226 - Utrechtse Golfclub 'De Pan'

Location: Utrecht, Netherlands

Rating: 8.5

A top 100 course in the world according to top100golfcourses.com, De Pan has been high on my Dutch wishlist since I started getting back into the game of golf and living in the Netherlands.

Situated a short drive from the lesser known Dutch city of Utrecht. De Pan is in a wonderfully serene location, whilst driving through the forest towards the clubhouse you get the sense that you are drifting away into nature. The course itself is a heathland type course with plenty of trees lined the fairways and no water to speak of.

A course that if you had the money you would die to be a member of, a beautiful old clubhouse with thatched roof, outdoor seating area, quaint little pro shop and good practice facilities with an on demand ball machine, no additional fee needed the club itself has everything you need.

The routing is excellent, maybe one of the best green to tee box layouts I’ve seen, every green wonderfully lends itself to the next tee box without much need to search for where you are heading to next.

I set out on my round on a very quiet but sunny Monday afternoon. Weaving my way through the subtle undulations that make the fairways and the plethora of bunkers that line them. A couple of standout holes included the par 3, 8th hole. A longer one at 170 meters but a green surrounded by bunkers to the front, left and right. The 16th is another cracker, taking you to the highest point on the course for your tee shot with beautiful views of the surrounding holes, down to the fairway and then back up to a tricky raised green where the first timer can’t see what the green has to offer.

A great course yes but top 100 in the world I am not sure, the conditioning of the fairways was poor and I wouldn’t say the greens were amazingly smooth either. For €250 a round I would expect a better experience and some sort of memorabilia included in that many of the other top courses offer.