[Jeroen_Pit]

Continental European courses do not get a lot of discussion here. Is that because they are no good or has nobody on this site played them?  Below is Golf World’s recent ranking of the 100 best courses in Continental Europe. Except for the Dutch and a few Belgian courses I haven’t played any so cannot really comment myself.  However, some of these courses must be really good since they are ranked higher than the Dutch courses   .

Any comments?

1. Valderrama         - Spain
2. Halmstad         - Sweden
3. Morfontaine         - France
4. Chantilly         - France
5. Sotogrande         - Spain
6. El Saler         - Spain
7. Les Bordes         - France
8. San Lorenzo          - Portugal
9. Noordwijk         - Netherlands
10. PGA Golf de Catalunya   - Spain
11. Biella         - Italy
12. Royal Zoute         - Belgium
13. Paria d’El Rey      - Portugal
14. Prince de Provence      - France
15. Golf National      - France
16. Fontainebleau      - France
17. Palmerston Resort Berlin   - Germany
18. Barseback         - Sweden
19. Seignosse         - France
20. Kennemer         - Netherlands
21. Sperone         - France
22. Falkenstein         - Germany
23. Ullna         - Sweden
24. Troia         - Portugal
25. Villa d’Este      - Italy
26. Milano         - Italy
27. Penha Longha       - Portugal
28. Falsterbo          - Sweden
29 Haagsche          - Netherlands
30. Club de Campo       - Spain
31. Golf du Medoc      - France
32. le Querce          - Italy
33. Saint Germain       - France
34. De Pan          - Netherlands
35. Berliner          - German
36. Neguri         - Spain
37. Puerta de Hierro (Ariba)    - Portugal
38. Calstelconturbia       - Italy
39. National          - Turkey
40. Murhof          - Austria
41. Beuerberg          - Germany
42. Bad Giesbach       - Germany
43. Club zu Vahr       - Germany
44. Geneva          - Switzerland
45. Las Brisas          - Spain
46. Seddiner See       - Germany
47. St Nom La Breteche      - France
48. Hossegor         - France
49. I Roveri         - Italy
50. El Bosque          - Spain
51. Ravenstein                  - Belgium
52. San Roque         - Spain
53. Pevero          - Italy
54. Rungsted         - Denmark
55. Villette d’Anthon      - France
56. Vilamoura old      - Portugal
57. Quinta do Peru      - Portugal
58. Fontana         - Austria
59. Emporda         - Spain
60. Lausanne         - Switzerland
61. Le Kempferhof      - France
62. Eindhoven         - Netherlands
63. Royal GC des Fagnes, Spa   - Belgium
64. Hilversumsche      - Netherlands
65. Royal Antwerp      - Belgium
66. Chiberta         - France
67. Quinta do Lago      - Portugal
68. Royal Mougins      - France
69. Moscow Country Club           - Russia
70. Moliets         - France
71. Sevilla         - Spain
72. Bled         - Slovenia
73. Bogogno         - Italy
74. Is Molas         - Italy
75. Penina         - Portugal
76. Vila Sol         - Portugal
77. Domiana Imperial      - Switzerland
78. Esbjerg         - Denmark
79. Stuttgarter Solitude   - Germany
80. Nimes campagne      - France
81. Montecastillo      - Spain
82. Ljunghusens              - Sweden
83. Chateau de Taulane      - France
84. Le Touquet   (La Mer)   - France
85. Hardelot (Les Pins)      - France
86. Ruuhikoski         - Finland
87. Feldafing         - Germany
88. Nordcenter          - Finland
89. Vale do Lobo       - Portugal
90. Oslo         - Norway
91 Belle dune         - France
92. Pals         - Spain
93. Gut Altentann      - Austria
94. RSHE Club de Campo           - Spain
95. Vale da Pinta      - Portugal
96. Holsebro         - Denmark
97. Kopenhavn         - Denmark
98. Grenoble Bresson      - France
99. Hubbelrath         - Germany
100. Schloss Wilkendorf      - Germany

[ed_getka]

I personally don't have much desire to play in Europe, mostly because I haven't been to Scotland or Ireland yet. On the continent there doesn't seem to be a congregation of good courses in any particular area, so a lot of traveling would be required.

