BroHoff Slott, Stadium Course - Challenging golf with wind, water and plenty of length

BroHoff Slott, just outside Stockholm, offers two courses with 18 holes: the Castle Course and the more famous Stadium Course. The latter has been known far beyond Sweden's borders as the long-standing venue for the Nordea Masters and has regularly been voted Sweden's best golf course for many years. From the back tee boxes, the par 72 course is a real length monster at 7,266 meters, and for a long time it was the longest Par on the entire European Tour (now the DP World Tour).

BroHoff Stadium course, a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design

The course designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr. offers a wonderful combination of challenging, strategically laid-out holes, undulating terrain, gleaming white bunkers and plenty of water. You cross the halfway house four times on the round: after holes 4, 8, 11 and 14. What is striking is the rather young crowd, especially compared to Germany - at weekends in particular, you meet cheerful, sporty, ambitious golfers (just under 100 members are single handicappers, the average handicap is only slightly over 10) who listen to music discreetly on the round and enjoy a beer. There's no need to be afraid of loud background noise, but the club shows that sporting ambition and leisure enjoyment can be perfectly combined. The front nine is very varied and there are always small differences in height to take into account when choosing the right clubs. Water comes into play for the first time on hole 2 to the right of the green. In typical Trent Jones fashion, the greens are mostly framed by mighty bunkers with raised edges. The second Par 3 of the front nine combines length with water from the back tees, as it carries over water for up to 228 meters towards the green.

The Baltic Sea lurks on the Stadium Course

On the back nine, the course turns upwards. Now you play parallel to the Baltic Sea for long stretches - mostly accompanied by wind, but always from changing directions. The second part of the round is also particularly exciting with three par-3s, three par-4s and three par-5s. The par-5 on hole 13 leads in a semicircle around a lake, so that you have to decide on the second shot whether you want to take the shorter route to the flag over water or play around it. The final sequence, which is as beautiful as it is difficult, begins with the 15th, another Par-5 with up to 569 meters running parallel to the water, and water always comes into play. The Baltic Sea lurks to the left on 15 and 16 - especially on the up to 238 (!) meter long Par-3 of 16, which usually means a lot of wind from the left. Then it's on to what is probably the most famous hole of the round, a par-3 with a maximum length of 150 meters and an island green. As at TPC Sawgrass, several thousand balls land in the water here every year, especially as the elevated tees and the wind make it difficult to choose the right shot, which can be seen not least from the numerous divots in the drop zone. The last Par-4 towards the castle also ends with a green that is offset to the side and defended by plenty of water at the front.

The Stadium Course is a real tester and not for the faint-hearted. Nevertheless: length alone is not enough, you also need a very good short game. The course is particularly beautiful in autumn, when the numerous trees around the course show their play of colors.