Bernardus Golf: Inside the 2026 Solheim Cup's Dutch Venue

The 2026 Solheim Cup is the first held in the Netherlands, taking women's golf's biggest team event to Bernardus Golf, a heathland course in Noord-Brabant near Hertogenbosch that opened in 2018.

Who designed Bernardus Golf and what kind of course is it?

American architect Kyle Phillips, whose past work includes Kingsbarns and The Grove, designed the 85-hectare layout, pairing sculpted bunkers and water hazards with dunes, gorse and wild fescue. The course has hosted the DP World Tour's KLM Open three times, from 2021 through 2023, and runs entirely without chemical treatment, tended by its own agronomy team. This week's event is also the first car-free Solheim Cup, with spectators arriving by shuttle bus, bicycle or on foot through five regional transport hubs.

Which holes will decide matches?

Bernardus head professional Roel Verdonschot has said the course rewards shotmaking over distance, with firm, fast greens that punish overly ambitious recovery shots. The par-3 6th plays like a virtual island green, guarded by hazards on the front and right with a green that slopes away to the left. The par-3 15th, one of the more celebrated short holes in the Netherlands, turns difficult when the pin sits left, as swirling wind off the sheltered tee makes club selection hard to judge.

A course built for shotmaking rather than raw power favors match play's sharpest short-game players, not its longest hitters.

The closing stretch raises the stakes further. The par-5 16th can swing from eagle to double bogey depending on how a tee shot catches the downwind fairway, with water guarding the entire left side. The course's toughest hole is the par-5 18th, which played to a 5.3 average during the KLM Open; a tee shot must avoid water left and bunkers right, and the approach into an elevated, tightly guarded green punishes any shot that misses the fairway.

Why does the routing matter for match play?

Bernardus built a custom tournament routing to support large grandstands and to push matches toward a climactic finish. The setup will also host the PING Junior Solheim Cup, the first time that event has been played on the same course immediately before the Solheim Cup itself.