[Ran Morrissett]

If Valderrama is #1, then I feel sorry for Europe.

Jereon, I would think/guess that Morfontaine, El Saler, Royal Zoute, Noordwijk, Falsterbo, Kennemer, De Pan, Royal GC des Fagnes, Chantilly, Royal Antwerp , and even San Lorenzo would all be of greater interest to many of us who post here than Valderrama?

Also, is #17 that new Faldo course in Berlin? I definitely want to see that one too, as well as Hamburger.

What are your thoughts?

[Helmut]

New course at #17 in Berlin is Stan Eby of European Golf Design, who also did the first course there.

San Lorenzo is totally overated.

[Ran Morrissett]

Stan Eby did the Links at Portmarnock, which I really like - how is his Berlin work?

Where then is Faldo Design's course?

[Jeff_Lewis]

Jeroen, it seems that one gets more relative credit in the European rankings for maintenance than in America. There are probably two dozen courses in Arizona that are close to the maintenance level of Valderamma, but not that many in all of Europe. El Saler and Morfontaine are far and away my two favorites on that list and are worth a fair amount of effort to play. The good news is that El Saler is public and is approximately a 20 us dollar greens fee!

[Paul Perrella]

  Ran,

Just played the Links at Portmarnock two weeks ago and was told the course was designed by Bernard Langer. Is my info incorrect or is Stan Eby on Langers staff?
     
       Paul

[Ran Morrissett]

Paul, You got it - Langer was the name and Eby did all the work. As I recall, you too liked the design?

[Tom_Doak]

These rankings are less believable than most, because of provincialism.  Each European country has its own pecking order, and it's tough for the magazines to go against that in their rankings, especially since there aren't that many panelists well-traveled throughout Europe.  [At least, we had a terrible time finding many for GOLF Magazine.]

Mike Clayton, my Australian friend who played the European Tour for several years, liked Royal Zoute and Noordwijk more than any courses they played on the Continent.

[John_McMillan]

UC Berkeley several years ago had an internal debate about whether to commit some resources towards hiring top-research economists to the school and move it higher in the rankings of economic departments.  Its conclusion was that there were not enough top economists to create another top-5 department.  

Similarly, I wonder if there are enough courses in Continental Europe to make a top 100 list.  My initial impression from reading the compiled list is that there are not.

[Mike_Clayton]

This list loses all credibility because of the name on the top.Its sad to even imagine it in the top twenty but there are some wonderful courses on the continent especially in Paris and all the best Dutch courses are worth seeing.Royal Zoute was almost universally acknowledged as the best continental course the tour played in the fifteen years I was there.                

Tom is right about European lists being very politically correct and not too reliable.100 is way too many to rank as the pickings are pretty slim at the bottom

[Jeroen_Pit]

Ran, I am not sure if Helmut is correct regarding #17. I actually think this is the Faldo course you mean. It seems Sporting Club Berlin (part of the Palmerston Resort) has three courses. One designed by Arnold Palmer , one by Faldo and European Tour Design is in the process of building a third. I assume the latter is the Stan Eby course?

Regarding Valderrama, Golf World indicated  that although it still has the number 1 spot in Europe, this may not be forever. Apparently some panellists found the course too tight and often unfair.  

Tom Doak has a valid point regarding the provincialism of the rankings. I had a look at the panellists and they are either from the local country's golf federation, the local country’s PGA or the European Association of Golf Course Architects.

Mike, glad you liked the Dutch courses. I posted some pictures of the Haagsche, De Pan and Hilversum on this site a few weeks ago. Have you ever played Hilversum while on Tour? Unfortunately Hilversum is the only remaining course in the Netherlands that can host a European tour event. Noordwijk has problems with environmental groups and Kennemer does not have the proper infrastructure anymore being close to a popular seaside resort.

Is anybody familiar with Halmstad in Sweden? I think I saw it once during a European Tour event but it did not strike me as very special. It seems to be designed by Rafael Sundblom in 1938 (?).

