A quickie in Den Haag

Posted by Jamie on 27 October 2010 | 0 Comments | Tags: , , ,

After Chantilly we were supposed to be staying another night in France, with our pal Alfie Melville who planned to fly down for the occasion.  However.  As The French are prone to doing, they stroke.  That is to say, there was a strike on, and the country was running out of fuel (at least Paris was).  Alfie??s flight down was cancelled at the eleventh hour dam it all to Hell.  Perhaps because he didn??t turn up they didn??t turn up, and so we played Chantilly unaccompanied.  Then got on the road to Den Haag, since there was no reason to stick around.  The offshoot of this debacle was that we had more time on Flight Day than expected, so awoke at friend Thijs?? apartment feeling a little relaxed.

Which is ironic and maybe a sign that we??re getting complacent about having golf organised.  Because we had no game booked for the day.  Naturally we got on the internet and found (with some difficulty, given the websites were written in Dutch, not our first language) the closest 9 holer, then made our way there.  The address we had scribbled down seemed an improbable one, because we were smack bang in the middle of a bunch of houses with not a tree or grassed space in sight.  Granted though this was Holland, where space comes at a premium.  

We park up in an innocuous enough looking carpark, and are directed through steel gates into what appears to be a hockey complex.  Several turfs are off to one side, a dirty canal to the other.  I feel like one would feel walking around Piccadilly Circus with a snorkel and mask on ?? no one else has golf clubs on their back.  Just hockey sticks.  Lo and behold however the shed and adjacent driving range appear ?? phew...  Having not phoned ahead, we walk into the bar ??cold? and ask politely to speak with the manager.  A big guy sporting polo shirt and moustache appears; he??s friendly but not expecting what??s coming.  I explain what we??re doing, and that having been fortunate to visit Kennemer and Noordwijkse while in Holland we??re hoping also to sample inner city Dutch golf before catching our evening flight.  Guy processes the conversation for a moment and then fetches a couple of score cards (printed landscape on A4 in light of recent alterations that make the old card redundant).  Result.



I??ve seen single holes take up more acreage than Golf Duinzicht??s nine holes.  In fact the layout takes you to four different parcels of land, in each case separated by a path, a canal or something similar.  Imagine making up a golf course that snakes through a school playground and you??re getting warm.  Quite remarkable.  Fun too.  1 plays away from the clubhouse into the corner.  But the two holes you can see next to it are 8 and 9; the 2nd tee is a 300 yard walk back the way you came, past the shed, past a few hockey turfs and a large field.  It??s a linking hole that plays across 150 yards of flat rugby pitch to a makeshift green under a tree and next to the out of bounds.  Then you cross over a bridge; through a gate onto a new plot; and play the newly open 3rd and 4th, which are actually very good wee holes indeed.  Highlights, in fact.  Of course a third hole on the same piece of land would be ludicrous, so once more you cross the path to play 5 and 6.  Then cross again to play 7 thru 9 taking you back to the clubhouse.



Not Pine Valley, but great for those learning the game or those with only an hour to spare.  If they continue to build more holes like the new ones, it??ll soon be a sharp little 9 holer indeed.  In the meantime, vive la difference!  Inner city Dutch golf may have been cold and not quite the standard of the past couple of days ?? but it was good craic nonetheless, and enlightening to see how some people play the game.  Good on ??em.  Danke vell Golf Duinzicht!

JP

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