Er zijn in Nederland ongeveer 245 golflocaties. Die zijn onderverdeeld in:
- ongeveer 125 18-holes banen (soms 27 of 36 holes)
- ruim 45 9-holes banen met een par van 65 of meer
- ruim 45 golflocaties met een korte baan (par 64 en minder)
- bijna 30 golflocaties waar alleen een par-3 baan is te vinden (par 54)
Naast de 245 golflocaties zijn er nog ongeveer 25 pitch & putt-banen.
De beste Nederlandse banen staan hoog in internationale ranglijsten.
Top100golfcourses.com Top 100 Golf Courses of the World – 2022
1 Cypress Point
2 Pine Valley
3 Royal County Down (Championship Course)
78 (80) Koninklijke Haagsche – “(…) the Hague could be the most exciting links golfing destination on mainland Europe. (…) The similarity between this section of Dutch linksland and that of the British coastline is uncanny. (…) It’s an exacting layout which pitches and rolls across undulating land. (…) Haagsche is course that cannot fail to impress links traditionalists.”
80 (86) De Pan – “Harry Colt designed Utrecht de Pan in 1929 and the course is set in delightful wooded seclusion. (…) De Pan is a strategic and exacting layout which requires thought rather than muscle, especially during the homeward nine.”
Top100golfcourses.com Top 100 Golf Courses of Continental Europe – 2023
1 (1) Morfontaine (Frankrijk)
2 (2) Koninklijke Haagsche
3 (9) De Pan
15 (12) Kennemer
23 (29) Eindhovensche
28 (17) Noordwijkse
33 (34) Hilversumsche
36 (46) Rosendaelsche
30 (-) Bernardus
90 (72) Lage Vuursche
Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe – 2021
1 (1) Morfontaine
2 (2) De Pan
4 (13) Haagsche
9 (6) Kennemer
27 (27) Eindhovensche
28 (9) Noordwijkse
31 (24) Hilversumsche
33 (51) Rosendaelsche
56 (-) Bernardus
69 (-) Swinkelsche
Lees hier meer.
Golf Magazine Top 100 Courses in the World – 2023
1 (1) Pine Valley
2 (2) Cypress Point
3 (3) Old Course St Andrews (Schotland)
78 (77) Koninklijke Haagsche – “Better known to English speakers as The Hague, The Netherlands’ highest-ranking course is a Morrison-and-Alison collaboration that plays across chaotically heaving fairways amid substantial dunes. How they were able to connect all 18 holes without an awkward moment is a marvel. So, too, is the variety of its greens, headlined by the famous hard-to-hit knob green at 6 followed by a well defended, diminutive sunken green on the ensuing hole.”
De Pan staat niet meer in de Golf Magazine Top 100 van 2023. De baan stond in de editie van 2020 nog op de 88ste plaats: ” Modern architecture did itself no favors by pursuing holes that constantly scream at the golfer, because at some point the golfer goes tone deaf. Colt never went down that path and he achieved the best possible result here in that he produced a course that would be a delight to play every day. De Pan doesn’t have the topography of St. George’s Hill but it does have sand dunes sprinkled throughout the property. A master router, Colt incorporated them in every possible manner.”
Continental European Top 100, National Club Golfer – 2019
2 De Pan
4 Haagsche
10 Kennemer (B and C)
21 Noordwijkse
27 Hilversumsche
30 Eindhovensche
31 Rosendaelsche
Golf Course Architecture Top 100 Golf Courses in the World – Architects’ Choice – 2014
Er bestaan heel veel ranglijsten van de beste golfbanen in de wereld, maar er was nog tot 2014 nog geen ranglijst die is gebaseerd op de mening van golfbaanarchitecten. In deze top 100 staan twee Nederlandse banen.
1 St Andrews Old Course (Schotland)
2 Cypress Point
3 Pine Valley
55 De Pan
68 Noordwijkse
Planet Golf Top 100 (2019)
1 Cypress Point
2 Pine Valley
3 Royal County Down (Noord-Ierland)
77 Kennemer
In het boek Planet Golf – Modern Masterpieces (2016) van Darius Oliver over de 100 beste moderne banen is één Nederlandse baan opgenomen: de Swinkelsche . De Australiër Oliver is een gerespecteerd golfbaankenner. Het boek Modern Masterpieces bevat beschrijvingen en foto’s van 110 banen die tussen 1996 en 2016 zijn aangelegd – de 110 beste in de wereld volgens Darius Oliver. “This is classically understated old-school golf,” zegt de auteur onder meer over de Swinkelsche, “and great fun for those who enjoy a challenge but prefer not to be beaten up on each and every hole.”
Planet Golf Netherlands (2019)
1 Haagsche
2 Kennemer
3 De Pan
4 Swinkelsche
5 Noordwijkse
6 Hilversumsche
7 Eindhovensche
8 Stippelberg
9 Rosendaelsche
10 Lage Vuursche
Golf Digest World’s 100 Greatest Golf Courses – 2022
1 Royal County Down (Noord-Ierland)
2 Tara Iti (Nieuw-Zeeland)
3 Royal Dornoch (Schotland)
40 De Pan
Het commentaar van Golf Digest: “Debuting in the World 100 rankings, de Pan feels like it was cut through the dark woods of a medieval fairy tale, though the city of Utrecht is just two miles away. The holes wander, spin and double back as if searching for a way out, with very few offering any glimpse of another. A beautiful collection of short par 4s await, including the sharp, partially blind dogleg seventh and the remarkable 10th snaking through a narrow passage of mounds. Colt’s golf influence in the Netherlands, here as well as at Kennemer and Koninklijke Haagsche (aka, Royal Hague), is almost as significant as it is in the London Heathlands, which makes sense given the similarities of the landscapes.”
Golf Digest Best Golf Courses in Every Country – 2020
1 De Pan
2 Koninklijke Haagsche
3 Kennemer
4 Noordwijkse
5 Hilversumsche
Top100golfcourses.com Top 40 Golf Courses of The Netherlands 2023
Links de Top 40 van Top100golfcourses.com, daarnaast de positie van deze banen in de ranglijst van top50golf.nl.
1 1 Haagsche
2 2 De Pan
3 3 Kennemer
4 5 Eindhovensche
5 4 Noordwijkse
6 6 Hilversumsche
7 7 Rosendaelsche
8 8 Bernardus
9 10 Lage Vuursche
10 9 De Hoge Kleij
11 11 The International
12 13 The Dutch
13 12 Toxandria
14 14 Stippelberg
15 16 Swinkelsche
16 15 Heelsum (Airborne-Sandr)
17 17 Gelpenberg
18 20 Wouwse Plantage
19 22 Goyer
20 19 Rijk van Nunspeet (Noord-Oost)
21 18 Texelse
22 23 Lauswolt
23 * Domburgsche * Domburg is nr 1 van de 9-holes banen
24 24 Geijsteren
25 27 Sallandsche
26 21 De Haar
27 32 Noord-Nederlandse
28 26 Lochemse
29 25 Houtrak
30 29 Herkenbosch
31 ** Links Valley ** Links Valley (North) is nr 2 van de 9-holes banen
32 40 De Dommel
33 28 Anderstein (B-C)
34 36 Edese
35 20 Broekpolder
36 31 Twentsche
37 33 Haviksoord
38 35 Hooge Graven
39 34 Oosterhoutse
40 47 The Duke