Het Rijk Nunspeet (North & East) - Netherlands

Nunspeet offers a very pleasant environment to enjoy a round in Holland and is worth a visit if you are in the area.

Tee shots are often well framed and it’s a pretty walk though fairly flat pine forest. Occasionally there’s the odd small dune or patch of heather to keep you company and add interest.

I don’t feel that the quality of the layout quite matches up to the aesthetics though, and some of the potential of the site has been lost. There’s not enough playing interest for me, partly due to the fairways consistently being too narrow. Economics pressures of being a public course presumably meant they crammed 27 holes into this site, but they could have created a more interesting and expansive 18 to really rival some of the top Dutch forest courses.

Having said this, I’ve not played here with anyone who didn’t enjoy it, and for first timers it always creates a good first impression. It can also be good value and is deserving of its current Top 20 ranking in Holland

Nunspeet provides 3 very challenging loops of golf holes. Paul Rolin has made a great effort here. Each loop has some spectaculair holes. For a Dutch municipal course the conditions are generally amazing. The greens ran at stimp 9 last summer and the fairways were nice and hard as they should be on a course that is layed out on sandy soil. If you find yourself in the area, it is a course not to be missed. Dutch tourplayer Robert-jan Derksen recently opened his putting academy at Nunspeet, which will help the dutch talents improve their putting skills so they will not struggle on the greens like the current tour players. There is a link betwen their level of putting and the conditions of the greens in the Netherlands, apart from very few courses that are always in great shape. ( Dutch, Noordwijkse, Koninklijke Haagsche). Nunspeet is a joy to play and is good value for money. Because The Netherlands is such a small country it's hard to decide what courses are actually nearby, but Hoge Kleij, De Pan and de Rosendaelsche spring to mind. They are all within 45 minutes of Nunspeet.