Österåker (Västerled)

The Västerled (West) course at Österåker is a Sven Tumba/Jan Sederholm creation which opened for play in 1988 as the club’s championship layout. It has since hosted the Swedish PGA Championship, the Ladies European Tour and latest the European Amateur Team Championship in 2010, when new back tees (EM tees) were put in. To play from these tees you either need a plus handicap or special prior permission from the club manager.

By 2015, however, the club realised it could not keep pace in the upscale part of the market compared to new courses such as Bro Hof and renovated layouts such as nearby Ullna.

Fortunately, the club owns its land and is located close to expanding Åkersberga, so it was possible to sell a relatively limited parcel for a very significant amount (200 million SEK has been mentioned). This gave the resources not only to rebuild the bunkers on the West course in a more "linksy" style (deeper and with revetted faces) but also to engage Henrik Stenson and Christian Lundin to design the new East course (Öster by Stenson) on land formerly occupied by sister course Österled and the 9-hole Hagby loop, the latter eliminated by the rebuild and the real estate sale, but replaced by a new 9-hole short (par 3) course in the middle of the club’s property.

It was originally planned that Västerled should close for a rebuild “to further strengthen its inland links characteristics” in 2020, but this project has been pushed back until 2022.