Golf Club Enghien

Now home to Golf Club Enghien and located 35 km southwest of Brussels, the Chateau d'Enghien was once the family seat of the Dukes of Arenberg. Here, laid out in the Château's rolling grounds, alongside the Brussels-Lille motorway and Eurostar/TGV hi-speed railway line, you'll find the very testing 18-hole championship Arenberg course and its companion, the 9-hole Brunehault course.

The Arenberg is a layout into which designer Bruno Steensels threw everything ... perhaps even the kitchen sink! Each of the two nine-hole loops contains a mix of parkland holes (the original nine) and nine much newer "linksy" holes. In this ever-challenging layout there is an abundance of (over-filled) sand bunkers that routinely seem to punish good tee and approach shots.

Most holes contain a degree of elevation change, while there's enough water at the treacherous par-5 2nd, par-4 5th, crazy par-5 15th and par-3 16th to ensure those who play here regularly do so with some degree of trepidation.

Forgetting the traffic noise from the motorway, and very occasional thunderous roar of a passing hi-speed train, Enghien will fully engage your course management and golfing skills, as you attempt to stay out of the bunkers and water.

At 6393 m (almost 7,000 yards) it is certainly not short on length. You'll find plenty of good-length par-4s that require long-iron or hybrid approach shots, and the par-3 12th that requires most players to hit driver from the tee when played into a gentle southerly breeze.