Cromstrijen - Netherlands

Irishman Tom MacAuley is known in Scotland for his work at the private Cally Palace hotel course in Dumfriesshire in the mid 1990s but he completed that UK project on the back of several European assignments where he designed courses such as Mont-Garni in Belgium, Montecchia in Italy as well as at Cromstrijen in the Netherlands. 

Planning permission from the local council for a golf development at this location was given on the understanding that the parkland facility would be at least partly open to the general population so the private 18-hole course here has a 9-hole public layout attached to it. 

Situated on the banks of the Hollands Diep River, where it splits into the Haringvliet and Volkerak, the course at Cromstrijen Golf Club has a lake that comes into play at a number of holes on a rather uninspiring flat piece of property. Putting surfaces are far from level however and subtle undulations on the well protected greens are quite a feature on this course.