Thanks to the acquisition of additional land in 1964, the 9-hole course at Golf Club Montreux was redesigned as an 18-hole layout by Donald Harradine. Forty years later, Ron Fream completely renovated the course, introducing four new holes.
Vaud 1860, Switzerland
Thanks to the acquisition of additional land in 1964, the 9-hole course at Golf Club Montreux was redesigned as an 18-hole layout by Donald Harradine. Forty years later, Ron Fream completely renovated the course, introducing four new holes.
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Jul. 4, 2020
4.5
François Gacougnolle
You find yourself in the Lake of Geneva region, and you have a day off.
The latest ranking of the Top 100 Golf Courses in the World serves as the ultimate global golf bucket list. Most members of our World Top 100 Panel are seasoned golfers, each playing 20-30 of these courses annually while travelling extensively over decades to form their opinions on others. We recognise that opinions vary—even among our panel members. Rankings are subjective, and there are undoubtedly 50 or more courses in the UK and USA alone that could easily fit onto this list. Links Golf Pilgrimages The rankings
California, United States
New Jersey, United States
Northern Ireland, United Kingdom
New York, United States
New York, United States
Europe's golf map stretches well beyond the famous names. Away from the links of Scotland and Ireland and the better-known resort destinations of Spain and Portugal, there are outstanding courses tucked into mountain valleys, Baltic coastlines and forests across the continent. From Switzerland to Estonia, these are courses that can be easy to overlook when planning a golf trip, despite offering the scenery, character and quality to make the journey worthwhile. We've picked 10 of Europe's biggest hidden gems, with every course coming from a different country. Andermatt Golf Course (Uri, Switzerland) Switzerland Ranking: 12th | Green Fees: From 130 CHF (€137) At around 1,400 metres above sea level, Andermatt Swiss Alps is surrounded by mountains, but the course itself is not quite the mountain layout you might expect. Designed by Kurt Rossknecht and opened in 2016, much of the 130-hectare course is relatively flat, with long rough lining the fairways and few trees giving it a links-like character. The third and fourth holes provide a dramatic change of pace, climbing through the rocky terrain at the end of the valley, while natural streams and water hazards feature elsewhere on the layout. The surroundings are impossible to ignore, with mountain ranges encircling the course and the sound of Alpine streams and grazing cows completing the experience. Pärnu Bay Golf Links (Pärnu Maakond, Estonia) Estonia Ranking: 1st | Continental Europe Ranking: 52nd | Green Fees: From €75 Estonia is hardly the first country that springs to mind when planning a European golf trip, which is precisely why Pärnu Bay Golf Links deserves a place on this list. Opened in 2015, the Lassi Pekka Tilander design occupies a narrow strip of sandy land where forest meets the Baltic Sea. Wide fairways, expansive waste areas and bold, multi-tiered greens give the course a links-like character, while the firm fescue surfaces reward a low, running game. Lead shaper Mick McShane, whose CV includes Kingsbarns, helped bring the design to life. Pärnu Bay may be off the beaten track, but it is one of the Baltics' standout layouts. Adamstal Golf Club - Championship Course (Niederösterreich, Austria) Austria Ranking: 1st | Continental Europe Ranking: 89th | Green Fees: €115 Tucked into a wooded valley southwest of Vienna, Adamstal feels a long way from the Austrian capital and even further from the usual European golf itinerary. Yet this spectacular mountain course has been Austria’s No. 1 on Top100’s national rankings and has hosted several editions of the Challenge Tour’s Euram Bank Open. Canadian architect Jeff Howes shaped the Championship course around the natural contours of the valley, with the 10th and 11th climbing into the mountains before dramatic elevated tees reveal the landscape below. The course even has a settle-the-bet 19th hole, a par three tucked into a pretty valley beside a mountain spring that has supplied Adamstal with drinking water for more than a century. Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort (Dobrich Province, Bulgaria) Bulgaria Ranking: 1st | Continental Europe Ranking: 43rd | Green Fees: €119 Perched on Bulgaria's northern Black Sea coast, Thracian Cliffs is one of Europe's most spectacular coastal golf courses. Gary Player’s signature design opened in 2011, with the holes carved along a narrow strip of land between high cliffs and the sea. The Black Sea is visible from every hole, while dramatic elevation changes add another dimension to the experience. The course hosted the 2013 World Match Play Championship, won by Graeme McDowell, and has featured prominently in Top100’s Continental Europe rankings. Alongside nearby BlackSeaRama and Lighthouse, Thracian Cliffs forms part of an unlikely but compelling golf destination on Bulgaria’s Black Sea coast. Zala Springs Golf Resort (Hungary) Hungary Ranking: 1st | Green Fees: 41,900 HUF (€114) Set among the rolling hills of western Hungary, Zala Springs combines a Robert Trent Jones Jr.