Bad Saarow (Nick Faldo)

Overview: The Faldo Course Berlin at Golf Club Bad Saarow is an inland links layout on sandy ground beside Lake Scharmützelsee. Sir Nick Faldo shaped the course around open, wind-exposed fairways, deep pot bunkers and strongly contoured greens. With very few trees to interrupt the wind, the course asks for trajectory control and disciplined strategy. It looks spacious from the tee, but the hazards are placed to make an apparently safe line increasingly difficult as the hole develops.

History: The course was officially opened by Sir Nick Faldo in 1996 and became his first Continental European design. It formed the flagship course of a resort that also developed Arnold Palmer and Stan Eby layouts, creating 54 holes on the Scharmützelsee property. Bad Saarow later hosted the German Open, the Amateur World Championship, the Eisenhower Trophy and other high-level events.

Did You Know? The course contains 133 deep pot bunkers. They are a direct architectural reference to Scottish links golf, but on this inland site they also create a striking visual contrast with the surrounding Brandenburg landscape.