Top 10 Golf Courses in Belgium
Belgium has a golf tradition older than most Europeans realise. The country's clubs date from the late nineteenth century, when British expatriates and industrialists established courses on the coastal dunes and parkland estates of Flanders and Brabant. Today the golf infrastructure runs deep: the country has more than a hundred courses, ranging from the Royal clubs whose history intersects with the Belgian monarchy to modern resort layouts and the tight municipal courses tucked into Brussels's commuter belt. The predominant course type is parkland, with some heathland in the Ardennes and the country's only genuine links at Knokke-Heist on the North Sea coast. The playing season spans April to October, with the winter months testing but playable on most courses given Belgium's mild maritime climate.
1. Royal Zoute Golf Club, Knokke-Heist
Royal Zoute is Belgium's most celebrated course and one of the great links tests of continental Europe. The club was founded in 1908, and the course occupies duneland behind the North Sea coast near Knokke-Heist, in the same strip of Belgian seaside that has attracted wealthy Flemish families for over a century. The par-72 plays to approximately 6,700 yards from the back tees and presents the full vocabulary of links golf: tight turf, subtle undulation, pot bunkers, and wind that shifts without warning off the North Sea. The Belgian Open has been staged at Royal Zoute multiple times, and the course has hosted DP World Tour events. It is a private club but accepts visitors who can produce a handicap certificate, and tee times for visitors are easier to secure than at similarly ranked British links. The clubhouse, with its Art Deco elements, is worth the visit in itself.
2. Royal Antwerp Golf Club, Kapellen
Founded in 1888, Royal Antwerp is the oldest golf club in continental Europe still playing on its original site. The course occupies heathland and light woodland north of Antwerp city, and the layout has a classic British heathland character — sandy subsoil, heather in the rough, and tall Scots pines framing the fairways. The par-70 plays to around 6,300 yards, which sounds modest until the narrow corridors and firm heathland lies make themselves felt. The club retains its connection to the Belgian royal family and its historic structures. Visitors need a handicap certificate and advance booking.
3. Royal Golf Club of Belgium (Ravenstein), Tervuren
The Royal Golf Club of Belgium at Ravenstein, situated in the royal domain of Tervuren near Brussels, is the country's most prestigious inland course. Founded in 1906 and laid out through the beech forests of the Tervuren estate — which is also home to the Royal Museum for Central Africa — the parkland course has a grandeur uncommon in Belgian golf. The mature tree canopy creates dappled light conditions that make the course beautiful in spring and autumn. The club has hosted multiple Belgian Opens and retains a formal members' culture, with visitor access available on weekdays with advance arrangement.
4. Royal Waterloo Golf Club, Ohain
Royal Waterloo is the largest golf complex in Belgium, operating three courses on a rolling parkland estate south of Brussels near the site of Napoleon's famous defeat. The Lion and Bois Héros courses, together measuring over 12,000 yards, give members considerable variety. The Lion course is the most demanding, a par-72 that plays to championship length through mature woodland and over a stream that comes into play on several holes. The club hosted the Belgian Open during the old European Tour era. Waterloo is a private members' club but has well-organised visitor access, and single-green-fee rounds are competitively priced by Belgian standards.
5. Parcours 'La Marache', Royal Waterloo
La Marache is the third course at the Royal Waterloo complex, a shorter layout designed for development play and society rounds. The course plays through the lighter woodland sections of the estate and is more forgiving than the Lion or Bois Héros courses. It serves as a useful warm-up venue and is popular for corporate days given the club's proximity to the Brussels executive belt.
6. Parcours 'Le Lion', Royal Waterloo
Le Lion is Royal Waterloo's flagship layout, a full par-72 championship course that has tested the best players in Belgian golf for decades. The course plays through the rolling terrain of the Waterloo plateau, with elevation changes that are unusual for Belgian golf and fairways lined by mature beech and oak. The Belgian amateur championship has been played here, and the course demands accurate driving to keep the ball in the narrower corridors. Visitors booking as part of a day pass at the complex gain access to this course.
7. Parcours 'Le Bois Héros', Royal Waterloo
The Bois Héros course at Royal Waterloo occupies the more wooded sections of the estate, with a tighter, more technical character than Le Lion. The tree-lined fairways reward players who can shape the ball, and the course's green complexes — smaller and more contoured than those on Le Lion — demand precise approaches. It is particularly enjoyable in autumn when the surrounding beeches turn colour.
8. Golf de Rigenée (Taxa Golf), Villers-la-Ville
Golf de Rigenée, sometimes listed under its commercial branding, is situated in the Brabant Wallon countryside south of Brussels. The parkland course plays through agricultural land and light woodland, offering a more open, less forested character than the Royal clubs near Brussels. Green fees are moderate, visitor access is straightforward, and the course attracts a healthy mix of club members and green-fee players from the capital. The layout is a full par-72 with several water features that come into play on the back nine.
9. Green Valley Boerengolf
Boerengolf is a distinctly Belgian phenomenon — a form of golf played with oversized clubs and balls on the grounds of rural farms, typically without fairway or green conditioning beyond mown grass paths. Green Valley Boerengolf represents this tradition, offering a leisure activity that has attracted millions of casual players in Flanders. While not golf in the traditional sense, Boerengolf is central to the sport's grassroots expansion in Belgium and has introduced many Flemish families to the concept of hitting a ball towards a hole.
10. Het Rijk van Margraten
Located near the Dutch border in the Flemish-Limburg countryside, Het Rijk van Margraten is a parkland course set in rolling terrain that takes advantage of the area's gentle Cretaceous hills — as close to topographical variety as low-lying Belgium typically offers. The course plays through farmland and orchards, with views across the Meuse valley on clear days. It is a full 18-hole layout with visitor-friendly booking and modest green fees. The area around Margraten is historically significant and day-trip combinations of golf and the American war cemetery nearby are common among international visitors.
Belgium's golf season runs comfortably from April through October. The Royal clubs — Zoute, Antwerp, Ravenstein — all require handicap certificates, typically set at 28 or 36, and advance booking is essential in summer. Green fees at the Royal clubs range from around €60 to €120; the commercial venues are typically €40 to €70. Belgium's compact geography means that Zoute, Antwerp, and Ravenstein can all be reached on a short road trip, making a golfing tour of the country genuinely feasible in three or four days. Open the map to find every mapped course in Belgium and plan your route.