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Continental Europe

In strict geographical terms, Continental Europe excludes the Mediterranean islands of Corsica, Sardinia, Sicily, Malta, Cyprus and the Balearics but we include all of these golfing hot spots in our Continental Europe grouping.

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  1. Morfontaine (Grand Parcours)

    North East France, France

    Morfontaine remains a monument to Tom Simpson’s original design, although Kyle Phillips has recently made some minor changes to the course.

  2. The similarity between this Dutch linksland and that of the British coastline is uncanny. Koninklijke Haagsche Golf & Country Club (or Royal Hague) is an exacting layout which pitches and rolls across undulating land.

  3. Host to the Dutch Open on three occasions, Utrecht de Pan Golf Club is a strategic and exacting layout which requires thought rather than muscle, especially during the homeward nine.

  4. The spectacular 18-hole Lofoten Links course opened in the summer of 2015 and it’s situated in a remote spot along the rugged coast of the island of Gimsøya, in the northern reaches of Norway...

  5. Real Club Valderrama

    Southern Spain, Spain

    Most golfers will be familiar with Valderrama from TV coverage. The golf club has hosted a plethora of championships, including the legendary 1997 Ryder Cup. In 2014 the club was granted Royal status.

  6. Les Bordes Golf Club (New)

    North West France, France

    Configured as two returning nines, the New course at Les Bordes features four engaging par threes which measure between 131 yards at the 7th and 230 yards at the 14th.

  7. Golf de Chantilly (Vineuil)

    North East France, France

    According to the old Big Bopper song, "Chantilly Lace had a pretty face and a wiggle in her walk". Golf de Chantilly is far more than a pretty face; it’s one of Europe’s most glorious courses.

  8. Fontainebleau Golf Club

    North East France, France

    The Ile de France region has more golf courses than anywhere else in the country but they don't come much better than the delightful Golf de Fontainebleau.

  9. Real Club de Golf Sotogrande

    Southern Spain, Spain

    Sotogrande was designed by Robert Trent Jones. It was his first European course, and it is a credit that the par 72, 6,224-metre layout is still enthralling players more than 50 years after it first opened.

  10. Hamburger Golf Club Falkenstein

    North West Germany, Germany

    Falkenstein is an attractive golf course, which is routed in all directions of the compass. The wooded location provides a genteel oasis to play golf, away from the hustle and bustle of Hamburg’s city centre.

  11. El Saler

    South East Spain, Spain

    Javier Arana designed El Saler and it opened for play in 1968 to a rapturous standing ovation. In fact, shortly afterwards, it was voted the No.1 golf course in Continental Europe.

  12. Set in the picturesque foothills of the Eastern Algarve, with sweeping views of the Serra do Caldeirão mountains to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the south.

  13. Camiral (Stadium)

    North East Spain, Spain

    The Stadium course at Camiral Golf & Wellness is the culmination of more than a decade of planning by the European Tour. They wanted to build their own Players Championship course to rival the PGA's TPC Sawgrass.

  14. Host on numerous occasions to the French Open, Saint Germain is a delightful park course, which flows through avenues of majestic trees.

  15. As soon as you arrive at Kennemer Golf & Country Club and you catch a glimpse of the undulating links land and the thatched-roof clubhouse, you know you are somewhere special.

  16. Les Bordes Golf Club (Old)

    North West France, France

    There's a slight American feel to the Old golf course at Les Bordes, both in terms of design and conditioning, but there is no doubting that you are in France.

  17. Visby Golf Club (The One)

    Central & North Sweden, Sweden

    Visby at Kronholmen celebrated the first fifty years of club history in 2008 and this remains an extremely popular European golf course.

  18. Budersand Sylt GolfKlubb

    North West Germany, Germany

    The scale of the challenge at Budersand Sylt is set out at the very first hole on the fringe of the property, played downhill to a fairway that then veers left and up to a green with a sand hill to the right for protection...

  19. West Cliffs

    Lisbon & Centre, Portugal

    Located an hour’s drive north of Lisbon on Portugal’s spectacular Silver Coast, West Cliffs is a Cynthia Dye design that opened its doors to golfers in June 2017.

