Bernhard of Limburger

Bernhard von Limburger (born February 26, 1901 in Dölitz near Leipzig , † 1981 in Basel ) was a German golf architect and one of the pioneers of golf in Germany . His real name is Oskar Bernhard Limburger von Hoffmann , under whom he did not appear again after 1926. In 1979, when he designed his last golf course, more than a third of all existing German golf courses bore his signature. There are also some places that have been lost in the Eastern Bloc . To this day, he is the most productive and internationally renowned German golf architect.

Life

Bernhard von Limburger was the son of the industrialist Paul Bernhard Limburger (1861–1905), owner of the silk goods shop founded by Jacob Bernhard Limburger , and his wife Martina von Hoffmann (1869–1956), daughter of the banker Oskar Freiherr von Hoffmann (1832–1912) . He learned to play golf in Scotland at the age of twelve . After he returned to his hometown of Leipzig, he became a member of the Gaschwitz Golf Club and subsequently developed into one of the best amateur players in Germany. In 1921, 1922 and 1925 he won the German association championship, which enabled him to get started in golf architecture. He got his first order around 1926 in Plaue -Flöha near Chemnitz , where he impressed with a self-confident appearance in the style of Walter Hagen and the waiver of any fee.

Although Limmy, as his nickname, studied law and graduated with a doctorate, he never worked as a lawyer. Instead, he decided early on to pursue a career in golf and founded Deutsche Golf Verlag, where the first issue of Golf magazine appeared in April 1925 . A little later the magazine became the official organ of the German Golf Association . The beginner's brochure What is golf? also appeared from 1925 and was reprinted until 1970, in total von Limburger was able to sell around 44,000 copies. After the Second World War, he continued his journalistic activities in Ulm, where he published translations of English golf books as well as his own works in his newly founded Münstertorverlag . His “Golf Trilogy” consisting of “Geliebtes Golf” (1967), “Golf am Kamin” (1967) and “Our Golf” (1979) is one of the classics in the field of golf essays. "Die Rasenfibel" (1962) is considered to be the first German publication on the subject of greenkeeping, which Bernhard von Limburger dealt with as early as the 1920s.

Despite his extensive journalistic activities, he saw himself primarily as a plaza designer. After the Chemnitz attempt over 18 holes, in which two lanes crossed and in the end less than 5300 meters total length came out, further orders in the 9-hole format followed. From this early period, Feldafing am Starnberger See is still one of the leading places in Germany today, other layouts such as those in Bad Saarow, Marienbad or on the island of Föhr no longer exist.

He was certainly able to gain a foothold quickly because there was little knowledge of golf architecture in the clubs and there was no local competition on the market. However, around 1930 he also began to take a serious look at the subject, studying the important works of Alister MacKenzie , Tom Simpson and Charles Blair Macdonald . From them he adopted the philosophy of strategic design, which was experiencing its first climax at that time and is now known as the golden age of golf architecture .

From 1933, von Limburger worked in a permanent partnership with the Berlin architect Karl Hoffmann , who had designed the golf course of the Mittelrheinischen Golfclub Bad Ems (1928) and the famous clubhouse of the Golf- und Land-Club Berlin-Wannsee (in the Bauhaus style) together. In particular, the championship courses of the Krefeld Golf Club and the Golf and Country Club Cologne in Refrath go to their account . The latter could not be completed until 1955, three years after Hoffmann's death, due to the Second World War.

The time of National Socialism did not leave Bernhard von Limburger without a trace. He renamed his magazine "Deutsche Golfzeitung" and Germanized diction , topics and English technical terms. It is not known to what extent this was done voluntarily or under pressure. However, he maintained good relations with non-Aryan friends and helped them emigrate. His passport was briefly confiscated because he listened to foreign radio stations, but influential friends prevented worse. In 1943 the golf newspaper was discontinued due to a lack of paper and its editor was hired as a translator for the Wehrmacht.

After the end of the war, the still intact golf courses in Germany were confiscated by the Allies and only gradually returned, so that golf in the FRG only slowly got going again. In the GDR it was even frowned upon, as it was considered a sport of the capitalist West, so that by 1990 all east German golf courses literally rotted away. Bernhard von Limburger got back into business through smaller orders from the US armed forces stationed in Germany, and later he also built entire sites for them to replace the systems that were returned.

Between 1952 and 1980 he created the majority of his work, a total of over 60 new layouts and ten redesigns, including some in other European countries. During this time he won most of the renowned projects in Germany, only the Englishman Donald Leslie Harradine was able to compete with him. In addition to him, the Spaniard Javier Arana and the British Frederick George Hawtree , Bernhard von Limburger dominated the European scene. The most important impulses in golf architecture came from the USA, mainly represented by Robert Trent Jones and Pete Dye .

plant

Trees as a strategic element: the first and ninth fairway at the Main-Taunus Golf Club from 1979.

