Bikes line a street in Amsterdam.
U.S. Solheim Cup captain Angela Stanford and assistant Paula Creamer take a tandem bike ride for a year-out celebration in the Netherlands.
Bikes line up for the Dutch Grand Prix.

CROMVOIRT, Netherlands – Allan Solheim biked to Bernardus Golf every day while visiting the Netherlands. The 85-year-old retired Ping executive and his grandson, Nicolas Pauwels, were in Europe earlier this month to mark the year-to-go celebration for the 2026 Solheim Cup before heading on to Norway to visit family.

“I’m having a blast,” said Solheim of his new bike routine.

A veteran of 12 consecutive Boston Marathons, Solheim proved an easy convert to the 2026 Solheim Cup’s preferred mode of transportation.

The Netherlands is a cycling nation. There are more bikes than people in this small country of 18 million, a testament to its flat terrain and healthy ethos.

Bikes set to improve on Solheim Cup experience

The early story at the 2024 Solheim Cup outside Washington D.C. centered around a bus shortage that left fans stranded in a parking lot while the first tee sat shockingly empty.

Transportation will no doubt once again make headlines at the 2026 edition, Sept. 11-13, but for different reasons: For the first and perhaps only time, thousands of fans will arrive by bike.

There’s precedence for this sort of thing. The highly sustainable Dutch Grand Prix has enough storage space for 45,000 bikes. It’s a sight to behold, watching thousands of fans stream in on two wheels, with many wearing orange shirts, the Dutch national color. Visitors are eager to become part of the Orange Army and want to know, “Where can I get a bike?”

For those who live in countries in which going down to the corner store on a bike could be a harrowing experience, this all sounds a little crazy.

That’s why Harry Owen, vice president of golf events at IMG and head of mobility for the 2026 Solheim Cup, took a trip to the Dutch Grand Prix to see for himself.

What he found was a well-oiled machine, with most fans bringing their own bikes but many taking advantage of the bikes that were provided. Several temporary storage areas were set up in Zandvoort that each housed 1,500 bikes fans could check out for the day.

Bike paths are wide, stress-free

IMG organizers describe the atmosphere on the bike path at the Grand Prix as stress-free. The cycle paths are wide enough so that people can go at their own speed.

“There’s no aggressiveness on the roads,” said Owen. “It’s almost like swans sailing past.”

They’re still crunching the numbers for Bernardus, but currently aim to have 7,500 to 10,000 bikes on hand for fans to use. Many Dutch fans will, of course, bring their own bikes.

There simply isn’t enough parking space for fans to drive their own cars to Bernardus. Fans will arrive at the train station in nearby Den Bosch (short for 's-Hertogenbosch) and then proceed down a serene bike-only path that ends 50 yards from the first tee. For many, the official 2026 Solheim Cup experience will begin on a bike seat rather than a bleacher.

“You’re within the nature there,” said Roy Hirs, CEO of Hirs Advies and the architect behind the Grand Prix bike plan. “You drive through the grasslands, it’s all quite silent.”

Solheim fans can indicate preference

When fans buy tickets to next year’s Solheim Cup, they will indicate their preferred mode of transportation, which is included in the price. Importantly, there will be buses available for those who don’t want to bike. The bikes and buses will take different routes, ensuring public safety.

From Den Bosch station, the trip will take roughly 25 minutes to get to the golf course. The bus route isn’t as direct and will take about 30 minutes.

When asked what happens if it rains, Hirs said it never rains all day in the Netherlands.

“For example, in the Dutch Grand Prix, we can predict how busy it will be on the cycling paths if you see the weather," said Hirs, "because everybody has a rain radar on the telephone. Oh, if we wait 10 minutes, it will be dry.”

The bike culture in the Netherlands starts young. Kids bike to school with their parents until they’re old enough to go on their own.

Jeroen Stevens, project manager of the Solheim Cup, biked 9 miles each way to school as a kid. There’s a tremendous infrastructure in place for bikes in the Netherlands, with wide well-marked paths and a number of bike-only roads. The government boasts that 27 percent of all journeys in the Netherlands are taken by bike. Former Dutch Prime Minister Mark Rutte routinely biked to work at The Hague. The town of Utrecht even has a bicycle mayor.

“We always say our country is as flat as a pancake,” said Stevens of the easy rides.

Angela Stanford, Anna Nordqvist took part in ride

Organizers hope to have 25,000 fans at Bernardus for each competition day. To drum up excitement, Solheim Cup captains Angela Stanford and Anna Nordqvist rode to the golf course on tandem bikes with their respective assistant captains.

“We laughed a lot, but I think we got the hang of it pretty early,” said Nordqvist. “I was smart, and I sat in the back (behind Caroline Hedwall) so all I had to do was put my feet on the pedals.”

Stanford and assistant captain Paula Creamer didn’t talk much about strategy other than trying to stay upright, though they definitely gassed it at the end to beat Team Europe to the “finish line” of supporters.

So far, there’s an 86 percent click-through rate of fans advising how they want to travel. If that strong level of feedback continues, they’ll be in a good position come September.

“It’s communication, as you know,” said Owen. “We’re trying something that’s never been done at a Solheim Cup or in golf really, so we’ve got to keep that messaging of cycling, health and well-being, the Dutch DNA. Almost sort of, this is going to be fun, guys.”

In the words of St. Ambrose, when in Rome.

This article originally appeared on Golfweek: No cars at the 2026 Solheim Cup in the Netherlands? Many fans will arrive by bike

Reporting by Beth Ann Nichols, Golfweek / Golfweek

USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect