As we count down the days to the Solheim Cup at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands, Tournament Director, Christiane Stenger, explains how it will be a unique week, from September 7-13, with both the PING Junior Solheim Cup and the Solheim Cup taking place on the same golf course for the first time.
“It will be very special, because before, we’ve always just had the Solheim Cup on the main course and the PING Junior Solheim Cup was played on a different course,” she says. “Now that we are combining two tournaments on the same course, in the same week, it’s slightly more challenging. We want to make sure they don’t hit it into the same spots, so we protect the landing areas for the Solheim Cup and then find alternative landing areas for the juniors.”
Stenger makes a number of important decisions in the run-up to the tournament and explains how the staging impacts the course set-up decisions, for example: “There will be a very big grandstand around the first tee, so we have decided that we want to move the juniors back, to ensure that they get a great first-tee experience.”
The normal course routing has been changed for the tournament, to allow the first tee grandstand to be in place. The course’s third hole will play as the first and the second will play as the tournament’s 18th hole.
Site visits all have different purposes, from agronomy and turf management to organisational planning.
With regards to the course set-up, she takes the views of the European Captain, Anna Nordqvist, into account. Nordqvist played at Bernardus with her vice-captain Caroline Hedwall, at the Year to Go event.
Stenger has also received feedback from colleagues at the DP World Tour, who organised the Dutch Open at Bernardus in 2021, 2022 and 2023, which will help to pre-select the specific areas on the green for the pin positions. Five different pin positions are required for the five sessions in the Solheim Cup from Friday-Sunday alone, as well as for the PING Junior Solheim Cup on Monday-Tuesday and the mid-week practise days.
“These are the best players in the world, playing against each other, so you definitely want it to be a good challenge, but also show the best of women’s golf,” she adds. “We will not make every hole as long as possible, but have some holes where you can have more difficult pins. It’s finding a good mixture with the par 5s and par 3s: you want to have some that are really long and some that are a bit shorter, with spicier pin positions.”
It will be a strategic set-up for the European match, rewarding accuracy and precise iron play over pure length.
She explained: “Bernardus is an interesting course, because you can hit it in the same spot in two consecutive rounds, but the ball will come to rest somewhere different. It’s a flat course overall, but it does have undulation, so you never know what the ball is going to do. The greens are quite undulating and you can definitely get some very interesting pin positions at Bernardus. There are certainly some holes where the bunkers and penalty areas come into play. There is also a dune landscape, so you could be in a sandy or a hilly area, so you definitely want to stay on the fairway.”
Stenger believes that the final four holes will offer plenty of excitement and drama and it will be interesting to see how many matches make it beyond the 16th. Her insider’s tip for a good viewing location is behind the 15th green, with a grandstand offering views of the 15th and 16th holes.
The 15th is a scenic, mid-length par 3, while the 16th is a potentially reachable par 5. The 17th and 18th are relatively straightforward par 4s, with water winding from the left to the right of the fairway on the final hole.
She concludes: “Bernardus is a great course. With regards to sustainability, it’s as good as it gets. They close the course a few times a week to do maintenance with no chemicals. It’s a fantastic venue and very accessible, being so close to Amsterdam. It’s going to be an exciting week with both the PING Junior Solheim Cup and the Solheim Cup taking place on the same course.
“The Solheim Cups where I’ve worked as a referee have been the most exciting moments of my career, with great crowds and the best players in the world. It’s always a great atmosphere and brings the best out of everyone. The first tee shot is going to be exciting!”
For more information about the Solheim Cup, visit www.solheimcup2026.golf.