-designed course with the thermal waters of nearby Hévíz. Opened in 2016, the 160-hectare layout winds through a landscape of lakes, natural rock formations and mature vegetation, with plenty of water coming into play. The 12th is among the standout holes, requiring an all-carry shot over an intimidating lake, while the ninth features a distinctive Biarritz green. Zala Springs is ranked Hungary’s No. 1 course by Top100 and offers something increasingly rare in modern golf: a high-quality course paired with a destination where golf is only part of the holiday. Kytäjä Golf – South East Course (Finland) Finland Ranking: 4th | Green Fees: From €90 Just 30 minutes north of Helsinki, Kytäjä's South East course offers a very different side of Finnish golf. Designed by Canadian architect Thomas McBroom and opened in 2003, it was his first Scandinavian project. The front nine winds through undulating woodland, before the back nine opens out across flatter terrain and towards the shores of Lake Kytäjä. Those lakeside holes provide some of the course’s most impressive views, with the surrounding Finnish landscape never far from sight. Kytäjä may be a relatively unfamiliar name to travelling golfers, but visitors are warmly received and there is plenty to discover. Karlštejn Golf Resort – A&B Course (Central Bohemian Region, Czechia) Czechia Ranking: 4th | Green Fees: From 1,900 CZK (€78) Golf in the grounds of a medieval castle is a pretty good way to spend a day in Czechia. Around 30 kilometres southwest of Prague, Karlštejn Golf Resort winds through a hilly, wooded landscape beneath the famous Karlštejn Castle, with limestone outcrops, ravines and a couple of lakes adding plenty of character. The 6,324-metre course was designed by Canadian architect Les Furber, who returned in 2006 to add a further nine holes. The original layout has also hosted a Ladies European Tour event, adding some serious pedigree to an otherwise wonderfully secluded setting. With Prague close by and the castle looming over the landscape, Karlštejn offers a memorable combination of golf and sightseeing. Golf Club Tále - Gray Bear Course (Slovakia) Slovakia Ranking: 3rd | Green Fees: From €75 Set in a mountain valley beneath the Low Tatras, Gray Bear was the first 18-hole championship course to open in Slovakia when it welcomed its first golfers in 2002. Designed by Americans Bob Walton and Skip Malek, the course occupies 160 acres of spruce forest within Tále National Park, weaving between open meadows and dense woodland. Streams, boulders, stone walls and specimen pines are incorporated throughout the layout, giving it a distinctly natural character. The 6th is the signature hole, with a stream crossing the fairway before the hole sweeps downhill towards a green surrounded on three sides by water. With the Low Tatras providing a dramatic backdrop throughout, Gray Bear is a memorable introduction to golf in Slovakia and an easy addition to a wider trip through the country. Golf Grad Otočec (Novo Mesto, Slovenia) Slovenia Ranking: 2nd | Green Fees: €80 Set among the heavily forested hills of Dolenjska, Grad Otočec winds through an undulating 185-acre property beside the River Krka. The course is a collaboration between Howard Swan and local architect Peter Škofic, with tight playing corridors creating an unusual sense of seclusion as the fairways twist through the woodland. The 3rd is a standout, with the par five turning towards a sunken, blind green, while the 12th stretches to 568 metres and demands three long, straight shots. Adding to the appeal, Otočec Castle sits nearby on an island in the river, giving visiting golfers the chance to stay in a genuine Slovenian castle after their round. Miklagard Golf (Viken, Norway) Norway Ranking: 2nd | Green Fees: From 850 NOK (€78) Just 10 minutes from Oslo Airport, Miklagard is remarkably convenient for a course of its stature. Robert Trent Jones Jr. designed it as Norway’s first championship course, with the layout purpose-built to host national and international tournaments. It is a big, bold test, with significant elevation changes, large bunkers and fast, contoured greens. A 2019 remodelling project added five new holes and reshaped the opening, while a hotel now occupies the former practice area. Its combination of accessibility, pedigree and championship credentials makes it an easy addition to a golf trip through Norway.
