In my years at university I moved my golf bag to courses in the North of the country and subsequently the "Noord-Nederlandse Golf Club" and "Lauswolt Golf Club" became my home courses. In those years these clubs had 9-holes only; since, both clubs have extended their course to beautiful, full 18 holes facilities. Also during my (obligatory) military service, I played in Arnhen at the 'Roosendaalsche', again, then a 9-holes, now extended to a magnificent 18 holes course. The atmosphere in these clubs was, and still is, cozy and a family-like environment. No wonder, I keep fond memories of my friends at all three clubs and the rounds played, although I never managed to win a major club tournament or club title. However, once, I did succeed in winning the "Chateaux & Relais" Cup, organised by Hotel Lauswolt that allowed me to participate in the European Championship of the famous hotel chain. The tournament was held in Punta Ala, Italy and I added the men's first prize to my spoils .....

Following job changes, I moved back to the center of the country and settled near "Anderstein Golf Club". Despite my frequent and lengthy stays abroad, I am still a member of this private club which plays a lovely combination of heath', forest' and water holes. The challenging course was recently extended to 27-holes. The inserted picture shows the lay-out of the course, clearly indicating the location of the fairways, the greens and lots of water hazards! Here is also where I taught my own children to play the game and laid the basis of winning the 1993 Heineken sponsored National Parents-Children Trophy. In this competition I played with my son Jelle, who played a faultless round that day and is a single digit handicap player now. The win allowed us to participate in the Pro-Am of the Dutch Open in 1994 where we were among all the famous names on the European Tour. 
With my friends I participated every year in the Dutch National Matchplay Competition and we were quite successful .... in our own league.

I played many courses in the countries I travelled. The first "foreign" course I played was in Crans-Montana, Switzerland, where the fairways are on the ski-slopes of the resort and the Mont Blanc completes the scenery. The following years I visited courses in England and Ireland, Belgium, France and Germany. I spend golfing holidays in Italy and Portugal and took my clubs with me on consultancy assignments in China, Indonesia, Singapore, Thailand and Bangladesh. Even in the former Soviet state Uzbekistan we had a championship-course, Tashkent Lakeside Golf course, developed and financed by the Korean community. The "Tashkent Nomads" are a group of local Uzbeks and foreigners, playing on Sunday morning. Visiting foreigners are welcome to join in the fun. Contact Mr. Khotam and you are invited. In Uzbekistan, next to winning trophies in several club competitions, I played at single digit handicap level and achieved winning 3rd place in the 2003 Central Asian Championship and ultimately scored my lowest strokeplay score in a one over par round. Ever since I had to confess after each round of golf, that I didn't achieve up to 'my' level !

At my current location, Dhaka, Bangladesh, I do not expect to get very low rounds in on the challenging Kurmitola Golf Club, which is my 'home' course now. The fairways are lined with trees and admittedly I need some space, left and right, for my shots. Here, we also have a group of foreigners, the DOGS (Dhaka Oddball Golf Society), competing weekly for the 'Chief of the Pack' award. The player with the worst score, however, has to go home with the 'Dogs Doodoo', which is exactly that. Although we normally play Kurmitola, in the dry season we may go out to Savar Golf Club. It's a nice outing, an hour's drive from the capital. Chittagong in the South of the country has a beautiful, landscaped 18-holes course, situated in the hills just outside the famous and busy harbour town. Thus far, at Kurmitola, I succeeded to win the 2005 American Cup Trophy; a prestigious win, receiving coverage in the world press. Thus far, in 2006 I managed only to get my name on a silver plate for a 'second day, best net score' in the Aga Khan Strokeplay championship: I hope to achieve more good results in Dhaka to fill up the mantelpiece.

 

Summer 2006, I played the Grand Ducal in Luxemburg with my eldest daughter and a couple of rounds in Curacao, one of the islands of The Netherlands Antilles, where my son is currently residing. We played the old "Shell" course next to the refinery in Emmastad which used to be famous for its 'brownies', putting areas of sand and oil. It now has has beautiful greens. The other course we played was the newly developed championship course at Blue Bay, a challenging course with great views. Not without reason it is advertised to not only bring your clubs, but also your camera. Despite the warning signals, I thoroughly enjoyed the food & drinks of the region!