When Sabine Riezebos took the job of General Manager at Bernardus Golf in the Netherlands, she had one small problem — she’d never played golf in her life. Eight years later, she’s about to host the Solheim Cup. Jane Carter met the woman who’s been doing things differently from day one.
Sabine Riezebos came to golf via hotels and corporate facilities management. She’d worked for the owner before, at his previous company, organising corporate events and overseeing a headquarters build. When he sold up and bought a stretch of land in North Brabant with plans for a golf course, he came looking for her. Coffee followed. Then a job offer. Then the confession about the golf.
She couldn’t play. Had never played. Her boss told her that was fine — her hospitality background was the whole point. What he wanted wasn’t a golf person. He wanted someone who understood hospitality at a high level and would bring that lens to every decision.
Before Bernardus opened, Sabine visited around thirty courses in the region as a mystery guest. What she found did not impress her. “Only two noticed when I came in. I could walk into the locker rooms, walk into the restaurant, and nobody looked up.” She wasn’t in golf clothes. She was just a woman walking in. “It is so easy to do better than that. And so many clubs don’t.”
So at Bernardus, the first thing you get is a proper welcome. Not a clipboard and a list of rules. Coffee, a pastry, someone who knows your name from your booking and says it when you walk through the door. It sounds simple. In golf, it is apparently revolutionary.
The course itself was designed by Kyle Phillips and has the kind of bunkering and undulation that genuinely tests you. When the European Tour brought the KLM Open here, the players called the practice area Disney World. But what makes Bernardus different isn’t just the course. The owner also runs Bernardus Wines, and the whole place leans into that — halfway houses stocked with food and wine, a Michelin-starred restaurant, a hotel with a heated outdoor pool, saunas, a gym. And new this season: a premium sparkling rosé.
A double failure, apparently
Not everyone was welcoming when Bernardus opened. The old guard had opinions. “They said: a billionaire building a golf course — that must be a failure. And he puts a woman in charge who doesn’t even come from the industry- double failure. We proved them wrong.”
They looked at the Ryder Cup first. Too big, too commercial, too much infrastructure required. The Dutch Golf Federation suggested the Solheim Cup instead. The owner wasn’t sure. Sabine was.
“Focused on women, a different atmosphere, less commercial — and it puts us on the map.” When the LET and LPGA came to visit, that was more or less that. “They were overwhelmed. The hospitality, the course, the restaurants.” She says it without arrogance. Just fact.
For a course that opened in 2018, getting the Solheim Cup is extraordinary. But spend an hour with Sabine and it starts to make sense. She attended the previous two Solheim Cups — at Finca Cortesin and RTJ — as a spectator, and came home each time with a list of everything she would do differently.
The fan village, she decided, was not good enough. “You wait between sessions with nothing to do. That is not an experience.” The event village at Bernardus will have a huge wine bar.
Around 1,500 bikes will be laid on at Den Bosch station — the nearest city, ten minutes away — for spectators to cycle to the course through a nature reserve, 20 minutes and a beautiful route. “Also,” she adds, “if you’ve had a glass of wine, easier than driving.”
What’s she’s most proud of
Ask Sabine what she’s most excited about and she doesn’t hesitate: the Junior Solheim Cup. For the first time in the event’s history, the junior competition will be played on the same course as the senior event. Normally the girls are tucked away on a nearby course, out of the spotlight. Not this time.
“They work so hard to get to that level. They should play the same course as their idols, have the same experience.” She had to fight for it — the course superintendent worried about the turf, the LET had scheduling concerns, even the owner needed convincing. She won every argument. She also proposed a wall of family outside the first tee — photos and messages from players’ relatives, inspired by something she spotted at the Evian Major — so the girls feel seen before they step up. Local schoolchildren will be bussed in to cheer.
On being a woman in the golf world
Female General Managers remain rare in Dutch golf. Sabine is matter-of-fact about it. “When we meet at events, we talk. But I also talk to the men. It’s just normal.” She isn’t looking for credit for navigating a male-dominated industry. She learned about the drainage system and the grass varieties and everything else she needed to know, and refused to be caught out. “I don’t want to look stupid. It’s green, it’s grass — but I do know the difference.”
Her advice to women coming into golf: “Stay close to yourself. Don’t adapt to fit in. The industry needs different perspectives, not more of the same.”
She plays off around 28 now- the driver her best club, a natural carry-over from years of competitive field hockey. She doesn’t play as much as people assume. “The baker does not eat pastry every day. It’s my job.” Her daughter tried golf once, decided it was too hard, gave it up. Her daughter’s new boyfriend plays. She may try again. Sabine tells this story with the amusement of someone who knows exactly how it ends.
In a sport that has spent decades putting up barriers, Sabine Riezebos has spent nine years quietly, methodically taking them down. Come September, the world gets to see what she’s built.
LINKS:- Bernardus Golf . The 2026 Solheim Cup: 11–13 September. Junior Solheim Cup: 7–8 September.
