Viken Helsingborg Golf Club, Sweden

www.helsingborgsgk.com

Yellow tees par 68, slope 112, 4542 metres
Red tees par 68, slope 118, 4144 metres

Helsingborg golf course lies between the lovely old village of Viken and the Oresund, which is the strait between Denmark and south-west Sweden.  To get here we flew to Copenhagen and then crossed the Oresund Bridge which links Denmark and Sweden and is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe.

The thatched sheep shelter which was

built for a rescue boat and later

accommodated the club repair shop.

The course is set out on a narrow slip of links land on fairly flat terrain with views over to Helsingor in Denmark.  Golf was played on the land in the late 19th century but it wasn't until 1924 that the course was opened.  It was designed as a nine hole course by William Hester from Hoylake, Liverpool who had been the Professional and greenkeeper at Falsterbo from 1912 and who trained Sweden's first golf professionals.  The greenkeeper told us that the course has not changed since then and aims to be as close to playing golf in the 1920s as possible.  We even saw some players with hickory shafted clubs.

The 6th green with Denmark on the horizon

We played with Lynn and David Lawson on an overcast summer's day with a light breeze.  The tees are mats, the fairways are somewhat worn but the greens were in good condition althoug perhaps not as hard and fast running as classic links greens.  Fortunately the course was quiet as a number of holes cross each other which must give rise to a lot of shouts of 'fore!'.  There are no particularly memorable holes but some quirky ones, which is probably a good description of this club.  The clubhouse is delightful and feels as if it hasn't changed since the 1920s with many historical photographs and an honesty box.

The black timbered clubhouse overlooks the 9th green

Worth playing - Yes if you are in the area for the step back in golfing time.