Following the pictorials on Hilversum and Toxandria, now a review of Colt's inland masterpiece in the Netherlands; UGC De Pan, near Utrecht. Although most of the Netherlands is fairly flat, De Pan surprises with undulating terrain. A result of ice age residues leaving a ridge right through the middle of the Netherlands, which is in part still intact, in an otherwise flat country (except for the South East).
De Pan was designed in 1929. The course hosted the dutch open on several occasions until the 1980's, after which the course became too short to host professional tournaments.
The course has remained in much of its original state through the years, although tree's have grown in quite a bit over the decades. The course has kept its heathland feel however and never feels claustrophobic. Renovation work on several of the green sites and bunkering has been done by Frank Pont, who has also been involved in several other succesful renovation projects in the low countries.
Hole 1, par 5 484 yds.
Typical Colt opener; fairly long and fairly easy. There is ridge in the fairway which can be cleared with a good drive; this leaves a very reachable second into the green.
The green is longish and narrow with no bunkers; a look back to the tee:
Hole 2, par 4 401 yds
lovely par 4 with a fairway tilting right to left slightly while the hole doglegs slightly to the right. beautiful greenside bunkering with the bunker on the right considerably short of the green.
looking back...
Hole 3, 174 yds; the first of 4 spectacular par 3's:
looking back:
Hole 4. Par 4 432 yds
The picture below is from the medal tee, which is 50 yds shorter, a fade is required to hold the fairway if one wants to hit anything over a 5wood. From the backtee the hole suffers somewhat from the trees which are almost interfering with the line of play.
Approach:
If one overcooks the fade from the tee, the golfer is left with this second:
The greenside bunkering has been renovated to regain the look of Colt's original design (The group in the background are playing the par 3 8th):
Hole 5, par 5 530 yds
The hole doglegs to the right just 50 yards in front of the green, and is therefore hard to reach in two. A hairy bump at the dogleg point interfers with decision making on the lay-up.The green has been renewed rather than renovated several years ago, receiving mixed reactions, and is not a Colt original.
Approach:
green:
Hole 6, par 4 428 yds
Perhaps the best hole of the course, but there are so many good one's; both tee shot and approach can be blind shots;
Tee:
approach from left side of the fairway; aim at the cross! (hardly visible in the picture, there is a white board with cross indicating line of play).
closer:
He, who leaves his tee-ball on the right side of the fairway has a much better look at the target:
The green of hole 6:
Hole 7; 333 yds, par 4.
Short par 4 dogleg to the right; he who flirts with the trees on the right can get close to the green, but it's risky as the branches can easily ricochet your ball into double bogey trouble. This picture is from about 70 yds out.
the green:
Hole 8 par 3, 211 yds; beautiful long par 3 with bunkers diagonally crossing the line of play.
looking back:
Hole 9 par 4, 427 yards; wonderful undulating fairway, providing all kinds of stances for the approach.
approach:
looking back:
The back 9 is even better than the front, to follow soon!