No fewer than five European Tour Properties member venues have been included by Golf World magazine in their latest ranking of the top 100 courses in continental Europe.
French courses feature prominently in the ranking and include, in fifth place, Le Golf National, recently announced as the host venue for The 2018 Ryder Cup and the newest member of the European Tour Properties network of world-class venues.
Situated on the outskirts of Versailles, near Paris, Le Golf National comprises the acclaimed Albatross Championship course and also the 18-hole, L’Aigle and nine-hole L’Oiselet courses. Le Golf National is already a well-established European Tour venue, having hosted the Alstom Open de France since 1991.
All European Tour Destinations and Courses feature championship courses, a comprehensive range of on- and off-course facilities and unrivalled service standards for members and guests.
PGA Catalunya Resort, a European Tour Course near Girona, Spain, was also ranked in the top ten continental European Tour courses and was described by Golf World as a “modern classic”.
Consisting of two championship courses which have hosted The European Tour Qualifying School Final Stage for the past three years, plus the 2009 Open de España, the Stadium and Tour courses were co-designed by European Tour Board Members Angel Gallardo and Neil Coles and opened in 1999. The venue quickly earned an international reputation as a first-rate example of dramatic inland golf, set amidst the foothills of the Pyrenees.
Among courses in the listing designed by European Golf Design are The Faldo Course at Sporting Club Berlin, in Scharmützelsee, Germany, in 13th position, the PGA Sultan course at Antalya in Turkey is in 68th, and in 83rd place is the beautiful Costa Navarino Dunes in Messinia, Greece, a breath-taking course which was co-designed with German golf icon Bernhard Langer.
The luxurious Quinta do Lago in Portugal, another European Tour Course and one of Europe’s most successful developments, has entered the top 100 at an impressive 57th place. Boasting three courses and set in 2,000 acres of verdant Algarve-Atlantic countryside, the venue also offers sumptuous real-estate opportunities discretely located throughout the resort.
At 84th place in the 2011 list is the Estonia Golf & Country Club, a jump of 11 places for the Baltic Coast European Tour Course which this year hosted for the second time the European Qualifier for the 2011 Omega Mission Hills World Cup.
Of the course near Tallinn, Golf World said: “A significant jump for Estonia’s only entry – and one which is fully justified by its astonishing maturity over the past six years.”
Meanwhile, Linna Golf in Finland climbed five places to 91st. The European Tour Course, designed by Tim Lobb and European Golf Design and which hosted the 2009 SK Golf Challenge on the Challenge Tour, is a spectacular and testing layout, with much of the course carved out of beautiful Nordic pine forest.
David MacLaren, Director of Property and Venue Development for The European Tour, said: “We are thrilled to have such a strong representation of European Tour Properties in Golf World’s Top 100.
“I congratulate the teams at each of our partner venues for their commitment to delivering outstanding facilities and world-class service to their members and visitors. It is also great to see so many European Tour host venues within the Ranking, as well as several notable layouts designed by our sister company, European Golf Design.
“The European Tour Properties venue portfolio will continue to be selectively expanded over the forthcoming years, and with more prestigious locations being supported by the considerable and diverse resources of The European Tour, we look forward in the future to even more entries into this respected ranking.”
Golf World’s Top 100 also includes numerous European Tour host venues, including the setting for the recent Vivendi Seve Trophy, Saint-Nom-La-Bretèche, at 50th, the stunning Crans-sur-Sierre in Switzerland as a new entry at 69th and the KLM Open’s Hilversumsche in The Netherlands at 67th.
The current venues for the Italian Open, Nordea Masters and Andalucía Masters also featured as Royal Park I Roveri in Turin, Italy, Bro Hof Slott in Stockholm, Sweden, and the iconic Club de Golf Valderrama in Sotogrande, Spain, placed at 31st, tenth and sixth respectively.
European Tour Properties comprises a network of world class golf venues, located in key strategic golf markets. Now an integral part of The European Tour, future expansion will incorporate one of the key trends in recent development – the intrinsic link between golf and real-estate.
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