Bernardus Golf - Championship Course

Overview: Bernardus Golf is a modern heathland course in Cromvoirt, created on land that was once described as three flat cornfields. Kyle Phillips drew on the nearby Loonse en Drunense Duinen and the older Brabant landscape to build a more varied setting of sandy waste, heather, gorse and pine. The course’s visual drama comes from the contrast between those textured areas and the closely prepared playing surfaces. It is a contemporary layout, but its character comes from looking backward to the landscape that farming had largely erased.

History: Construction began in 2017, and the course opened in 2018 after a major reshaping of the site. Bernardus quickly became a Dutch championship venue: it hosted the Dutch Open in 2021 and 2022 and the KLM Open in 2023. The project grew from the partnership between owner Robert van der Wallen and architect Kyle Phillips, with the design shaped around the site’s sand, drainage and former agricultural use.

Did You Know? The course takes its name from Bernardus Marinus Pon, the father of Bernardus founder Ben Pon. The name links the golf project to the wider Bernardus story, which also includes the Pon family’s wine business and the founders’ earlier involvement with Golfsociëteit De Lage Vuursche.