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Staufenberg - 28th May 2015: The new 18-hole adventure golf course at Gut Wissmannshof is almost ready. The course is due to open early in June as a fun family recreation, accessible for everyone.
Gut Wissmannshof in pirate hands - A pirate dozes in a hammock in front of treasure chest filled with gold and precious stones from the last foray. In the background a waterfall gushes. A deceptive calm prevails…but, a crocodile is just about to strike with its mouth wide open.
The scene takes place at the new adventure golf course, which is currently under construction at Gut Wissmannshof is almost complete. The course is due for completion in early June.
"Fun for the whole family," promises Hubert Landefeld, owner of the resort at Speele in Staufenberg – 20 km north of Kassel – which has been undergoing an expansion from a 100% golf course into a holiday and leisure resort since 2013.
18 holes is one round
The adventure course comprises 18 holes, located below the resort’s restaurant, a kind of oversize mini golf course with an adventure theme. The game is played with real putters and balls. Unlike a conventional mini golf course, the holes are not perfectly flat, but are played on undulating and curved surfaces. "The whole thing is quite challenging," says Hermann Scholer, groundsman at Gut Wissmannshof.
But holes can also be played with less difficulty: "Children should not lose interest," remarks Hubert Landefeld during a tour of the course, which includes a small raft on which players can cross over from of the pirate island.
After that, they have to hit the ball under a jeep, which looks as though it just crashed into a large boulder. Later on, a snake is waiting for the ball with its mouth wide open, before negotiating a tunnel at the end.
No knowledge of golf is needed by anyone to play the game, but a little skill and feeling is necessary to cope with the course. The entire adventure golf course covers a surface area of 3,500 square meters, including large horticultural spaces and watercourses. There is something to discover at every turn, including fun things which are sometimes only noticeable at second glance, like the shark fin, which sticks out of the water close to the crashed jeep. Refreshments will be available for golf adventurers at a small kiosk.
What a round is expected to cost has not yet been calculated, but “the price per person will be somewhere between six and eight euros”, says Landefeld.
Find out more at www.wissmannshof.de
Author: Ekkehard Maass
Photos: Maass© Hessische/Niedersächsische Allgemeine (HNA)/Maass
