AMSTERDAM — It was an usually hot spring day when a Florida friend named Tom and I teed it up at Golfbaan Spaarnwoude, a sprawling complex made up of three nine-hole courses on the outskirts of this dynamic Dutch city.
The uncomplicated flat lowland course didn't benefit our games — one good shot, three bad shots, repeat.
On the 10th hole, however, my approach shot to the green was a beauty, landing just a metre or so away from the pin.
Suddenly, a loud cheer erupted. z“Look, you have a fan club standing by the green and they’re all wearing the same shirts,” said my nearsighted partner as we walked towards the hole.
As we got closer, though, what we thought were flesh tone shirts were just flesh. The crowd (six people) was naked!
Spaarnwoude, we discovered later, shares space with a nudist camp and a public park filled with hikers and cyclists — not unusual in land-challenged Holland.

As I got set to nervously putt out with a gallery of six naked people cheering me on, I suddenly remembered an old quote from legendary golfer Chi Chi Rodriguez, which goes: “Golf is the most fun you can have without taking your clothes off.”
Touche!
Spaarnwoude isn’t the only course where people let it all hang out. La Jenny, a course in France’s Bordeaux wine region, is actually part of a nudist camp, so players can really buff up their game there.
There’s plenty of other golf courses around the world that supply players with some unexpected hazards and challenges, like:

Llama caddies: That’s what two famous courses in North Carolina (Talamore and Sherwood Forest) employ to carry bags during a round. Talamore, a lovely Rees Jones design, introduced llama caddies in 1991 and there’s been over 5,000 articles written about them. “People, whether they’re golfers or not, are intrigued by the animals and the uniqueness of it and they’ll come in just to take pictures,” a course employee reveals.

Cell blocks: From the tees at the aptly named Prison View Golf Course in Angola, LA, golfers can see the notorious Louisiana State Penitentiary, home to some of the most violent criminals in the world. Golfers have to undergo background checks before teeing off and vehicles are searched before entering the course. Golfers cheating here face stiff penalties.

Checkered flags: Golf carts share space with race cars at the unique Pete Dye-designed course located within the oval infield of the world famous Indianapolis Motor Speedway. Your game needs to be in high gear to play this layout.

Above: Watch out for giant rodents on the Olympic Golf Course in Rio.

Airport runways: Golfers arriving at Bangkok’s Don Muang Airport don’t have far to go before teeing off — the Kantarat Golf Course is located on the grounds of the airport, sandwiched between two runways. Long, high tee shots here are called “Boeing 7-fore-7s.”

Sculptures: The highly ranked Michael Hills Course in Arrowtown, New Zealand, also qualifies as the largest outdoor sculpture park thanks to a phenomenal collection of permanent works scattered throughout the course. Owned by Sir Richard Michael Hill, a New Zealand jeweller, entrepreneur and philanthropist who owns Michael Hill Jeweller, the course’s most impressive work is one called “Wolves Are Coming,” which sits near the 18th hole. The massive three-ton cast iron sculpture consists of a warrior battling off 110 oversized wolves. No, he's not using a golf club to battle the wolves.

Giant rodents: The hazards at the Rio Olympic Course, where they played the gold medal round at the 2016 Games, include boa constrictors, three-toed sloths and a giant rodent the size of a small Labrador dog which looks more like a rat on steroids. The rodent pops up all over the course but luckily for visiting golfers, they only like eating veggies.

Land mines: Watch where you step when you play a round at the Camp Bonifas golf course in the UN Joint Security Area between North and South Korea. The AstroTurf greens are all surrounded by land mines. Not surprisingly, this course is considered the most dangerous in the world. Your score could really blow up here.

Exotic animals: The Lost City golf course in Sun City, South Africa, is a Gary Player-designed beauty that’s surrounded by impressive desert mountains and lush parkland where zebras, crocodiles, impalas, wild boar and giraffes have the right to play through. Only in South Africa can you enjoy a safari and golf at the same time.

Amazonian tribes: The remote 9-hole Amazon Golf Course in Peru is surrounded by what one visiting player described as “terrifying locals carrying machetes.” Warning: Don’t look for your wayward shot if it goes into the bush.

Tidal waves: Thanks to shifting tides, the Denarau Golf Club in Fiji boasts some weird tidal hazards. So, the sand trap you played out of one day, may be a water hazard the next.

Sun stroke: The aptly named Furnace Creek golf club in Death Valley, CA., sits 65m below sea level, making it the lowest altitude course in the world. It’s also the hottest place on the planet to play a round — in the summer months the temperature normally reaches a staggering 54C.  

Sandy fairways: You don’t have to worry about taking a divot on the Coober Pedy Opal Fields Golf Club in Australia because the entire course is one giant sand trap. There’s not a blade of grass on the course and what they call “greens” are actually made of oiled sand that creates a surprisingly smooth putting surface, according to players.

Lava flows: The Merapi Golf Course in Indonesia is located at the base of an active volcano where smoke can be seen billowing out its huge crater 300 days a year. The last major eruption occurred in 2010 but smaller eruptions happen every two to three years.

Frost bite: Golfers who attend the World Ice Golf Championships in Uummannaq, Greenland, each year have to contend with frozen fairways, giant icebergs, glaciers and temperatures that dip to minus-50C regulary. The players use orange balls and the holes on this course located 600km north of the Arctic Circle are made a bit larger.

Sharks: If you hit your tee shot into the water hazard on the 15th hole at the Carbrook Golf Club in Queensland, Australia, you’re advised to reload and hit again. That’s because the small lake is filled with some aggressive bull sharks that like the taste of golf balls. Even a golfer nicknamed The Shark (Australia’s legendary Greg Norman) wouldn’t retrieve his ball from this water hazard.