[Ran Morrissett]

I've seen several pictures of Halmstad, all of which looked quite ordinary, and concluded that you don't go to Sweden for the golf. Even the romantic Falsterbo has plenty of critics who claim it to be too flat and too wet/soft to be of note.

[Mike_Clayton]

Jeroen                                                                                         I played several Opens at Hilversum but it was probably my least favourite of the Dutch courses . It, however, is a fine course but it has some tough competition.  

Noordwijk  ,as good as it is ,does have one of the worst holes I have ever played.  No prizes for guessing number 7.

[kilfara]

Say what you will about the flaws of this particular Top 100 list, but for me it's nice to have a list of 100 courses on the Continent which have *any* merit whatsoever. If I'm going on holiday to the Continent - an easier proposition from London than from the US, I know - it's nice for me to get a sense of whether or not I should bring my clubs. If I'm going to be within half an hour of any of these courses (especially those in the top 20 or so) and have some free time for exploration, why not do so?

Most of the time, we know a lot about most of the courses on such lists as this one, and can therefore debate the merits of the list. I doubt that even the most traveled of us have played more than one-third to one-half of these courses, making this a fairly decent resource if nothing else - give the courses in the top 50 a +/- 20 margin of error, and those in the bottom 50 a +/- 40 margin of error, and at least you can begin to get some hazy idea of relative quality, can't you?

Cheers,
Darren

[Brian Phillips]

An architect friend of mine puts

13. Paria d’El Rey - Portugal  

at the top of his list.  Last week we used at least an hour and a half looking at photos from his visit to the Masters and his visit to Portugal.  He couldn't stop raving about it.  I think we spent 80% looking at his slides from Portugal..

He took something like 3 rolls of film of the course over four days!!

[Paul Turner]

What happened to Knocke in Belgium?

Knocke is highlighted in Colt's "Some Essays on Golf Course Architecture" as one of his top courses.  

Has it been renamed/redesigned as Royal Zoute?.  But I don't remember Colt being credited for Royal Zoute.

[niels lindeboom]

paul, yes Royal Zoute and Knokke are one and the same, the latter being the name of the town.

Ed getka; Holland and belgium together really isn't that big an area, and for anyone interested in playing some classical heathland and linkscourses there really is a lot to look out for. Both Harry Colt and Tom Simspon have done quite a lot of work over here. Only this saturday did I play at RGC des Fagnes, #63 on the list, a tom simpson design which should be in the top 25 for sure. Quite a short course but fantasticly artful fairway bunkering and very good greens.

I feel that the links of Kennemer, Noordwijk, The Hague, Domburg, Knokke and Oostende really are as fine a stretch of linkscourses as anywhere else outside the UK/Ireland IMHO.

Add to that some great heathland/woodland Courses; De Pan and Eindhoven in holland both done by Harry Colt. Ravenstein, Sart Tilman, Fagnes  and Antwerp in belgium all by Tom Simpson and ofcourse plenty of newer designs as well. Furthermore the greenfees are cheaper on a whole as opposed to for example the UK. Check it out I'd say.

[niels lindeboom]

Jeroen; what do you think of the much higher rating of Noordwijk (#9) as opposed to de Haagsche (#29) but especially Kennemer (#20). I feel that this is a sole reflection of the dutch open being held here the last few years. Isn't this the one of the biggest problems with these lists; overrating tournament venues? Valderrama at #1 being the most glaring example.

[Jeroen_Pit]

Neil, it has been 10 years since I played Kennemer and I wasn’t really into architecture at that time. I do think Noordwijk is the best links course in the Netherlands, probably followed by Kennemer and the Haagsche. Of the inland courses De Pan is clearly number one for me.  I have never played Eindhoven.  Would you rate Eindhoven higher than Hilversum? Hilversum has been changed many times over the years which did not improve things from an architectual perspective.  How would you compare Spa to De Pan?  

[Tags:]

Tags:

[Tags:]

Tags:

Call to undefined function theme_linktree()