Vallda - Sweden

Vallda is located in Kungsbacka just south of Sweden's second largest city Gothenburg. In the Göteborg area you will find some 30 quality golf courses, amongst them Sweden's oldest course, Göteborg Golf Club and the modern Hills Golf Club. Making its mark in such a fine company is a tall order, but the team at Vallda Golf & Country club has managed to deliver against the promise.

The vision was to create a course with the playing qualities of the classic heathland courses and renowned architect Martin Hawtree and his associate Caspar Grauballe created a course that although not particularly long is a fair test for both the low and high handicap player. It is generous from the tee for the long handicap player, and for the short handicap player the tricky green areas present an exhilarating challenge.

Vallda is quite open and relatively flat and with the wavy tall fescue contrasting the green fairways it is particularly visually pleasing. Although the course is still relatively young, the playing surfaces already exhibit the firm qualities one would expect to find on a quality heathland course.

The secret behind the club’s unusually firm and fast playing surfaces lies in the environmentally conscious maintenance practices – minimum fertiliser and irrigation and generous applications of sand, which encourages a deeper grass root zone. As a result the club has been able to retain the red fescue sown all the way from tee to green a decade ago despite not being blessed with naturally sandy soil throughout the property.

What makes Vallda such a fun course to play is without doubt the green areas. Boldly bunkered and craftily undulated demand excellent course management, and depending on the pin placement, a number of approach options are available, from the high pitch, to the classic bump and run. Regardless of the choice it will require crisp execution as the greens are quite firm where a misjudged shot will quickly leave a tricky chip to save par.