As with all the other European charts we’ve been updating over the last thirteen months, the rankings for Switzerland have been compiled by a new panel assembled for that specific purpose and we thank every one of these committed golfers for their valued contributions. Nine courses climb up the new listings, eight drop down and eight remain in the same place. Domaine Imperial One of the non-movers is the 18-hole course at Golf Club du Domaine Impérial which retains its position as the #1 golfing layout in Switzerland for the eighth straight edition. Officially, the layout is a Pete Dye design but his associate at the time, Tim Liddy, was the man on site who actually oversaw construction of the course. Set out on land by the northern shores of Lake Geneva, the fairways occupy an estate that was once owned by Joseph Bonepart (elder brother of Napoléon Bonepart) and the 19th century manor house, La Villa Prangins, now operates as a rather grand clubhouse for the golfers who play here. Zürich The 18-hole layout at Golf & Country Club Zürich dropped out of the Top 10 bracket in 2018 but it now soars six places back up the chart to #5, following a renovation carried out recently by Thomas Himmel. Originally designed by Tom Williamson almost a century ago, the course was later remodelled by Tom Simpson in the mid-1930s then further upgraded by Donald Harradine during the 1970s so its architectural pedigree is one to be admired. Breitenloo Located ten kilometres east of Zurich airport, the course at Golfclub Breitenloo rises four places to #11 in our new Swiss standings. Founded in 1964, the club engaged both Frank Pennink and Donald Harradine to develop the course in its formative years before Kurt Rossknect upgraded the layout in 2004. Importantly, a recent bunker renovation by Staedler & Reinmuth GolfDesign has contributed substantially towards improving the ranking fortunes of the course. Hittnau-Zürich The Golf and Country Club Hittnau-Zürich course (up six to #18) lies half an hour’s drive southeast of Breitenloo, with the original 9-hole layout the work of renowned architect Bernhard von Limburger. Donald Harradine revised the layout after it had been extended to eighteen holes before Kurt Rossknect redesigned more than half the holes in 2015/16. Occupying a hilly landscape with lovely old trees, streams and lakes coming into play, this Alpine beauty is quite the testing track in a wonderful setting. Golfpark Zürichsee First opened for business in 1998, the Golfpark Zürichsee course (up five to #20) is laid out in a former gravel quarry, where Peter Harradine fashioned the initial 9-hole layout at what was then called Nuolen Golf Park. Twenty years later, Kurt Rossnecht added another nine holes, with water now featuring regularly, especially on the front nine where only three holes are free from any aquatic influence. To view the entire detailed list of our latest Top 25 Golf Courses of Switzerland click the link. View list here. If you have any comment to make on the above article then please use the “WRITE A RESPONSE” link at the bottom of this page. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses
Top 100 Golf Courses revises its Alpine rankings 2020 We re-ranked our Top 100 Golf Courses in Continental Europe a month ago and since then we’ve been updating the various national listings and issuing news releases to coincide with these chart revisions. This Alpine edition for Austria and Switzerland is the ninth and final publication in a sequence that has taken us all the way from the Mediterranean Sea in the south to the Atlantic Ocean in the north. Austria There are only two non-movers in our newly extended Top 40 for Austria and one of them is the Championship course at Adamstal, which remains our national #1 layout. Located in a gorgeous mountain setting near the small town of Ramau, an hour’s drive southwest of Vienna, the course is a mid-1990s production developed by former rally driver Franz Wittmann, with architect Jeff Howes extending the original 9-hole set-up to form the 18-hole Championship course then adding another 9-hole track called