L'Empereur

Situated only a 40-minute drive from the centre of Brussels, the secluded L'Empereur course at the 27-hole Golf de l'Empereur – one of a dozen operated by the Open Golf Club management company in Belgium – feels like it’s located miles from anywhere.

Measuring 6,201 metres from the tips, the main 18-hole layout at L’Empereur is configured as two returning nines, with holes 12-18 on the inward half enclosed by the nine holes on the outward half (most of which are routed along the edge of the property). Originally designed as an open, inland links, the course has evolved since its late 1980s debut into more of a wooded parkland track as maturing trees continue to alter the original playing characteristics of the layout.

Highlight holes include the right doglegging 510-metre 6th (the longest of the four par fives); the short par four 10th (with tee shots played at an angle across an irrigation pond); the tough par four 12th (with a big climb to reach the seriously elevated green); and the more benign short par four closing hole (which has out of bounds running the length of the fairway on the left side from tee to green).