Raymon Holzken wins Exloo FootGolf title, seals Dutch championship spot

Raymon Holzken won the Open Drents Footgolf Championship at Golfpark Exloo. The top three finishers earned places in the Dutch championship in September. In a 16-player field, Holzken beat the rest for the Drenthe title and the national route.

Holzken, 49, came from Zandvoort as an experienced footgolf traveler who shifted into the sport about three years ago after a long football career at high amateur level. He has built his game around touch rather than brute force, and he embraces the nickname putkoning, or putting king, because he knows the second kick is often the one that decides a hole.

Golfpark Exloo and FootGolf Noord set out nine holes on the Noord-lus, a 1,278-meter course with par 36, and the course plays undulating and green, with slopes that punish loose touches. Jaap Urban, who also played in the event, said footgolf demands a wide range of kicks and ideally two-footed ability, but above all it rewards the player who makes fewer mistakes. No hole-in-one has ever been recorded at Exloo.

The championship was the second Open Drents event at Exloo, after Golfpark Exloo and FootGolf Noord started offering footgolf there in May 2024. Wim Steege won the first edition, and Drenthe is getting the Dutch championship back in September after a 10-year absence.

FootGolf is still a young Dutch sport, introduced in 2009 by Bas Korsten and Michael Jansen before the Dutch federation and the international association were established. The modern rulebook dates to 2012, and the sport now sits in a wider competitive ladder that reaches the 2026 world championship in Acapulco, Mexico.