When you think about golf travel, immediately South of Europe is at the top of your mind, but you rarely think of a close-by destination. Nevertheless, Germany offers more than 731 golf courses, a pletoric choice for all purses. Even resort such as Öschberghof stands out of the mass by offering a unique experience, whose philosophy is to make you feel home. So I am bringing you on a journey in the south of Stuttgart to discover; the hotel, its gigantic spa, the 3 golf courses and what’s it’s around and finally why it’s a place of choice for gourmets.
The Hotel: a warm welcoming and comfort at its best
When we arrive at the hotel after a solid one hour drive from Stuttgart airport (don’t worry the hotel has a shuttle service in partnership with Mercedes), brightness and modernity are jumping to your face, like the resort was just coming out of the ground. Opened in 1976, Öschberghof went through a lot of changes.
Years of extensive works on the facility and a €60-million investment leads to such a result. The hotel has now 126 rooms in total; 110 rooms, 3 junior suites and 13 suites. During the construction work, the hotel was reduced to its minimum capacity. The dependances situated in the middle of the hotel, the clubhouse and the fitting center, were used fully during this time. They will now go into full renovation.
So what have they have done? I have to say the result is impressive.
A room turned towards the guest
In the room, everything is set up to feel like you are home (See the video below). First the lobby and this big mirror are welcoming you. Everything is in there; a coffee machine, a safe box, an iron and the mini-bar. By the way this one is free of charge. Once you are in the room, all you should care about is your comfort and not paying any extra. But the experience does not stop here. At the end of the day, an employee takes advantage of your absence to tuck off your bed, add a chocolate, a bottle of water and the tv remote on the nightstand !
When you wake up in a perfectly dark room some mood lights switch on automatically. As they are not direct light and situated close to the ground, your eyes not mugged. Before going for breakfast, you can pick-up the newspaper of the day right at your door. But this is where I found the only glitch of the full experience. Indeed because most of their clients are german speaking, the hotel staff is delivering Die Welt. So I asked of the hotel reception, if it was possible to have a french newspaper. They say they were going to try. Sadly they couldn’t find it. I mean, I may have been at this time the only other french speaking person in the area. How could they provide with no demand at all? What I liked, is that despite I didn’t get my newspaper, one of the staff member wrote me an apologizing note and slided it under my door.
A 5000-square-meter Spa !
Now that the room is completely charted, it’s time to head to the spa. There are 5000 square meters to explore. And you can find everything you expect from this size and even more. Asian Spa ou more traditional one with a cold room containing an ice machine, or want to have some massages? You can do everything. Once you are done, you can go upstairs and enjoy the 25 meter long swimming pool, but what you will love above all, is a bubble salty bath in the outdoor pool. The magic happens when bending over the edge, you are staring at the 18th green of the East Course while your body is kept warm by the water, and the rain is falling upon your head.
3 courses and high level sport facility
Der Öschberghof, it’s also 3 golf courses and an amazing facility.
The Old Course, long and wooded
This course is the first one featured on the resort. This 18 holes is located down the hill and is incredibly long. Even if starting from the yellow tees (6026 meters), you can have a second shot of 160 meters or more to reach the green on a par 4. So be aware that every missed tee shot will increase this length and will change the par 4 in par 5 or more. On the green side of things, they are quite simple and the pin set when I played was not really complicated.
Overall, the holes are quite technical and a well-thought strategy needs to be applied. Once on the 14, Claus use a moment of waiting to explain how the ponds and lakes are used to water the course. Water management like a lot of tasks here, are handled internally. No external resources needed. Everything is self sufficient. He adds he would like to plant flowers along the 14 so it can be their Amen corner.
The East Course: the new one.
After several years of negotiations to buy the adjacent fields and add this new 18 holes, the course opened in 2011. On this course, the atmosphere is different. It’s shorter than the Old Course but hillier. The transition between 9 and 10 looks like a climbing wall but the view you get from over there is astonishing (see the first photo below). Not really common, you can find two par 3s in a row. The 16 has a green below and a large pond on the right, shared with the 17. This last has a green at the same level as the tee box. A shorter ball than expected will hit the front of the green and the ball will roll at high speed towards the water.
The only course, I couldn’t play because of a lack of time was the academy course. This training 9 holes is a test zone for sport management. When I was there, every holes has 3 different tee positions and 2 pins (one easier than the other). A set up which can help to test some in-game strategies and shots to optimize the training time on a course. Brilliant ! It means that if you want to perfect your wedge game, you can easily do that by starting on the front tee and choose the easiest pin.
But Der Öschberghof is not about golf courses and spa. There’s more.
Driving Range and others
You can find a lot more around the golf facilities
- A fitting center with Trackman where you can analyse your swing but also get your clubs fitted.
- A 2-way driving range allowing you to play one way or the other depending the moment of the day and to avoid the sun in your eyes.
- The maintenance facility is impressive in term of size. 75 machines operated by 10 to 22 gardeners depending on the season, contribute to maintain the 45 holes but also parks and football fields in the surrounding area.
Food at a gourmet level
Now that you are done with golf and spa. You are hungry. Despite the place is in a remote location, 4 restaurants are available in and around the resort. All are different in term of pricing range and all offers different types of foods.
The almost 1 Michelin star: Ösch Noir
This is the most exclusive restaurant in the entire resort where excellence is common sense. It will cost you 140 euros per person to enjoy an 8 course meal. Sadly, I didn’t have the chance to seat at one of the 40 seats during the service. Nevertheless it’s a must try.
The frequent place: Esszimmer.
The restaurant where you will spend most of your eating time. To start the day, you will enjoy your breakfast, seated along the bay window and watching the green-keeper mawning the greens. In the afternoon, you will make a pit stop to have a snack after your 18 holes or your spa session. In the evening, a fine diner is served. And while you think already it is a noisy place with the high ceiling, you are wrong. Every time of the day, you can enjoy a cozy atmosphere even if it’s crowded.
Italian Style at the Hexenweiher
What a surprise ! How can you expect to find fine and tasty Italian food in your way to the club house? The ambiance and the warm welcome makes you think you have travelled through time and space and are now in Italy. Pizza from the oven, pastas and antipastos can be eaten either inside or on the enormous terrasse. A place to go !
The Öventhütte the alpine style in the middle of the Black Forest
I kept this one for the very end. Why? First its situation. Located in the middle of the Old Course, you are surprised to see a chalet. But the biggest surprise is when you step inside. Wood, stuffed animals and cuckoos welcome you. You are not in the mountain but ready to enjoy a traditional german meal. The food simple but excellent, is served by waiters and waitress wearing traditional clothes. An experience that won’t regret. In addition, remember the place when you will play the 13 hole on the Old Course, you may stop for a beer and go back to your game right after this.
High level of service to experience at least once.
We all dream about a trip to the other side of Earth to stay in unique resorts offering a high level of services, where as you can find everything you ever dream of so close from home. Germany and especially Der Öschberghof have demonstrated it. A unique experience that won’t be all purses. Nevertheless for those who can’t go there, I gave you a taste of what it could be look like.
