Royal Zoute (Championship) - Belgium

I’ve had the Championship course at Royal Zoute on my hit list for a long time now. It’s a course that once occupied a Top 10 position in the Continental European rankings (from 2008 to 2016) so my expectations were admittedly pretty high. Tempered against this, I’d be advised by a few people in the know that the course wasn’t perhaps quite as good as some would believe so I arrived here with my eyes wide open.

The routing is very interesting, with all bar five holes laid out around the perimeter of the property so technically there’s out of bounds to the left on thirteen holes (though it doesn’t feel like that when playing). The landscape’s pretty flat, with only minimal movement in the fairways, and the course is largely surrounded by discreetly screened off housing with the Knokke Strand less than a kilometre away.

It's a solid track with no weak holes as such but I was expecting a lot more. I anticipated it would play rather firm and fast due to its proximity to the coast but it appeared to me to be more set up as a soft parkland track. Green conditions were fine, even if one or two of the greenside bunkers looked a bit tired. I can usually gauge how much I’ve enjoyed playing a course by the number of photos taken during my round and I took way fewer than normal here.

One thing that really irked right from the off was the centre of the plastic holes on the greens which were so worn that many of the flagsticks would not stand up properly when placed in the hole – something you might find at your local municipal but not at one of the supposed best courses in all of Europe!

I’ve since found out the club’s order for new golf equipment is more than four months overdue so that’s the reason for the current situation. It might appear a trivial and rather petty thing to comment on but, at the time of playing, it gets you wondering what other aspects of the golf operation might not quite be up to scratch if something as basic as the holes are in a poor state.

I liked the run of holes from the 5th to 7th – my notes have them as “more heathland-like” – and the par three 11th was a wonderful short par three but, I’m sorry, this was the big disappointment of my recent 10-course trip to Belgium. Clubhouse facilities and staff were excellent but that sadly offered no compensation for my lack of love for the course – maybe I had been spoiled by the totally unexpected pleasure of playing at Royal Ostend earlier in the day?

Royal Zoute sits minutes away from the Belgium coast in the well known town of Knokke.

Royal Zoute plays extremely firm and offers elements of links golf as many holes play relatively open. However it also has some classic parkland holes. Although it is a fairly old course, it can be played from different tees ranging up close to 7000 yards. The course sits on a great peace of property which is overall flat but is quite hilly.

The course plays absolutely beautiful. It is definitely my favorite course I played in terms of the blend of holes. They all complement each other so well and besides #1 I say the course does not have a weak hole. It is absolutely flawless golf which plays great to both the skilled and medium handicapper. However the greens play brilliantly firm which make the balls really hard to stop. The course was in top shape especially considering for the month of May and the dry weather conditions lately.

I absolutely adored the course. I think it´s so effortlessly great and that even without offering any spectacular or mind blowing golf design elements. It deserves every rave it gets and should definitely appear in every list of the top 50 golf courses in mainland Europe.

Addition: The club house is fantastic and adds to the great atmosphere of the club.

Overall the course played very nice, however it was not worth the price. I thought that it was fairly well-maintained but there were some patches on the greens that were rough and if you didn't keep it in the fairway then you could be hitting off of hard dirt, even if you only missed the fairway by a few yards. Definitely worth a play if you're in the area but I wouldn't anticipate having an exceptional round.

During the past two years significant efforts have been undertaken to restore the course. That paid off and I believe Royal Zoute is recovering its position as one of Belgium's finest golf clubs.

I played Royal Zoute last week and I have to say that we were very disappointed by the condition of the course. It was not well maintained and the greens were terrible. Slow and bumpy and not good at all. Not a tidy maintenance golf course and really not numner 1!!!!

I played it in the first week of May and the amount of damage on the greens was notable (might just be the time of the year). I believe there are restrictions in Europe for applying certain chemicals on golf courses. I understand that there were challenges routing the course, and dealing with certain ridges – but thankfully the land begins to move once you reach the back nine and the green-sites are significantly more interesting.

Oh dear, what a disappointment. This should be a wonderful course but it is in appalling condition. The fairways have been totally lost. The tees and greens are poor. And, it is not cheap at 105 Euros. It is very sad to see, what is a great course, so neglected. Unforgiveable but it can be reclaimed and restored with some effort and TLC. Such a shame as there some wonderful holes here.

We were very disappointed when we visited on 15th Nov 2015. We could not have visited a t a worse time, the club house was closed so we were unable to get anything to eat or drink added to that the greens had recently been hollow tinnesd and parts of the course were subject to major ground works with heavy machinery scatterd on it. On top of that it was generally messy and untidy. We were very disappointed and all that for 105 euros so not cheap. We had even callled the club before we left the UK and nothing was mentioned.It was not what we had expected and will not return !!!

It's sad to hear that this course has gone downhill in such a way. When I played (admittedly a few years now) I thought they had some of best greens I'd ever putted on. And to think that in the 2009-2011 timeframe this course was close to being a World Top 100 course.One thing I liked was that the routing of the "l'Extérieur" course (Championship course) works around the outside of the land it meant that the holes exposed you to a different direction of the wind every few shots.

What a shame! This is a gem of a design over great golfing country but it is in terrible condition. The grass is patchy, the bunkers are decaying and poorly maintained.I could not recommend a visit, especially as the welcome to visitors is extremely unfriendly.