This course features a monumental Out and Back routing, the likes of which are extremely hard to come by on such a difficult mountain site. It is still a tough walk, but the way the holes are stitched together is nothing short of masterful and down mostly to Thomas Himmel. The genius of the routing is that it starts off in Austria with a bunch of exceedingly beautiful and quirky downhill holes, before straightening out a bit and crossing the border to Germany after the fifth. Two more downhillers follow and then, as they would say in cycling, the man with the hammer comes.

The 8th to 12th hole are furiously Alpine - all short, quirky and full of wonders. The 9th hole in particular towers above the player like a veritable summit pitch. Thankfully the halfway hut and a well are up on top of the plateau. But it's not just the holes themselves that impress, but the entire stretch that turns the player in one big loop over and around the peak to set him back on his way to the clubhouse. The altitude lost over the 12th and 13th holes is staggering and the following mini-loop to the 15th introduces a walloping gorge that creates some nerve-wracking moments.

Much of the elevation that was lost is then made up again over a long par 5 and a par 3 that rise steadily without becoming overly steep, but some players will undoubtedly struggle at this point. The reward comes back in Austria with the final and relatively level par 5 as it swings back to the clubhouse in an elegant - if somewhat tight - curve.

Even though two thirds of the course are in Germany, the maintenance standards are more reminiscent of the typically well-groomed layouts in Austria, where many courses are in holiday regions that are used to pamper paying guests. Between the world-class routing, the spectacular mountain scenery, the quirky hole designs, the challenging tee shots and the explorative hike this experience is as rigorous as it is unmissable.