  20. Bro Hof Slott Golf Club (Stadium)

    Central & North Sweden, Sweden

    Clearly Bro Hof Slott Golf Club has a very bright future, especially given that the Stadium course hosted five editions of the Scandinavian Masters tournament between 2010 and 2016.

  21. Real Club de Golf Las Brisas

    Southern Spain, Spain

    Real (Royal) Las Brisas was one of the first courses in Europe to use bent grass and the brave decision was quickly rewarded by being chosen as the host venue of the 1973 World Cup of Golf.

  22. Royal Antwerp was inaugurated in 1888 and it’s the oldest golf club in Belgium. The course was originally laid out by Willie Park Junior in 1913 and redesigned by Tom Simpson in 1930. It’s one of continental Europe’s architectural delights.

  23. Eindhovensche Golf was inaugurated in 1930 and the great Harry S. Colt routed the course through a dense forest a few kilometres to the south of Eindhoven.

  24. Finca Cortesin Golf Club

    Southern Spain, Spain

    Finca Cortesin is set a short distance inland from the Mediterranean and has been routed through a dramatic valley. It's one of Europe’s longest layouts and will soon become a household name.

  25. Falsterbo Golfklubb

    South & West Sweden, Sweden

    Falsterbo is one of the few true classic links courses in Continental Europe. It’s located at the southernmost tip of Sweden on the scenic Falsterbo peninsula, where the Öresund and the Baltic meet.

  26. Terre Blanche (Château)

    South East France, France

    Dave Thomas slipped the Château course at Terre Blanche Hotel Spa & Golf Resort onto the Provence landscape like a hand sliding into a silk glove.

  27. Palmares is billed as the golfing “jewel in the crown of the Algarve” and it’s certainly an eclectic golf course, which originally opened in 1975, with distinct flavours.

  28. Noordwijkse is classic links course on undulating linksland with each hole winding its way through the dunes and occasionally, in a Formby-like style, through pine woods.

  29. Troia Golf

    Lisbon & Centre, Portugal

    Troia Golf Resort is located on the coast to the south of Lisbon and you can reach the club via a lovely short ferry crossing from Setubal to the Peninsula of Troia.

  30. Seven artificial lakes were built during the construction of the Great Northern golf course, which was fashioned by Nicklaus Design and officially opened for play in July 2017.

  31. Les Aisses Golf (Les Aisses)

    North West France, France

    The original design at Les Aisses was modern and occasionally eccentric, but Hawtree Limited changed all that in 2010 and the golf course now harks back to the Golden Age.

  32. Oitavos Dunes

    Lisbon & Centre, Portugal

    The golf course at Oitavos Dunes is a lovely mix of woodland and links-type holes that have been expertly laid to make the most of the existing landscape.

  33. Hilversumsche

    Netherlands

    Hilversumsche Golf Club is one of the most exclusive clubs in the Netherlands but thankfully you can still get a midweek game if you book in advance.

  34. RTJ2’s lead architect Bruce Charlton was entrusted with the job of laying out the fairways at the 36-hole Scandinavian Golf Club and the Old course duly opened in the summer of 2010...

  35. Quinta do Lago (South)

    Algarve, Portugal

    American architect William Mitchell raised the bar in terms of golf course architecture here at Quinta do Lago by importing American standard greens, tees and bunkers. In May 2020 the South course closed for major renovation work which took more than a year to complete.

  36. Rosendaelsche

    Netherlands

    Rosendaelsche Golf Club is one of the oldest clubs in the Netherlands (formed in 1895) and is heathland golf at its very best, played over gently undulating forested terrain.

  37. Cabot Highlands, formerly Golf du Médoc, is located in the north of Bordeaux. The Châteaux course at Cabot Bordeaux is Bill Coore's 3rd solo design, which he laid out with his design associate, Rod Whitman.

  38. Thomson Perrett & Lobb, the golf course architecture company founded by five-time Open Champion and Australian golf legend Peter Thomson, designed the course at Carya Golf Club.

  39. Bernardus Golf

    Netherlands

    Shortly after a soft opening in the summer of 2018, it was announced that Bernardus would host three editions of the KLM Open on the European Tour from 2020 onwards...