the Wallerbach. Adamstal - Championship course Reviewers last year were fulsome in their praise for Adamstal: “the sites for both courses are quite dramatic. The mountainous terrain has been heavily massaged to produce golf holes threaded through dense forest and across, up and down some severe slopes… it is a truly glorious course to see and to play… top scenic environment and the most challenging golf course.” Moving higher up the Austrian Top 10 tier, the course at Golfclub Am Mondsee rises four places to No.6. Laid out on former farmland next to Lake Mondsee in the mid-1980s, this 18-hole Max Graf Lamberg design is configured as two returning nines, each of which concludes with a curving par five hole on either side of the imposing Drachensee Lake inlet. Mondsee The biggest climb in our Austrian chart is made by the course at Dachstein-Tauern Golf & Country Club near the Schladming ski resort in Styria (up nine to #10), reversing a fall of seven places when we last updated the European national listings two years ago. CEO Franz Wittmann Junior, son of the Adamstal owner, is working hard to raise the all-round standards at the club and the course has come on leaps and bounds in recent times. Dachstein-Tauern The East course at Colony Club Gutenhof lies in the shadow of the West course at this fabulous 36-hole golf facility on the southern outskirts of the capital but the gap between the two layouts has closed considerably with the East advancing seven spots to No.14 in our new Austrian standings. Co-designed by Kurt Rossknecht and Hans Erhardt, these parkland tracks opened for play in 1990 and both have challenged and entertained in equal measure during the last thirty years of operation. The course at Golfclub Schloss Frauenthal is the highest of our ten new entries, debuting ahead of the other newcomers at #20. Our Alpine correspondent François Gacougnolle was here a few months ago and had this to say about the layout: “this course is definitely not trying to compete in the ‘monster’ category and it will probably never attract professionals… since length off the tee was never going to be the real issue here, the creators of Frauenthal used just about everything else you can find on a golf course to make your par a little more challenging to score.” Schloss Frauenthal Rank/ To view the complete detailed list of the Top 40 Golf Courses of Austria click the link. Switzerland The top three courses in Switzerland remain in the same position so that means the 18-hole layout at Golf-Club Domaine Imperial is still the national No. 1. It’s a rare Pete Dye European design, inaugurated by Seve Ballesteros in the summer of 1987, located close to Lake Geneva, less than ten kilometres from the French border. Mentioned last year in a review as a “delightfully comfortable” place to visit, the course was also described in the same post as “clearly where ‘the 1%’ play their golf”. Domaine Imperial Only four courses move forward in the newly expanded Swiss chart and the biggest jump is made by the new millennium design of Jeremy Pern at Golf Club Vuissens, which is now three places better off at No. 4. It’s a personal favourite of our man in the Alps, François Gacougnolle, who regards it as “not easy, physically and mentally tiring, but a lot of fun!” In his opinion, “its only weakness is that it is far from just about everywhere, and not easy to find.” Sometimes, going the extra kilometre or two can bring its own rewards. Vuissens The first of five chart debutants arrives at No. 15 and it’s the course at Golfclub Breitenloo, situated eight kilometres northeast of Zurich airport in a hilly area between Kloten and Wintherthur, with lovely views of the Glat Valley and the Alps. The club was founded in 1964 and both Donald Harradine and Frank Pennink are credited with involvement in the initial development of the club’s 18-hole course before Kurt Rossknecht carried out a major renovation early in the new millennium. Breitenloo To view the complete detailed list of the Top 25 Golf Courses of Switzerland click the link. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses
