Bernardus Golf: Two Weeks After the Solheim Cup

Gunnar Kobin

Sep 29

4 min read

Updated: Oct 12

I have not seen a golf course in condition like Bernardus for a long time. Everything was immaculate: fairways, bunker edges, the surrounds, all of it. We played there two weeks after the Solheim Cup, and the place still had its tournament polish on. I don't think that was a one-off, though. The standard here looks like the everyday standard. The Solheim just added an extra touch on top.

A new course on old farmland

Bernardus is young. It sits in Cromvoirt in North Brabant, near 's-Hertogenbosch and about half an hour from Eindhoven, and it opened in 2018. The land was bought in 2015 by Robert van der Wallen, chairman of PSV Eindhoven. The architect is Kyle Phillips, the man behind Kingsbarns and Yas Links. What he was handed was 85 hectares of essentially flat cornfields.

The course went straight onto the big stage. It hosted three Dutch Opens between 2021 and 2023, and in September 2026 the Solheim Cup, which Europe won. For a course that was farmland ten years ago, that is quite a CV.

An inland links

What Phillips has done with flat ground is the whole story here. He has built an inland links, with undulating fairways, bunkers everywhere, and the whole thing laid on sandy ground. Next door is the Loonse en Drunense Duinen national park, one of the largest drift-sand areas in western Europe. At times the course almost feels like playing through sand dunes.

The course it reminded me of most was Yas Links in Abu Dhabi. That's no surprise, since it's the same architect, and you can feel the same hand: movement in the fairways, sand shaping the holes, a links feel on a site that isn't really links land. Closer to home, it also felt a lot like Pärnu Bay Golf Links in Estonia.

The one thing that truly recalls Sunningdale and the Surrey heathland courses is the heather. It lines the holes and gives the place that heathland colour and texture, without the tall pines that frame the English courses.

Two different nines

The front nine is the more open half, and it is where the water is. Lakes and ditches come into play again and again, and you have to keep an eye on your lines. On the back nine the water mostly disappears, trees start to line the fairways, and the holes feel more enclosed. It's a nice change of rhythm through the round.

Throughout, the fairway bunkers blend into sandy waste areas, and there are deep run-off hollows built to collect water. There's a lot going on, but none of it feels random. It is logical golf: you can see what each hole is asking of you, and it is fun to play.

Greens

The greens were very firm and rolled like velvet, or more accurately like carpet. I suspect the Solheim preparation gave them that last bit of speed and firmness, but I would expect them to be very good on any normal day too.

Worth knowing if you watched the Solheim on television: the tournament routing was slightly different from the everyday layout, because of the grandstands and the tournament village. The players started on the 3rd and finished on the 2nd, but otherwise played the holes in the same order you do.

The clubhouse

The clubhouse is magnificent. It looks like a UFO that has landed in the middle of the Brabant countryside: low, round and very modern. It was designed by Patrick Russ and Pieter Laureys, and it suits the course perfectly: new, confident and unlike anything else around it.

Practice facilities

The practice area is massive: several putting and chipping greens, practice bunkers and a full range. We weren't allowed to hit off the grass on the range, but even so, the facilities are among the best I have seen.

Pace of play, and wine at the turn

Bernardus takes pace of play more seriously than any course I can remember. Everyone is handed a GPS device at the start, and your group's progress is monitored throughout the round. There are two halfway houses, and at both of them big screens show every group on the course, so you can check at a glance whether you're on time or falling behind. It sounds strict, but in practice it just means nobody is waiting and the round flows.

At the halfway houses, drinks and sandwiches are included in the green fee, even wine. After a front nine full of water, a glass at the turn is very welcome.

Verdict

Bernardus proves you don't need the sea, or real dunes, to make a links. Somebody took three flat cornfields and built a course that is immaculate, logical and genuinely fun. It also has a clubhouse from another planet, the best pace-of-play system I have seen, and wine at the turn. Two weeks after the Solheim Cup it was in superb shape, and I suspect it rarely drops far below that.