Ålands (King's)

The Åland Islands lies in the Gulf of Bothnia, between Stockholm in Sweden and Turku in Finland. The islands in the archipelago comprise the smallest region of Finland where around 30,000 people choose Swedish as their preferred language.

The Ålands Golf Club was founded in 1983 and right from the outset there were two Jan Serderholm-designed 18-hole layouts in operation here; the Castle course (“Slottsbanan”) and King’s course (“Kungsbanan”). There’s also a short 6-hole course called the Princess.

The fairways of the Castle course are laid out adjacent to Slottsundet Bay, whilst the shorter King’s course lies further inland, occupying hillier, more densely forested terrain that’s been used to fashion an intoxicating mix of tree-lined and more open holes.

The King’s course begins rather unconventionally with par threes at the 1st and 3rd. Back-to-back par fives follow around the turn at the 9th and 10th before the round ends with a really tight par four which doglegs sharply left to a tricky two-tiered home green.