Wouwse Plantage

Frank Pennink set out the original 9-hole Wouwse Plantage woodland golf course at the end of the 1970s and it would take just over another decade before Paul Rolin added a further nine holes on adjacent agricultural land to complete the layout.

The modern day routing begins and ends with tight, tree-lined Pennink fairways played through tall Scots pine trees – epitomised by the arrow-straight par five 15th – whilst the Rolin holes occupy a more open landscape between the par four 6th and par five 14th.

Ken Moodie was engaged in 2006 to undertake a program of course improvements, when he altered a number of greenside and fairway bunkers and renovated many of the tee boxes around the layout.

The course hosts the annual PGA Trophy, organised by PGA Holland, which is a three-day professional tournament with one of the days reserved for a pro-am competition.

Architect Ken Moodie kindly provided us with the following exclusive article:

“When woodland management consultant John Nicholson and I first visited Wouwse Plantage Golf Club to conduct a Course Review in 2003, the golf course consisted of two very different loops of nine holes; the original course designed by Frank Pennink in the 1970s and the newer nine by Paul Rolin in the late 1980s.

The challenge was to put together a course improvement programme which would provide greater harmony between each set of nine holes and improve its appeal for golfers of all abilities.

This was done by strategically re-bunkering the course in a similar style, extending some of the smaller Pennink greens to provide some more interesting pin positions, breaking up the long runway-like tees on the Rolin holes into three or four smaller teeing areas to offer different angles of play, and adding some back tees to challenge the top players.

In addition, the very narrow woodland holes on the Pennink nine were opened up by selective tree clearance to introduce more interesting playing strategies. Ornamental trees on the Rolin nine were removed to reveal pine trees in order to change its former parkland character to a more heathland one, in keeping with the original nine.”