Golf Course Architecture - Issue 59, January 2020

60 see, was corn. “It was bone flat,” he says. “That’s actually what most people would consider to be a traditional Dutch landscape – flat farmland and dykes.” But Phillips put aside this stereotype and went further back in time, to the Netherlands as it existed before much of the country’s low marshland was dyked and drained for farming. Inspiration wasn’t far away; Cromvoirt lies just east of the Loonse en Drunense Duinen National Park, the ‘Brabant Sahara’ known for its shifting sands. What he found there was a gently rolling heathland, with heather, gorse and pines – an ideal landscape to draw from in preparing plans for Bernardus. The project stalled when the initial investor pulled out due to health issues, leaving the landowner farmer to find a new backer. That was until he heard that a Den Bosch entrepreneur had sold a majority stake of his business to a US investor. With Phillips’ plans tucked under his arm, the landowner cycled to Robert van der Wallen’s office. Van der Wallen was reluctant at first, but his partner was a keen golfer and convinced him of the potential. With his interest piqued, he made the farmer an offer for his land and the golf course plans, and began to form his own vision for Bernardus. BERNARDUS Photo: kevinmurraygolfphotography.com The par-four fifth hole and (top) par-five eighteenth