Kennemer Golf & Country Club

Kennemer Golf & Country Club in Zandvoort, North Holland, is a 27-hole links course in the coastal dunes, with nines by Harry Colt and Frank Pennink.

Kennemer Golf & Country Club sits on the Kennemerweg in Zandvoort, about two kilometres back from the North Sea and some 26 kilometres west of Amsterdam. The terrain is duneland mixed with woodland. The club calls Kennemer the oldest seaside course in the Netherlands, and its open character makes the prevailing south-westerly wind a big factor, along with heavy rough.

Founded on 11 December 1910, Kennemer Golf & Country Club is one of the oldest golf clubs in the Netherlands. It started out on a nine-hole course in Santpoort before moving to the Zandvoortsch Duin near Zandvoort, where the English architect Harry Colt laid out a classic 18-hole links. The course and an English cottage-style clubhouse opened in the spring of 1928. Kennemer has since hosted many editions of the Dutch Open.

The 27 holes at Kennemer are split into three nines, each running out from and back to the clubhouse: A (Van Hengel), B (Pennink) and C (Colt). The B and C holes are Harry Colt's. The A nine was completed in 1985, built by Frank Pennink under the supervision of former club secretary Steven van Hengel. In 2007 Kennemer drew up a long-term course plan with architect Frank Pont.

The three nines at Kennemer play differently. The A nine is tighter, longer and more bush-lined, while the B and C nines have an open, rolling links feel. The course guide Where2Golf counts the par-3 15th on the C nine, set high in the dunes, among the really memorable holes at Kennemer.

Visitors can play Kennemer if they belong to a golf club recognised by the Dutch golf federation (NGF) or a foreign golf club and have a handicap of 24 or lower. Green fee players are welcome every day except Sunday. Visitor numbers are capped, so always contact the Kennemer caddie master before you come.