The Links Valley

A classic new 9 holes reversible course on an unique site

Our participation in the Links Valley project dates back to 2004, when Frank Pont was approached by one of the scions of the Waller family. They approached us with the question if we could help them realize a new golf course on their almost 100-year-old estate in the Veluwe near Ermelo. When we first visited De Uller (the nickname for the estate) we did not know what we saw: a 9-hole course with fairways of shaved heather and greens and tees with electric lines around it against the wild boars. A golf course that the family has enjoyed playing since the early 1900s.

However, the new golf course had to be located on a different part of the estate, namely in a part where there had been a large sand pit, later followed by a partial landfill. The whole site had been covered with a few meters of sand after the land fill was closed in 2006. The site is located in the middle of Hollands largest heathland area called De Veluwe, surrounded by scots pine forests in pure sandy soil, the perfect setting for a classic style golf course. However, the 26-hectare site was not large enough to have 18 holes on it. That is why we decided early in the process that the new course would be a 9-hole golf course. Also during the process the the Waller family decided that they did not want to be in the golf business and found two families, Mike & Rianet Woltering and Wichert & Anita Rozendaal, that would work with us in developing the new concept of the golf course

Below you see a picture looking back down the  9th hole of the South course of The Links Valley.  

During the design process we happened to re-read the golf architecture book "The architectural side of golf" by the well-known classic golf course architect Tom Simpson. Simpson was a flamboyant and eccentric English golf architect, a genius who came from a wealthy family and therefore could do things in golf course design that no one else dared. He is the designer of Morfontaine, near Paris, and Cruden Bay, New Zealand, Hardelot and Royal Spa. In one of the appendices of the book Simpson discusses the principle of a reversible golf course, a course that can be played in two directions. For us this was the perfect solution for this beautiful terrain: The Links Valley became the first golf course in Europe that is reversible. The key in designing a reversible course is that both courses roughly should be equally strong. The fact that the players do not seem to have a preference between the North and the South course therefore is very gratifying.

The Links Valley has done very well in the few years it has been open. In 2020 Golf Magazine voted the course in its first World Top 50 of nine hole courses, where it was ranked 19th and was the best course in Continental Europe. The year before, in 2019,  the course was also voted best 9 hole course in the Netherlands by the players of LeadingCourses.com.

"Links Valley is a course unlike anything you have ever played throughout Europe. Not only is it two courses in one, it also is a blend of links with heatland, and when you play it you have flashes of Royal Hague, De Pan and Walton Heath"