Kungliga Drottningholm

Kungliga Drottningholms, as the name implies, is located close to Drottningholm Palace, the residence of the King of Sweden. The royal castle is a Unesco World Heritage Site and the park and parts of the castle are open to the public, so a bit of culture is easily combined with a fine round of golf at Kungliga Drottningholm Golf Club.

The course was laid out by Rafael Sundblom and Nils Sköld and opened for play in 1959. The golf club hosted numerous international tournaments in the 1970s and 1980s, and household names like Nicklaus, Singh, Montgomerie, Ballesteros and Couples are all part of the heritage of Kungliga Drottningholms.

After 50 years of play, the club decided it was time to upgrade the course, and they engaged an upcoming architect, Johan Benestam, who, as it happens, spent his formative years as a golfer at Kungliga Drottningholms. In 2012 the revised course opened, complete with new bunkering schemes, new drainage, re-capped fairways and new green areas.

The Royal Drottningholm course itself is a pleasant parkland stroll, tranquil and with many interesting and challenging holes, but what makes the layout really stand out is the new green complexes that feature interesting humps and bumps and careful runoffs. These features make approach shots demanding and recovery shots both interesting and fun.

The course closes with a splendid par three, where spectators on the clubhouse terrace can admire the finely tuned short game of the player that misses the slightly elevated green and falls victim to the beautifully flowing runoff areas.