it (save a few EcoBunkers) and no "trademark" features that shout "look at me". This is all the more impressive when considering that every internal feature of the course was purpose-built.

The scale of the challenge is set out at the very first hole on the fringe of the property, played downhill to a fairway that then veers left and up to a green with a sand hill to the right for protection – as tough an opening hole as you could care to imagine. Since the property is surrounded by the ocean on three sides, there can be many types of wind. For instance, when the notorious North-Westerly is up, the opening hole plays straight into the teeth of it and just barely reaching the fairway becomes an achievement. On other days there might be a mellow, warm breeze from the continent of hardly any consequence.

The back nine holes are, if anything, a cut above the very good front nine, with two brilliant par threes carved into the dunes at holes 13 and 15 and a stream that veers across the closing three holes, creating a Carnoustie-like final flourish to the round.

It’s easy to see why Budersand Sylt was voted the best new German course in 2009 and has since entertained a substantial presence in the German and Continental European rankings.