Located around half an hour’s drive south east of Eindhoven city centre, the new golf facility at Swinkelsche lies within a pretty flat farming landscape so immense credit must be given for the way many of the holes have been shaped to inject subtle contouring into the playing corridors.

What struck me immediately was the quality of the fairway turf, which I’d anticipated in advance to be parkland in nature – not a bit of it as it’s of a free-draining heathland quality that was an absolute joy to play from. Bent grass greens were also a big surprise so hats off to the owners for the very high standard of construction.

The bunkering is exceptional, with rugged, jagged edge sand traps helping to add visual stimulation on flatter parts of the property, none more so than at the short par four 3th hole, which features an enormous bunker complex to the right side of the fairway, forcing golfers to find a narrow landing area on the left side.

Everything progresses rather nicely until reaching the par five 7th, the first of two holes which wrap around a small lake on the most southerly part of the property.

The combination of sand and water hazards is a daunting enough prospect for the ordinary golfer at the first of these holes but the 8th then brings a large sandy waste area into play off the tee before out of bounds hampers approach shots to the left of the fairway as it runs alongside the edge of the adjacent forest to the green.

Any disquiet about those two holes is small beer compared to the short par four 11th, however. With a massive waste area facing the tee box, it seems only logical to aim right or left but the sight lines are far from clear – certainly on a first play – so the hole didn’t really work for me on the day.

I’m all for making golfers think a little harder about where they should be hitting their ball rather than just blasting away off the tee so fair play to Frank Pont for doing just that on this hole. He’s also established a few interesting wetland areas around that part of the course which no doubt boosts the club’s eco credentials.

I loved the split fairway approach to the par five 14th, the bunkers lined along the right side of the 15th fairway, the routing of the short par four 16th heading back into the woods (even if the gap through the trees is a little too tight), and the raised green on the par three 17th.

Just a pity the round ended in anti-climactic fashion for me at the rather confusing 18th. It’s obvious the home hole must progress to the right of the small ponds and wetland areas that lie ahead of the tee but the fairway is poorly defined and it’s not at all clear where the safe landing areas are as you tack your way round towards the home green.