Discriminating golfers will be able to work on their handicap at the Golfclub Budersand Sylt!

• As a traditional links course, it is located directly on the coast and nestled in a natural dune landscape.
• A head greenkeeper from Scotland heads up maintenance at the 73-hectare facility.

The North Sea island of Sylt got its first traditional Scottish golf course. The “Golfclub Budersand Sylt” on the southern tip of the island is a true seaside links golf course nestled in a natural landscape of dunes. On the treeless, 73-hectare grounds north of the marina in Hörnum, golfers find a challenging 18-hole course with views of the neighboring islands of Amrum and Föhr. The site development was finished recently, and a twelve-man team managed by James Ellis, an experienced course manager and head greenkeeper from Scotland, has taken charge of the intense maintenance tasks. The course has opened in summer 2008. Just next to the golf course, visitors can find the “Strönholt” restaurant, a pro shop and all the site’s golf facilities.

The 72-par course, the only true 18-hole links course in all of Germany, is more than 6,000 meters long and makes Sylt more attractive to golfers. In his design, Sylt-based landscape and golf course architect Rolf Stephan Hansen modeled the course after the traditional links in Great Britain, where the sport began hundreds of years ago. There are only around 180 links courses in the world, and they are especially cherished by golfers, who have high demands, especially when it comes to the ever notorious “pot bunkers”. There are more than 90 on the Budersand course to keep their game interesting.

Opening in May 2009, the golf course will include the comprehensive services of a five-star hotel in Hörnum: the Golf & Spa Hotel with 79 rooms and suits. Access to the golf course will not be limited to guests of the hotel; rather, it will be available to any interested athletes.

With this new Golf & Spa Hotel, the village of Hörnum is doing more than just increase its tourist facilities; it is changing its entire image. Twenty-six military buildings on the site of the old Pidder Lüng barracks were torn down to make room for the golf course, and ten hectares of sealed land were returned to their natural state. The foundations of an overgrown navy airfield and foreign plants - as defined by conservation regulations - were removed. The former military telecommunications station was remodeled into the golf lodge and restaurant. Under Schleswig-Holstein’s land use policy, this is considered a “lighthouse project” for the transformation of former military sites.

More information at www.budersand.de