After lining up a 36 hole day at Haviksoord & Swinkelsche, you would be forgiven for thinking I was off for a game of Quidditch with a couple of minor characters from Hogwarts. However, Swinkelsche is a golf course and a decent one at that. The property has fewer of the natural charms of a Haagsche or De Pan, so the golf on offer is laid bare - more blue print than oil painting - but it delivers. Typified by striking bunkering, funky greens, and a variety of design ideas, it is not a boring round. You will need to engage the grey matter here as you will face choices. Much of this is due to the angling of the greens together with the pin position of the day, so follow Lee Westwood’s famous advice (not having your wife caddie for you, the one about playing the hole backwards in your mind).

A favourite hole was the short par 4 3rd. An attractive half par that will be driveable for those of you who can hit enormous fades on demand. Hole 15 was quite typical of the dark arts defending the course, with a drive closer to the watery boggarts left sets up an easier second shot. Sod that - dry quaffles for me so bail out to the right - only to face a more difficult line in over a protective bunker tight to the shallow green. Hole 16 seemed to be a not so gentle nod to the 10th at De Pan, and hole 17 is a very attractive Par 3. Occasionally the features are a little too much - like the raised green on the 13th, or the split fairway on hole 11. Generally though, no two holes are the same and the options you are faced, coupled with the greens, make for a fun & thoughtful round.

On this visit the voluptuous basilisk greens might have been under the spell of Emma Watson because they were suspiciously firm, liable to frustrate, & and leave a sense of rejection. A shame because the contours and angles on offer might be the course’s best feature. I’d left my trusty wand at home and they made a muggle of me. Despite wilting as if kissed by a Dementor, my playing partner admittedly embraced this challenge and was playing with Harry Putter’s magical touch. Stopping a ball with a full shot did bring to mind that Jack Nicklaus comment about landing balls on car bonnets though, and shots around the green remained challenging. Cursed by the bat bogey hex, my only birdie - Felix Felicis - came after a chip in on the 9th. The greens seemed as though they were in need of some irrigative alchemy (and a draught of peace for me).

Memory does serve us well though and having played here before, I know that the greens have always been a playable pleasure. Turns out they have since fixed a problem with the irrigation (Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandu), so presumably the curse is now lifted. Appreciate I’ve written more than necessary about the conditioning of the greens, but they have been very good here and are central to how the course plays. Not everyone is a wizard on the greens, so they do need to be looked after. Swinkelsche has plenty of charms, and on a fairly pragmatic property, delivers an engaging high quality playing experience that you’ll want to repeat. It also won’t cost you untold galleons compared to competitors. Comfortably in my Top 15 NL favourites - with potential to rise as it matures - Swinkelsche is a course I’d recommend to anyone