Broekpolder

“God created the world except for the Netherlands. The Dutch took it from the sea.” Now there’s a quote that anyone studying the topography of Western Europe will easily relate to. All along the coast of Holland, large tracts of low-lying land (polders) have been reclaimed from the North Sea and enclosed by dykes to keep the waters at bay.

Within one such area of land, just a few miles to the west of Rotterdam, Broekpolder Golf Club enlisted the help of Frank Pennink in 1981 to turn a flat, featureless landscape into an exciting, open parkland course. Making good use of water features (surprise, surprise) and with a little earth-moving activity, the architect succeeded in creating something of a modern Dutch master.

Subsequently updated in 2004 by Gerard Jol, the Broekpolder course (and its huge variety of trees) is maturing nicely as time goes by. The club celebrated their 25th anniversary with a series of events to mark the occasion and one competition “Battle of the Frogs” was held in tribute to the little green amphibians that inhabit many parts of the Broekpolder course – so much so that one of them appears on the club logo.

Frank Pont started working with the club in 2018 and over the following five years all eighteen greens were rebuilt, along with rerouting parts of the course.