Belgium Golf

[John_D._Bernhardt]

I am heading to Belgium for 10 days of competition in a sister city event in the Namur area. Does anyone know much about Rougemont Golf Club, Five Nations Golf Club, Durbuy Golf Club.
Also we/I have time for another round in the Bruges or Brusselles area on Sunday 9/15/02. Does anyone have a recomendation. I can only regret the time overlaps the now famous "golf de dornoch" with our famed friend from the west bank of the US Rich Goodale et al. I will be there next year for sure. thanks John

[niels lindeboom]

John,

5nations is a gary player design and a very hilly course. Durbuy is more scenic, although often quite wet. You'll be going to the ardennes and it raines there quite a lot, especially in autumn. I haven't played rougemont. They're enjoyable courses but nothing very special. All are commercially run courses and therefore often lack a bit in conditioning.

That said, there are some world class courses in Belgium (as in Holland where live), most all of them are designed either by Colt or Simpson.

Royal Zoute (Top 100 links course by Colt, pretty close to Brugge)

Royal Golf Club des Fagnes (not very far away from the courses you play)

Royal Golf Club de Belgique (close to Brussel). THE Club in Belgium, very beautiful and well-conditioned Simpson Course.

All of these are private but will not be too hard to get on, if done properly.

Check www.golf.be, for course descriptions etc.

Hope this helps. Enjoy

[Mike Clayton]

Royal Zoute was almost universally accecpted  by the players as the best course the European Tour went to every year.

[Niels Lindeboom]

Mike,

Have you ever played in the dutch open at the kennemer?
How would you compare it to Royal Zoute?

Of course as a dutchman I'm not at all biased  

[Mike Clayton]

Niels
I played the Dutch Open at Kennemer in 1983 on the origional course and thought it was fantastic -one of my favourites.
The next time we went back -I can't remember the year- they played that stupid extra nine which really ruined the week.
Didn't a 26 handicap doctor design it or something equally stupid?
I always enjoyed the Dutch courses.
My spelling will be terrible but
Utrecht,Arnhem, The Hague and Nordwjik are all terrific courses.

[Mike Clayton]

Niels
Sorry I didn't answer your question.
It has been so long since I played the proper course at Kennemer but I suspect it compared very favourably with Royal Zoute.
Probably the reason the tour players thought RZ was the best was that so few actually played Kennemer way back in 1983.
We first went to Royal Zoute in the early 90's

[Niels Lindeboom]

Mike,

Frank Pennink is the architect who designed the third 9 (first 18 are colt's. He also designed the current Noordwijk course. I don't know if he was a 26 handicapper but I'd say he's managed to put in a few good designs in his time  
What didn't you like about the third 9, especcialy compared to the other 18? But maybe it's to long ago to remember.

The other courses you're refering to are

De Pan in utrecht. A colt course which is on the next 50 list here on this website.

Roosendaelse in Arnhem. This is the oldest course in the Netherlands. Don't know who designed it. The dutch open was last there in '84 when Langer won. Very charming course.

The Hague is perhaps our finest links course. An excellent, very undulating Colt course. Unfortunately the very old clubhouse burnt down earlier this year.

Eindhovensche and Hilversum are very good as well. Holland an Belgium really offer some very good classic heathland an links courses. And I suppose for foreigners the're very cheap to play compared to the UK. I still can't believe some of the greenfees I'm reading about in the US.

Anyway John, Have a good time in Belgium, hope you'll enjoy it.

Cheers, Niels

[Jeroen_Pit]

I posted pictures of some of the Dutch courses and Royal Zoute at: www.nlnl.fsnet.co.uk

The original nine holes of the Rosendaelsche were designed by Del Court van Crimpen. The new nine was added in 1977 and done by Frank Pennink.  Del Court van Crimpen also did the original 9 at Hilversum with the extension to 18 done by Colt & Co.

Steven van Hengel was the co-designer of the new 9 at the Kennemer together with Pennink and was probably the 26 handicapper Mike referred to. Van Hengel is best known for its book on the origins of golf (in the Netherlands of course.... ).

[John_D._Bernhardt]

Thanks I loved the pictures and green complexes. How far is royal Zout from the Ocean. I see the bend in the trees but no water.

[Paul Turner]

Royal Zoute:

Can anyone clarify the design lineage of this course? Colt definitely built the original, but I think it was destroyed or just left fallow during the first world war.  After the war, I believe Seymour Dunn rebuilt the course (in the 20s), but who knows if he followed the original Colt course (Knocke) or is the current course completely new?

Kennemer

Here's a link to their website: http://www.kennemergolf.nl/

Anyone able to translate any interesting information from the site?

Who is this Ven Hengel geezer?  Colt definitely built the original 18 (A and C) and Frank Pennink built the other 9 (B).  If you look at the so called "Van Hengel 9" and compare it with the map in The World Atlas a load of Colt's fairway bunkers have been filled in! Was this Van Hengel's contribution?

Haagshe:

I've seen plenty of photos of that old clubhouse and it was a beauty.  What a shame!  

I think this course might have been mainly CH Alison's responsibility in the firm of Colt and Alison.  Interestingly, the original Haagshce course was built by the great Abercrombie, but it was the abandoned during WW1 and the club moved to the current Alison/Colt course.

[Paul Turner]

Sorry, Jeroen already answered the Van Hengel question.  

But I do wonder why all those bunkers were filled?