  40. Real Club La Moraleja (3)

    Central Spain, Spain

    In 2013, the No.3 (North) course opened at the burgeoning Real Club La Moraleja. Both No.3 and No.4 are located further north of the Spanish capital than courses 1 and 2.

  41. Not unlike a British heathland course, the layout at Royal Limburg Golf Club twists and turns through beautiful woodland.

  42. Five years in the making, the Lübker Resort opened to much acclaim by Danish golfers in 2008 and this Robert Trent Jones-designed golf complex is the centrepiece of a 500-acre estate...

  43. The golf course at Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort is located on the northern Black Sea Coast of Bulgaria and it’s a Black Knight signature design that opened in 2011.

  44. Dom Pedro Old is the original and eldest course at Vilamoura but it's also the best. Grand, pine-lined, strategic and in tune with Mother Nature.

  45. Belgium's Royal Zoute Golf Club is situated near Knocke sur Mer on the North Sea coast and has been described by Nick Faldo as a "hidden gem".

  46. Köln

    West Germany, Germany

    Founded in 1906, Golf- und Land-Club Köln is one of Germany’s oldest golf clubs and the course in play today, which dates back to 1952, is routed through the dense forest at Refrath.

  47. Kristianstads GolfKlubb (East)

    South & West Sweden, Sweden

    The Åhus Östra (East) course at Kristianstad Golfklubb is one of Sweden’s elder statesmen and is located at Åhus on a sandy and gently undulating landscape.

  48. Real Puerta de Hierro (Abajo)

    Central Spain, Spain

    Real Club de la Puerta de Hierro is one of the most private golf clubs in Spain. The Arriba is one of Spain’s oldest courses but the Abajo, on the other hand, is much younger.

  49. Robert Trent Jones designed Royal Park I Roveri and it’s his first Italian architectural ensemble, which opened its doors for play in 1971.

  50. Silkeborg Ry Golf Club is situated in Resenrbro in the part of Denmark known as “the heart of Jutland.” Formed in 1966, the club is one of the finest in the country.

  51. Le Golf National (Albatros)

    North East France, France

    20 miles to the west of Paris at Guyancourt, surrounding the Chateau of Versailles – once home to Louis X1V – lies Golf National's stadium styled Albatros course.

  52. Pärnu Bay

    Estonia

    Pärnu Bay Golf Links opened for play in 2015. Designed by Lassi Pekka Tilander and shaped by Mick McShane of Kingsbarns fame, Pärnu Bay has quickly become one of the best layout in the Baltics.

  53. Ullna Golf & CC

    Central & North Sweden, Sweden

    "Water, water everywhere" could easily be the slogan of Ullna Golf Club where there are many holes set hard beside Lake Ullna (which doubles up in the winter as a huge skating rink).

  54. Golf Club Biella

    Northern Italy, Italy

    Golf Club Biella known locally as "Le Betulle" is located in Valcarozza, one of the most evocative and serene spots in northern Italy. The club was founded in 1958 and the English architect John Morrison designed it.

  55. Royal Golf Club de Belgique, or Ravenstein as it is known, is one of the most important courses in Belgium, founded in 1906 and redesigned by the flamboyant Englishman Tom Simpson...

  56. Golf de Chiberta

    South West France, France

    Golf de Chiberta is a monument to one of the world’s greatest architects, Tom Simpson, and it is also one of the few links courses on the French Atlantic coastline.

  57. Praia D'El Rey Golf & Beach Resort

    Lisbon & Centre, Portugal

    Praia D’El Rey is "A mix of holes – some in the mighty dunes, others among fragrant pines – that are an assault to the senses. Wild and wonderful"

  58. The Montgomerie Maxx Royal (formerly known as the Papillon Golf Club) is the third EGD project in the Belek area with Colin Montgomerie marketed as the course’s attention-grabbing headline designer.

  59. Le Touquet Golf Resort (La Mer)

    North East France, France

    Le Touquet's stunning sea course, La Mer, is one of C.H. Alison's greatest achievements. It’s a classic links course that winds its way between the coastal dunes and rough grasses.

  60. The New course at The Scandinavian Golf Club is a tight layout like its sibling and you are reminded of this at the very outset where the 1st plays to a very narrow fairway.