Sweden’s golf haven

Per Persson is one of over 600,000 avid golfers among Sweden’s nine million citizens, but he isn’t playing as much as he’d like. He’s too busy telling non-Swedes the well-kept secret of Skane’s golf courses.

“Within an hour and a half drive through the countryside from Malmo, there are seventy-four golf courses, fifteen of them within a half hour,” says Persson. A few years ago he realized the untapped tourism potential of a high quality golf offering, and asked Skane’s marketing arm, Position Skane, to set up a program that makes golf sojourns user-friendly for tourists. They can now book golf games and golf packages online, at www.skanegolf.com.

“We started with picking out a dozen of the best golf courses in Skane to develop this project for the international market,” says Persson. “Initially, we aimed for Britain, Europe, Spain and northern Germany. Now we are ready to let Americans know.”

After all, athletes the caliber of Annika Sorenstam and Jesper Parnevik didn’t hone their skills playing miniature golf. “The advantage of a superb variety of challenging courses in their home country prepares Swedish pros for any course in the world,” says Persson.”

In Sweden, golf is an egalitarian sport, not just for the well-heeled, and green fees for visitors are very competitive with better known destinations. “The average green fee is 35 to 40 Euros, about half what many European courses charge, belying the rumor that Sweden is an extremely expensive country,” says Persson. “We are working with hotels, inns, car rental companies and restaurants to develop cost-effective packages, including longer ones for Americans who would of course tend toward longer stays than Europeans in close proximity.

But Americans with a trade show or other business in Copenhagen, just twenty minutes by train over the bridge from Malmo, or a short car ride, may also want to just come for a weekend, or even a day’s game, as many Europeans do, including many Danes who enjoy the easy access.”

A convenient size for a group is fifteen to twenty, but Persson says it’s not unusual for just couples to come, staying in a B&B in the countryside, or a half dozen buddies who hit three or four courses in a weekend. A sample weekend package is two nights, double room, at First Hotel Garden in Malmo, one green fee at Ljungusen GK and one at Bokskogen GK, 180 Euros a person.

Participating golf courses include Falsterbo, a traditional links course, one of the best regarded in Europe. It was founded in 1909 on the most southwest point of Sweden, a tiny strip of land bordered by the Baltic sea, and still has a lighthouse next to one of the greens. Adorned by sand dunes, beaches, masses of heather, marshes and huge thickets of wild roses, it has a timeless quality that makes it a pleasure simply to walk around the perimeter. Located in a vital bird preservation area, during bird migrations scores of bird watchers frequent the area, blending easily with the golfers. They typify the mutual consideration and respect underpinning the Swedish tradition that the well-behaved can wander almost anywhere in the countryside.

Another participating club is Barseback - a links, parkland and woodland course on the Oresund Coast. It was voted Sweden’s best and one of the top ten in Europe. In 2003, its Masters Course hosted the Solheim Cup. It will repeat the tournament in 2007.

“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 Skane golf, already well on its way via successful Swedish golfers, including two on the Ryder Cup team.”

“People think of Sweden as the frozen north,” says Persson. “But we are in the deepest south. The primary golf season from the start of April to the beginning of November, with the peak for Swedes July through mid-August. But we play year round, it doesn’t snow much and when it does it’s gone in a few days. The courses have great character with good variation. When people come here for the first time, they think they’ve discovered a hidden gem.”

Golf Skane is ready for its close-up.