Golf In The Netherlands - Eindhoven Welcomes Megan

Damp & Wet. That’s how I was welcomed into The Netherlands. After my 10-hour flight from L.A. and another 2-hour drive from Amsterdam to Eindhoven, I finally got to bed Monday night. Although the Netherlands is as flat as a tray, the late evening drive in the rain was more tiresome than the flight.

Eindhoven’s lush greenery combined with Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s on and off showers made it feel like I was in Oregon. The beauty of Holland is that it is a culture of cycling. Regardless of the rain, there were hundreds of people using bicycles to get to work, to shop at the local farmers’ market ( with the cute little basket on the front of the bike ), and simply to stroll along miles of bike path in Genneper Parks, the deep green forests around Eindhoven.

The feeling I have from my trip to Switzerland two weeks ago and with this stay in Eindhoven this week is that Europeans do take time to live first, work second. Quality of life has a much greater importance here than the work-work-work pressure we have in the States. This gives them an overall sense of self that we sometimes lose in our constant drive to succeed in the U.S.

I took the time after my practice sessions to jog along the path in Genneper Park. I also drove past Philips’ big research center – I was told that this is where 1,400 of their researchers work around the clock to bring us many of the HDTV and wireless technologies we use today. The big attraction here, aside from the Netherlands’ biggest Friday night disco dance at the 100,000 SF ice arena, is Philips Stadium. This heated and covered 35,000-seat soccer stadium is built the old-fashioned way with fan seating near the playing field. The feeling you get from sitting there is the same as when you have floor seats at a basketball game or sit behind the glass panels in a hockey game – you feel the power of the action !

My rain gear came in handy during my Wednesday and Thursday rounds. I even had to wear my head cap to cover my ears as the wind was making it feel a lot colder than it was. I was striking the ball well, though I was not getting the distance I wanted. I can’t wait to get my new clubs from Cleveland Golf next week when I go back to see them at their headquarters in Huntington Beach. That should really help me increase my long and mid-irons distances.

There are 7 golf courses here, most quite flat, a little tight and narrow, and fairly large green surfaces. The Eindhovensche Golf Club where we’re playing the KLM this week is a private club that opens tee times to the public after 3 pm. It’s not a long course, but certainly nicely designed between small hills that do not allow you to see one hole from the next. While your G.I.R. percentage will look good here, you will frequently get long lag putts. I’ve found that the greens in Europe are quite slow, but with the rain here, they became horrendously slow. I felt I had to stroke the ball “ as if ” it was a long lag putt while the distance was much shorter.

One final thing about the Golf Club, their rules were posted on one of the hallways in the Clubhouse. This one cracked me up : “ Gentlemen are obliged to wear calf-length socks ”.

So apparently, no short socks allowed here…must be the sexiness of the ankles they’re trying to hide 

Friday, Round 1 of this 3-day tournament. Follow my scores on my homepage, Megan Golf.

Cheers,

Megan Heckeroth

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