Golf Resort Semlin am See has a great 19th hole

SEMLIN AM SEE, Germany - So this is what they mean by the 19th hole.

I sit on the generous patio of Golf Resort Semlin am See, roughly 70 kilometers outside Berlin, watching the sun turn more orange as it sinks closer to the ridge of trees in the distance. There’s just the right amount of clouds in the sky to spread this color far and wide. Before me, the green expanse of this resort’s 27-holes stretches out flat and very green (it’s been a wet summer in these parts). Still, sprinklers are doing their thing. I’m making my way through Argentinean rump steak, with a front row view of No. 18, a real stand-out: a table-flat par-4 that runs along a creek until that creek widens and surrounds a large green, rather like a moat around a castle.

And so, I’m eating and watching as a twosome battles with their approaches; the man, in Tin Cup fashion, has just put two in the drink - and he is throwing another ball down as we speak.

Of course, it’s a bit problematic to dub where I’m sitting now the 19th hole, since there is literally a 19th hole - and a 20th, 21st, 22nd, etc. This resort has 27 holes of championship golf, but the decision-makers did not get very creative with naming the separate nines. There is course A, B and C (I love Germans, but sometimes they do not think to far beyond the literal). Holes are numbered 1-27.

I arrived here this afternoon and managed to squeeze in 18. I played what is the back nine plus 19-27. The verdict? Too early to tell. The run surprised me in some parts, bored me in others. The surroundings are very natural, there’s hardly any development and the resort has kept things on the small side (there’s only 72 rooms in the place). I view those last three points as pluses.

The game plan for tomorrow is to be up at first light and play A and B, that is to say an honest 18. Then I’ll follow that up with the last nine after breakfast.

That’s the plan, at least. Now the plan is to finish this steak, and watch this guy (finally) putt out.