REVIE: 99 HOGE KLEIJ
OVERVIEW
Located close to Amersfoort’s World War II prisoner of war camp, Frank Pennink’s plans for the Hoge Kleij golf course date back to 1979, but the architect died before its completion, so his partner Donald Steel finished the course, which opened for play in 1985. During its construction, a number of Bronze Age and Iron Age items were found on site, causing quite an archaeological stir at the time.
REVIEW
The layout, a lovely parkland course with trees lining the edges and fairways located on sandy soil near the main road that travels to and from the east side of Utrecht, gets its name from the tiny hill that some of the back nine holes are routed over.
In 2005, holes 5 and 6 were renovations by architect Frank Pont of Infinite Variety Golf Design. This included extending both teeing areas and clearing some trees that were intruding on the fairways.
Between 2009 and 2011, Frank went back to Hoge Kleij to finish the renovations, which included resequencing the holes, installing grass swales around some greens, rebuilding several tees, and adding new fairway bunkers.
The 12th hole, a par five, has also been enlarged from 480 meters to an impressive 550 meters. Although the De Hoge Kleij course had a makeover in 2012, the club continues to prioritize tree maintenance in order to guarantee that sufficient light and wind reach the playing fields.