In my years at university I moved my golf bag to courses in the North of the country and successively the "Noord-Nederlandse Golf Club" in Groningen and "Lauswolt Golf Club" in Friesland became my home course. 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 exists. 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 remained being 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 and should call in to the clubhouse for information. 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. Ultimately, I 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 !

Next station was Dhaka, Bangladesh, where I became a member of the challenging Kurmitola Golfclub. The fairways are lined with trees and admittedly I need some space, left and right, for my shots. The DOGS (Dhaka Oddball Golf Society) is the foreigners' group to join, 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. Normally play is at "Kurmitola", tee-off at noon (but be ready to play at 11.45 AM), however, in the dry season they may go out to Savar Golf Club. It's a nice outing, an hour's drive from the capital and on the return trip, there is a stop at "Little Italy" for pizzas and beers. 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. All golfclubs in Bangladesh facilitate the players with male caddies, some of whom are really good golfplayers themselves. In wintertime the Kurmitola Golfclub has a large number of formal competitions, sponsored by local and international companies; I succeeded to win the 2005 American Cup Trophy; a prestigious win, receiving coverage in the world press, since, in Bangladesh, it is the tournament with the largest number of competitors. 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 and in 2007 the Citibank Cup landed on my mantlepiece.

 

During my time in Bangladesh, we made several trips in the region, Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, allowing to sample some golfing experience in these countries. I made a journey to Nepal and played the famous Himalayan Golfcourse at Pokhara. This really is a spectacular 9-holes course in the sense that it is rough and rocks all over the place. The holes are stretched out on the borders of a river in a canyon, which can be pretty wild in spring, and the ísland green in the middle of it, makes you wonder how to manage par .......... please click here to see my pictures of the Pokhara Golfcourse. 

 

In the Summer of 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 was residing. We played the old "Shell" course next to the refinery in Emmastad which course 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 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!

 

In December 2007 we moved back to The Netherlands and 2008 has been a bad year for golf; I only managed to play a couple of rounds during the full year, however, in 2009 I was started to sample the golfcourses in my new neighbourhood, the Southern parts of Limburg, where we have a couple of interesting golfcourses. Ultimately I decided to join the "Zuid-Limburgse", which is the oldest course in this region. Main reason for my decision has been that it has the most of the local character on offer: undulating fairways and terrific views on the surrounding roling landscape, which is typical for this region and unique in The Netherlands ...... after half of year of active membership, I am getting back into the groove and pars and birdies are rolling in again .....