Example of a heavily ingrown fairway, possibly not in the sense of the original design (possibly with the exception of the solitary trees on the right).

Typical use of a water hazard at hole 16 of the Braunfels Castle Golf Club.

Classic bunker design on the green of hole 2 of the Braunfels Castle Golf Club.

A total of 74 new designs and 10 revisions of Limburgers are known. In the absence of a German golf tradition of his own, he oriented himself on the British parkland layouts of Herbert Fowler or Harry Colt . His company Colt, Alison & Morrison Ltd had also built some courses in Germany, such as the renowned championship courses in Hamburg-Falkenstein and Frankfurt-Niederrad, which Limburger was undoubtedly familiar with and which were then revised in the 1960s.

The use of trees as a strategic element is characteristic of his golf courses, solitaires are repeatedly found on the fairways, and occasionally whole rows of trees protrude into the supposed or desired line of play. The fairways are often narrow and end on small, difficult-to-play greens. However, it may not always be a matter of conscious design decisions, but in some cases also of the consequences of saved maintenance costs on the part of the clubs. In addition, in some cases (e.g. Stuttgart Golf Club Solitude ) there are subsequent changes by other golf architects, which make it difficult to assess the original style of Limburgers today.

In any case, water hazards are only found at selected holes, where they intervene in the game. The classic parkland character is always retained, however, the ponds and ditches are only used selectively and have a more intimate character, often enhanced by small-scale planting.

Bernhard von Limburger was not a big fan of bunkers, and certainly not of lavishly designed sand landscapes in the manner of an Alister MacKenzie . You hardly ever see the dreaded pot bunkers of the Scottish Links with him. In Frankfurt-Niederrad he removed 30 bunkers when he redesigned the square; his masterpiece, the Garlstedter Heide, only had 23 green bunkers and one fairway bunker from the start. To date, not much has changed in this regard on the championship course of the Bremen Club zur Vahr, which is an indication of the sustainability of the design.

Although most experts and rankings rate the Hamburg Golf Club in Falkenstein a little higher, the Garlstedter Heide is the only German golf course that has been included in the main part of the world atlas of golf courses. Although the course has severe penalties for the bad shot, it is a very good example of the strategic design of Limburgers, as it offers different options despite all the tightness. For example, there are two alternative fairways on the seventh hole; the player can opt for an easier but longer path or take the shorter fairway, which however requires a perfect tee shot. At the other holes, too, there are always alternative paths to the green, Bernhard von Limburger makes extensive use of his specialty of effectively controlling the game through the use of trees.

Despite the highest international recognition ( Neil Coles compares the Garlstedter Heide with Augusta National , Brian Huggett speaks of one of the most difficult places in Europe), only a few significant professional tournaments were played in Bremen, as there were always major moisture problems. It is controversial to what extent this technical weakness can be blamed on the responsible architect, possibly due to the choice of the site. The loamy, partly boggy soil could hardly be brought under control with the technical possibilities of the 1960s. The design quality of the main work of Bernhard von Limburgers is in any case beyond question.

Despite his considerable productivity, he also turned down assignments when the terrain did not look promising to him. In contrast to many other golf architects with an extensive oeuvre , he was therefore able to maintain his level of quality across the board.

The most important golf courses of Bernhard von Limburgers

• Krefeld Golf Club (1940)
• Golf and Country Club Cologne (1952)
• Golf Club Hubbelrath (1961)
• Feldafing Golf Club (1962)
• Murhof Golf Club (1963)
• Club zur Vahr Garlstedter Heide (1964)
• Atalaya Old Course (1968)
• Stuttgart Golf Club Solitude (1969)
• Braunfels Castle Golf Club (1970)
• Golf Club Hannover e. V. (1923)
• Dortmunder Golfclub e. V. (1956)
• Golf and Landclub Bad Salzuflen e. V. (1956)

literature

• Christoph N. Meister: Limmy, the other Bernhard . In: Plock! Magazine , 01/2006. Delius Klasing Verlag, Hamburg.
• Pat Ward-Thomas, Herbert Warren Wind, Charles Price, Peter Thomson, Derek Lawrenson: World Atlas of Golf Courses . 2004, Heel Verlag GmbH, Königswinter. ISBN 3898803864 .
• Geoffrey S. Cornish , Ronald E. Whitten: The Architects of Golf . HarperCollins, New York 1993. ISBN 0062700820

Web links

• Literature by and about Bernhard von Limburger in the catalog of the German National Library