206 - Koninklijke Haagsche

Location: The Hague, Netherlands

Rating: 8.5

When you think of the Netherlands, golf doesn’t really cross your mind but low and behold there are a plethora of really high quality golf courses. Having lived here for a number of years I’ve been itching to try out some of the top courses and the Haagsche did not disappoint. If anything it exceeded my expectations for the course itself.

Not much more than a half hour drive from Amsterdam, winding through the very affluent area of Wassenaar you arrive at this esteemed golf club. Walking up the hill from the parking lot you’re graced with this beautiful, old, traditional clubhouse.

Further up you get to the starter’s hut and a glimpse of the course, bedded into the coastal dunes and with stunning views all around. A got incredibly luck with the weather, blue skies and a relatively empty tee sheet so was able to whizz around very quickly on a Thursday afternoon.

It’s the sort of course where you don’t mind a longer round, sit back and savour the dramatic holes. The first hole is a tricky par 5, downhill with a expansive fairway but narrowing toward the green with a thin neck running up to it protected, however, by a naughtily placed bunker.

From there you continue to weave through, around, up and over the dunes with a mix of very well crafted holes and very playable. Plenty of raised greens requiring approach shots of the right distance but greens that gripped yet fast on the surface.

The majority of the holes slope left to right, I must have walked past my ball half a dozen times where it had rolled maybe 20-30 yards further right than I could have imagined. The course was in very good condition, I think the fairways had just been punched so were recovering from that but still played really well and smooth and the bunkers and greens were impeccably well looked after.

For a course this good I would imagine they get a fair amount of tourist interest and could probably capitalize on a bigger pro shop, I know I would’ve spent more if there was a wider selection. Sadly the driving range was limited to an 8 hour, probably my only bug bear and the one thing from it being a truly world class venue in my eyes.

At €250 a round for a foreigner it is steep but I’d definitely want to come back and play this course again in the future. Really an awesome design and a whole lot of fun!