Royal Antwerp Golf Club

The verdict

Royal Antwerp is a quiet piece of golfing history. Founded in 1888, it is the oldest club in Belgium and among the oldest anywhere on the European mainland, and since 1912 it has occupied a fine stretch of the Kapellenbos, the wooded heath north of Antwerp at Kapellen. The Championship course began as a Willie Park Junior layout in 1913, but it was the great Tom Simpson who, around 1930, redrew and expanded the property into 27 holes and gave the course the strategic character it carries today. The current eighteen is essentially his, a flat, classical heathland test threaded through mature pine and birch.

At a par of 72 of more than 6,600 yards it does not overpower you, and that is the point. This is golf in the old strategic tradition, where Simpson's bunkering pinches the ideal line, the fast, true greens demand the right angle of approach, and a thinking player who keeps the ball in position will always beat one who simply hits it hard. Walkable, peaceful and beautifully mature, it is the centerpiece of a low key Flanders golf break, easily combined with the coast and a city stay in Antwerp itself.

The holes worth the trip

Royal Antwerp is a study in restraint. The land is flat, the holes run cleanly through corridors of pine and silver birch, and there is no trickery, only Tom Simpson asking you, again and again, to choose a side. His bunkers sit exactly where the bold drive wants to go, and the greens are angled so that the safe tee shot leaves the hard approach. Get position and the course opens up; take on too much and the heath, the trees and the sand collect the result.

The greens are the lasting memory, fast, firm and subtly contoured, the kind of surfaces that reward a player who has thought about where to leave the ball. There is a gentle rhythm to the round, a procession of strong par 4s broken by well judged short holes, and a closing stretch that tightens the screw just as the card starts to matter. It is mature, walkable golf at its most civilised, played in near silence under the canopy.

For the travelling golfer, Royal Antwerp is the historic anchor of a Belgian golf trip. Pair it with the dune courses on the North Sea coast and a day or two in Antwerp, a city of diamonds, Rubens and superb food and beer, and you have a relaxed, cultured European golf break that few think to take.

Where to stay nearby

Most golfers base in Antwerp itself, around 20 minutes south, where the hotels run from grand classics near the central station to stylish design hotels in the old town, putting the diamond quarter, the Rubens churches and the city's restaurants within easy reach between rounds.

For a quieter golf focused stay, the leafy commuter towns of Kapellen and Brasschaat sit right by the course, and the whole of the Belgian and Dutch coast is an easy drive for a wider golf and beach trip.

Looking for a base? See our recommended hotels and resorts in Antwerp and near Kapellen.