A course set in a historic and formerly royal park, which indicates the seniority of its arboreal inventory. As always, this is a mixed blessing for golf; tightness and wet soil invariably result as do, of course, stately aesthetics of royal grandiosity. The trees are protected by severe state laws, so absent any winter storms the original views cannot be restored and Feldafing will remain a great summer course for straight hitters.

Much of the tightness appears in the first few holes, with the second probably taking the cake - the one redeeming factor are the views of Lake Starnberg shimmering through the foliage. So there is no period of adjustment or easing in to the peculiarities of the game played here. This includes watching out for walkers, since the main part of the course doubles as a public park. As the round progresses the fairways do get a bit wider, but not necessarily any easier to negotiate as they wind up and down and across the slopes leading down to the lakeshore.

There is very little wrong with the golf architecture as such, every hole has its own character. While there are no clear-cut standouts, there's also no filler material, which is very rare. Even a relatively flat and straightforward hole like the 3rd has an unusual edge in two stacked bunkers in front of the green, of which only the first is visible. Another case in point is the very long par 4 13th, which on so many other courses would have turned out to be a boring slugfest for average hitters. The version at Feldafing has a fascinating design feature in a creek bisecting the fairway longitudinally, not to speak of the two magnificent oaks presiding over the first two shots.

It's not a stroll in the park to walk this property and the golf is quite demanding, but there can be no doubt that it is a very classy (and classic) challenge. Longer hitters have less of an advantage here, it's all about accuracy. Greatness comes in many shapes and this is the serious business end of it - go somewhere else for the light-hearted and fun aspects. It's not easy to fall in love with this layout, but equally hard to find better golf on truly historic grounds.