Sponsored feature: Hulencourt masters golf

“We can give weekend golfers the same treatment as professionals,” says Jérôme Theunis, the Academy Director at the Hulencourt Golf Academy. And he means it: Hulencourt, just half an hour’s drive south of Brussels city centre, is where Belgium’s top golfers come to hone their skills, under the watchful eye of Theunis, and his colleague, Hulencourt’s physical therapist Emmanuel Spies.

As well as being rated as one of the finest courses in the country, boasting lush turfs and luxury club services, Hulencourt has become a magnet for the players at the very top. And with Belgium enjoying a surge in golf – around 15 playing pros in the country – many of them come to Hulencourt, including Ryder Cup star Nicolas Colsaerts, Thomas Pieters, Thomas Detry, and Chloé Leurquin.

Theunis, a former Belgian Junior Champion, started golf when he was 12, and after graduating in psychology in Dallas, Texas, became a professional golfer, touring around the world for eight years until he retired in 2010. “Looking back, I’ve always had a coaching mind, aimed at helping people. And being a professional helps me understand better what people need,” he says.

He set up his Academy at Hulencourt where he specialises in what he describes as “the blend of performance and psychology.” Inside the academy is an ultra-modern gym, treatment room, conference centre, and indoor short game centre. It includes the state-of-the-art TrackMan simulator, which lets players practice on famous courses in HD, and uses a dual-radar system to track everything the club does before, during, and after impact.

The indoor centre includes a variety of synthetic grasses to help understand how they affect the shots. As Spies says, “You can have the best clubs, but if you don’t swing properly, it doesn’t matter.” He says the challenge is to mix technical and physical abilities. “For example, you need mobility in the ankles, hips, and waist. I work to create a balance between body and the swing,” he says.

Spies has been a physical therapist for 15 years, starting with basketball, then hockey, tennis (working with former number one Justine Henin) and combat sports. “Understanding the problem is the first step in the process of improving,” he says. “It can be hard for people to get into the therapy if they don’t recognise what it is for.”

Hulencourt was founded in 1988 by industrialist Patrick Solvay, a long-time admirer of British golf. The club boasts the acclaimed Le Vallon championship course designed by Jean-Manuel Rossi, which hosted the 2015 Belgian International Amateur Golf Championship (BIAC), and a smaller ‘Le Verger’ 9-hole course for beginners and younger players.

Hulencourt’s numerous corporate facilities include multipurpose meeting rooms for groups of up to 180 guests and a restaurant and clubhouse set in the beautiful courtyard of former farm buildings.

+32(0)67 79 40 40
www.golfhulencourt.be