Golf in Skåne

Photo: Håkan Sandbring/Position Skåne

 

"The advantage of a superb variety of challenging courses in their home country prepares Swedish pros for any course in the world," explains avid golfer and Swedish personality Per Persson in internationalreports.net. According to the article, Persson worked with “Skåne’s marketing arm, Position Skåne, to set up a program that makes golf sojourns user-friendly for tourists. They can now book golf games and golf packages online, at skanegolf.com.”

 

Additionally, "PGA Sweden is currently building a resort golf course with 200 hotel rooms and three 18 hole courses, anticipating a Ryder Cup here in ten years," says Persson. "Twenty minutes from Malmo, it should open in 2009. It will help build the brand of Skåne’s golf, already well on its way via successful Swedish golfers, including two on the Ryder Cup team."

 

Affordable greens fees (35-40 Euros per day, 50% less than the European average), superior design and driving personalities such as Persson’s contribute to the popularity of Skåne’s courses.

 

Gösta Carlsson, for instance, packed a powerful influence when he took over the Barsebäck Golf & Country Club in 1974. Today it is the leading golf club in Sweden and among Europe’s top ten. Barsebäck is a true championship course. It has two 18 hole courses, Donald Steel and Master’s Course that hosted nine Europe Tour championships. In 2007 it will again host the Solheim Cup as it did in 2003. There’s also a 9 hole short course, and a golf academy with two studios for development and analysis of swing. Located on the Oresund coast, the course is famous for its links, parkland and woodland as well as amazing fields of heather, sand dunes and marshlands that attract migratory birds in a spectacle of nature.

Many national and international championships have been held at Falsterbo Golf Club since it was re-designed and expanded to 18 holes under the direction of Dr. Gunnar Bauer. The course’s unique setting, around a lighthouse, and the innovative design of architects Peter Chamberlain and Peter Nordwall presents a challenge even to professional players.

 

Another favorite is the Bokskogen Golf Club, which is only a 20-minute drive from Malmo and hosted the European Boy’s Team Championship in 2006.  Bokskogen has historic ties to Charles XII and a dual personality when it comes to courses. The Old Course has generous fairways, water hazards and large, immaculate putting services that test one’s length and strategy. The slightly narrower fairways and smaller greens of the New Course focus on the accuracy of the player’s short game.