Skövde (Södra)

The garrison town of Skövde is situated 150 kilometres northeast of Gothenburg at the foot of Mount Billingen and it sits between two of Europe’s largest lakes, Vänern and Vättern. As well as housing several Swedish military regiments, Skövde is also where automotive giants Volvo operate a massive car plant.

Skövde Golf Club is laid out on hilly terrain to the south west of the town centre beside the Sydbillingens platå nature reserve, the course here is part of a 27-hole complex that was once used as a military training base before it was developed for golf in the early 1990s.

This is Swedish parkland golf at its very best, incorporating a little of everything – clever elevation changes, judicious use of water hazards, wide, open fairways and plenty of trees – in an out-and-back design from accomplished architect Peter Nordwall.

The club decided to close the course in 2016, bringing in architect Christian Lundin from reGOLF and David Nelson from contractor Nelson & Vecchio to rebuild the layout. Their brief was to make the course more playable for everyone, using fescue grasses to encourage the ground game wherever possible, and the refashioned track reopened in the summer of 2018.