Buergenstock – Revival of a Swiss Luxury Resort – a renovation project by Christoph Städler

Even in luxury-accustomed Switzerland, the famous hotels of the Bürgenstock Resort stand out in reputation and history. For many decades, the three hotels, spectacularly perched on a mountain clifftop 700m high above the Lake Lucerne along a near-vertical slope, have been one of the top European addresses for state leaders, industry moguls, movie stars and other celebrities to hold meetings, conferences, festivities or simply to spend their holidays in this grand alpine retreat. However, around the turn of the century, the hotels gradually became a bit old-fashioned and outdated. A few years ago, the state fund of Qatar acquired the property to rebuild the resort. Three luxury hotels, a Healthy Living Center, Residence Suites with hotel service, business facilities, the unprecedented 10,000 m² Bürgenstock Alpine Spa as well as numerous restaurants and bars, all set in a breathtaking mountain landscape. Central Switzerland is witnessing the emergence of a premier resort. Construction of the hotels, an investment of more than $400 million US, is well under way, with the re-opening scheduled for 2017.

Alongside the hotels there is a tiny yet beautiful and scenic 9-hole golf course, one of the oldest in Switzerland. Built in 1928 on a just 10 (!) ha small plateau, it featured 4 situations where holes crossed other ones – not uncommon on ancient courses but unacceptable on the heavily frequented contemporary ones.

German golf course architect Christoph Städler, an EIGCA Council Member, was commissioned with the redesign and renovation. Eventually, this turned out to become a complete new golf course within the boundaries of the existing site. Apart from trees, rock outcrops and flowered meadows in between the holes, not one square metre of sports turf was left untouched.

Construction was carried out by contractor Sommerfeld AG, one of the leading golf course construction companies on the European continent. Each new hole was completely built from scratch, including irrigation. Two new ponds were incorporated and connected by a mimicked alpine stream in a rocky bed in which the waterflow is circulating permanently via pumping up to the “spring” at the higher pond and flowing back to the lower one.

Characteristic of the former golf course was the total lack of bunkers which is very uncommon in the world of golf. Städler opted for retaining this unique abstinence, for historical reason. Instead, he amplified the number of rock outcrops and other rocky features to emphasize and highlight the alpine character of the course, with absolutely stunning effect.

The “new” Bürgenstock golf course will be Par 33 with a length of just above 2,000 m which is not astonishing in regard of the extremely small acreage of the site. Nevertheless, the holes are featuring great individuality in visual appeal and sporting challenges. Although rather shortish, low scoring figures will strongly depend on accurate shotmaking. By any means, most players will experience plenty of successfully scored holes, surely more often than on the long courses which abound today. Thus the fun factor is guaranteed at Bürgenstock, and in combination with the lovely alpine landscape and spectacular mountain panorama, every round of golf will be a fantastic experience.

Construction of the golf course was finished in autumn 2015 and play will be resumed in a few weeks, with the grand opening scheduled for June 25th.

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