Going for Golf

PGA National of Sweden

Just a 30-minute drive from Copenhagen airport, across the glorious Øresund bridge, is one of the world’s great new layouts. More than 10 years in the making, the PGA National of Sweden’s Links course opened last summer to fanfare. And rightly so.

The Links layout is a stunning addition to Scandinavia’s already impressive collection of courses and was clearly worth the investment of time and money. Almost inevitably, the opening of the new Lakes course in May, will be similarly trumpeted. Easily accessible from nearby countries like Denmark, Norway and Germany – not to mention its domestic appeal – PGA National already has its eye on hosting significant tournaments at national, European Tour and even Ryder Cup level. It’s that good.

For producing a course of such quality we have to thank Kyle Phillips, the American architect with a real feeling for Europe. The man who brought us such stellar courses as Kingsbarns, The Grove and Dundonald has really pulled out all the stops in Sweden, working with lead shaper Peter Scott to produce a sort of inland links that is more reminiscent of the tumultuous, heaving layouts of the old country than the supposedly flat and featureless landscape of southern Scandinavia.

From the tips it’s a monster, measuring some 7,500 yards and playing every inch of it. This is perfectly illustrated by the ‘one-shotters’, three of which are in excess of 200 yards from the back markers. Demanding it might be, but it’s never crushing. This is the skill of the design, which fends off players with velvet glove as well as steel fist.

Nowhere is this better illustrated than at the short fifth. At just 120 yards it’s already been mooted as northern Europe’s answer to Troon’s Postage Stamp. Downhill and often downwind, it’s little more than a flick, but the green looks extremely shallow from the tee and has deep bunkering front-of-house. Playing safe and going long is not an option either, with a run off area at the back leaving a devilish up-and-down for par. It’s brilliant. The perfect par-three really.

The conditioning all over the course is absolutely sensational, the practice facilities are top-notch and the clubhouse – complete with sauna – is the perfect place in which to unwind after a round of golf. A must play.