Hesse

Fairy tale and golfing region of Hesse

With Bad Karlshafen, where townsmen sold as soldiers by German princes were shipped to America, we are again upon the Fairy Tale Road which precisely here separates into two routes. In the southern part of Bad Karlshafen, the Reinhard Forest begins which extends up to the gates of Kassel and includes true fairy tale treasures. In this mountain range, which is similar to a primeval forest, lies the Trendel Fortress where Rapunzel is supposed to have combed her hair, but above all the Saba Fortress, the fairy tale castle of Sleeping Beauty.

In Kassel, the large north Hesse city with its Hercules monument, the castle with the famous museum and mountain park Wilhelmshöhe, the most famous contemporary art exhibition in the world takes place every five years, the “documenta”.

Northern Hesse – the land of forested mountains, rivers and lakes, high culture and great hospitality – developed in the 1990s into one of two genuine golfing centres in Hesse where one can combine holiday pleasures of all kinds, natural and cultural events with one’s golfing hobby. Above the “documenta” city along the Fulda, there towers Hercules upon the heights of the Habicht Forest, supporting himself upon a large club. There could be no symbol which could be better and clearer for an almost breathtaking golf course lying directly behind the monument. The fairways and greens of the Kassel-Wilhelmshöhe Golf Club, the tradition-rich club in northern Hesse behind the well-known octagon, are difficult, as difficult as once the Herculean tasks were – and nevertheless, golf in Europe’s large mountain park is a wonderful experience.

From the heights of Hercules, one climbs down into the city where the Brothers Grimm once listened to the stories of the “Fairy Tale Aunt” Dorothea Viehmann where the Brothers Grimm Museum stands, the first pedestrian zone in Europe and, with the Friedrich Square, also the largest renovated square on the continent. This is also where the Ottoneum is, a natural history museum where even Goethe, the German author king, once worked upon an elephant and discovered a new type of tooth.

To the west of Kassel – practically behind the Hercules – only 20 minutes via the Autobahn, we come across, on the opposite side of the Dörnberg where the glider pilots are at home, the Escheberg Zierenberg-Gut Golf Club – a quite ambitious top golf project where family (childcare while one plays golf), holiday, culture and business are in the forefront. Precisely at “documenta” times, one can always find something special in Zierenberg.

From Zierenberg-Escheberg, it isn’t far via Volkmarsen to the Bad Arolsen Golf and Country Club where, in a green golfing oasis am Twistesee, a small paradise was created. Much larger (27 holes), one find the Waldeck Golf Club which has profiled itself as the perfect service provider near the Waldeck Castle high above the Edersee, a picturesque artificial lake built into the highlands.

Farther south of Kassel, in Oberaula, the Oreaula Kurhessische Golf Club offers its masterpiece not only to one-time soccer pros at the golfing masters, but also to all golfers who want to stop here near the Autobahn and the festival play site of Bad Hersfeld. And here – in the south of Kassel – we are already again directly on the Fairy Tale Road, the idea of which was founded in northern Hesse and its establishment implemented. From Kassel, where both routes of the German Fairy Tale Road have led along the upper Weser, separately and then on one side) through the Reinhard Forest and Hann. Münden to the fairy tale metropolis of Kassel and, upon the other side, via Göttingen, Friedland on the Werra and across the Hohen Meißner (Mrs. Holle), then along the Fulda by the half-timbered architecture of the cities of Witzenhausen, Eschwege and Hess. Lichtenau, the Fairy Tale Road turns southwards into the Schwalm, the Knüll, to Oberaula (see the Oberaula Golf Club above) to Marburg where sporting activities are again debated in the Marburg Upper Hesse Golf Club.

From the university city, then we go eastward – the half-timbered buildings of Alsfeld are up next. Upon the trip to Fulda, it would be recommended to visit the Lauterbach Golf Club, which is not far from the city of Lauterbach and northwest of Fulda, and offers 18 wonderful holes and a practice course with 6 holes. East of Fulda, we should stop at the Rhön-Fulda Golf Club with a fantastic view of the Rhön with the Wasserkuppe [name of hill from which first flights were made] and the Baroque city of Fulda.

From here, we follow the B40 again to the west and via Bad Orb come to Spessart, with the highly recommended Bad Orb Jossgrund Golf Club, the city of Gelnhausen where the old German Imperial Palatinate stands. From here, it is not far from the Fairy Tale Road to Hanau which is the place where the Brothers Grimm were born. Not to be missed are also the Trages Golf Club, Hanau-Wilhelmsbad Golf Club as well as the Eschenrod Golf Club. Thus, the German Fairy Tale Road is a fairy tale for both tourists and golfers.

With the Fairy Tale Road in the north and the middle, the Taunus and Rheingau in the southwest and golf giants in the south, the Hesse combination of fairy tale, wine and golf is complete – a worthwhile travel destination.

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