The History of the Kronberg Golf- and Country-Club

The Kronberg Golf- and Country-Club is historically closely related to "Schloss Friedrichshof", the castle built in 1889 as Empress Victoria's dowager's estate in the city of Kronberg.

"Kaiserin Friedrich" - Empress Frederick, as Victoria called herself in memory of her late husband, Emperor Frederick III., got to know and like Kronberg during her numerous visits at the Emperor's Residence in the nearby Bad Homburg. On her order, the park of the castle (that represents a part of the golf course today) was planted with precious and exotic trees, quite in the manner of the splendour and tradition of English gardening. This can be taken as hint of the Empress' heritage; nonetheless, she was a daughter of the famous Queen Victoria of England!

Hence, also visitors from Britain came to Kronberg and quite often brought their golf clubs along. Provably already in 1914 golf was played in the park, in the area where today one finds hole 6 'till 10.

At the end of the 2nd World War, American Forces occupied the castle. After the derequisition in 1952, the lord of the manor, Prinz Wolfgang von Hessen, began to reconstruct the castle into a hotel. On the initiative of the hotelier, Richard Pertram, and according to the plans by golf teacher, Ernst Kothe, a 9-hole golf course was built in 1953. A year later, the foundation of a golf club was decided.

On the strength of it, on the 6th of January 1954 the founding members Wolfgang Prinz v. Hessen, Moritz Freiherr v. Bissing, Franz Gömöri, Hans Heinrich Hauck, Georg von Opel, Richard Pertram, Werner Reimers, Peter Skeffington, Erich Vierhub, and Gerhard Alois Westrick met at the Hotel Hessischer Hof in Frankfurt am Main to officially establish the Kronberg Golf and Country-Club.

The club's casino, situated in the castle, opened its doors for the first time in 1955. Four years later, a bridge was built through a donation by the later president, Dr. Walter Kesselheim, connecting the second green and the third tee across the street. After the expansion to a 18-hole course, the new golf course was officially opened with the "Preis von Kronberg" on the 24th of May 1964.

Over the years many reconstructions and expansions of the course were undertaken. However, despite of all changes Ernst Kothe always kept the focus on protecting and preserving the splendid and dazzling plantation and thereby created one of the most beautiful golf courses in Germany.