Golf and Country Club, Zürich

Overview: Golf & Country Club Zürich occupies a wooded, gently rolling site in Zumikon above the city. The private 18-hole parkland course is par 72 and measures about 6,564 metres, approximately 7,180 yards, from its longest published tees. Its character comes from careful positioning on changing ground, mature trees, varied green approaches and the surrounding landscape rather than from a single dramatic hazard. The current routing is the product of several design eras, with the club identifying Tom Williamson, Simpson & Co., Donald Harradine and Thomas Himmel in its course history.

History: The club was formed in the 1920s and Tom Williamson designed the original course in 1929 in the style of an English championship layout. Simpson & Co. made adjustments in 1936, before Donald Harradine led a major revision in 1978-79; that version reopened in May 1980. From 2015 to 2018, Thomas Himmel directed the third complete redesign in the club’s history. The present course therefore combines a 1929 foundation with later work that clarified strategy, green positioning and the relationship between the playing corridors and the wider 80-hectare landscape.

Did You Know? The club’s 80-hectare property contains about 25 hectares of fairways, greens and teeing areas, while the remaining 55 hectares are managed as surrounding natural space. After the 2018 renovation, new ponds, restored stream sections, hedges and species-rich areas helped create habitat in the margins. During the 2023 amphibian migration, the site recorded 3,140 grass frogs, 2,909 common toads, 2,042 Alpine newts and two water frogs.