Lockhart Travel Club - Netherlands Trip Report
The Top 100 Team caught up with David Davis Co-founder of LockHart Travel Club to discuss another awesome trip to The Netherlands.
“A group of Lockhart members ventured to the little known but very underrated golf country of The Netherlands. Known for windmills, tulips, wooden shoes and more than its fair share of rain, this little country packs a serious punch when it comes to World Class Golf”.
The Netherlands, the flattest country in the world…until you play golf.
With most of our members arriving on Saturday to recoup and refresh, we indulged in a private canal tour through none other than the majestic canals of Amsterdam. Debating golf, golf courses and golf architecture for a couple hours while enjoying some cold drinks on our classic salon boat. We all agreed that life in that moment was pretty darn special with several days of World Class golf to follow.
Sunday, we left Amsterdam for a short 30 minute drive up the coast to Noordwijk aan Zee, home of the Noordwijkse Golf Club. No need to try and pronounce it, we offered assistance in that prior to arrival. With rain the entire morning we’d prepared the group for a wet and very windy day. The disappointment could be sensed when the skies opened shortly after we teed off and the sun and wind served up a magical afternoon. Noordwijkse has just approved a long awaited and complete renovation which includes 3 completely new holes with new greens and surrounds befitting a world class links course. Martin Ebert is the architect of choice, and the club is hoping for improvements the likes of Turnberry and Portrush.
Miraculously, this set the tone for the week and the Golf Gods were most certainly on our side. To top off the day, that night we dined in one of the best fish restaurants in Amsterdam, Vis a/d Schelde, a perfect day!
Monday morning we jumped into the van for the 1.5 hour trek to the Eindhovensche Golf Club which sits down south near the Belgium border. The rain had reached biblical proportions during the night and the club was closed. Luckily we know some important people at the club there and they called ahead to the superintendent and reminded them that the Lockhart gentlemen were on the way. The positive answer came as we were already underway. They would open the course for us at 12:30 pm. The biblical rains followed us for most the trip down. 30 minutes out it was dry and remained so until we were sitting with beers on the 19th hole. Our best guess, the boys from Florida, Spain and The Bahamas brought some good weather karma along.
Eindhovensche is a classic Harry Colt design where the club is working extensively to remove trees and open up vistas on the course as well as regenerate heather. A strong routing, it also has a pair of truly all-world golf holes in the short, drivable par 4 second and the short par 4, 5th hole.
Tuesday was to be a very special day with a visit to the World Top 100 – Koninklijke Haagsche Golf and Country Club. One of C.H. Alison’s legacies to the golf world, Hirono and Kawana widely considered the others. Note, if it’s not obvious, the name was chosen because of its strong international marketing potential. Needless to say, nobody passed the preparatory pronunciation training on this one.
Royal Hague as most of the world knows it, is a wild ride and truly one of the most undulated walking courses you will find anywhere. That starts with the steep uphill hike from the club house to the starters hut at the first tee. By the time you reach the third fairway, your daily hill climb workout can be checked off and unless you are a mountain goat your legs will be burning.
This wild ride continues from start to finish with blind shots, few flat lies, crowned greens and plenty of wind to contend with.
Utrechtse Golfclub de Pan is one of our favorite courses on the entire European continent and it would be very difficult to dream up a more fitting setting and wonderful course to end our NL adventure. De Pan as locals call it, has also been ranked well inside the World Top 100 for a number of years now. World class golf holes are a dime a dozen at De Pan which benefits from one of Harry Colt’s best routings on a tight little property. The stretch of holes from the double blind shot par 4, 6th right on through to the reachable par 5, 18th could hold its own in any argument for the best 13 hole stretch of golf holes on the planet.
Needless to say, the entire group left wanting to go straight back out for another go. That’s about the best we could ask for.
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