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Svensk Golf Sida 98 orsbacka, a typical small town
golf club in Sweden, is situated roughly two hours by car northwest of Gothen- burg. The club opened in 1975, and över the years has had an average member- shipofaround 100, butthesurgeingolf- ing has also hit Forsbacka and now the club has about 700 members which they consider to be the ceiling. "This is mainly because we've got such a high percentage of beginners now that we don't think we can take care of all of the new applicants," says club sec- retary, Sven-Åke Runelid. Sweden's golf enthusiasts have been taken by surprise by the sudden, enor- mous popularity of the sport. Many clubs have suddenly found their mem- berships dominated by beginners, all of them chomping at the bit to get out on the course. But they must learn the fun- damentals of the game first, the rules and also golfing etiquette. In addition, there are long lists of people wanting to join big city clubs, and waiting times of between five and ten years are not unusual. The courses in the Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmö areas are usually always fully booked. As a result of all this, golf is suffering "Open Golf" in Sweden Golf is a fast-growing game all över Europe. A coun- try where this is especially true is Sweden. During this season more than 20000 Swedes will take up the game and this brings the total number of players well över 170000 on Sweden's soon 200 courses. One very important reason is the organisation of golf in Sweden, the system of "Öppen golf" —"Open Golf. THE SWEDISH WAY WATERCOURSE. The foot-bridgeleadingfrom the Ist to the 2nd hole at Forsbacka Golf Club. from a fairly natural case of growing pains and everyone involved is deter- mined to cure them as quickly as possi- ble. But Forsbacka suffers from a pro- blem of a slightly more unusual nature: Beavers. "Several beavers live in the water holes along the course. The have che- wed down many trees which we, unfor- tunately, had no urge at all to be rid of," says Sven-Åke Runelid with a smile. We're sitting outside Forsbacka's mag- nificicent clubhouse, a manor-house built in the early 19th century. One of the buildings, from the mid-18th cen- tury, has been restored to its original condition and is used as a hotel today. At one time, the bosses of the iron mill stayed there. A visitor from another country could be fooled by the upper class environ- ment, lured into thinking that golf is a game for Sweden's social elite. I have been to golf clubs in other countries with astronomical membership fees, equiva- lent to the average annual wage in that particular country, and to clubs where women and professionals are banned from entering the clubhouse, and in which permission to play the course is only granted after submitting the proper recommendations and engaging in ex- tensive correspondence. By comparison, golf in Sweden is an equal opportunity sport. At the club level, it is a typical family sport with men, women and ju- Until the year of 1982 golf in Sweden was played in the same way as in all the other countries—with amateur players on one side and professional players on the other. Very seldom these two categories had the opportunity to meet in the same tournaments. At the annual meeting of the Swedish Golf Federa- tion in March 1983 the representatives of the Swed- ish Golf Clubs decided to change the traditional for- mula and to play "Open Golf" from the season 1983 and on. What has happened since then? Are there no ama- teur players left in Sweden? Is everybody playing for price-money? Is there an anarchy in golf-Sweden! Not at all. The number of amateur players has never been higher and, as a bonus we would like to add, that the standard of play has never been higher. In short, "Open Golf" is conducted in the follow- ing way: I) There is no longer "Amateur Tournaments" or "Professional Tournaments" in Sweden, only "Open Tournaments", where the only restriction is the handicap-limit. This has offered big advantages. Firstly, the possibility for the club professions to participate in the tournaments of their home club, which has been a great inspiration not only for the professionals but, also, for the membtvs of the club. Secondly, it has encouraged the best players of our country to participate in the same tournaments. Ear- lier amateurs played in one tournament, the profes- sionals in another. These new "Open Tour; :ments 98 F struetion. Many of the courses are of extremely high quality and, as we have seen, offer rare outdoor beauty. And while we're on the subject, let's return to the Forsbacka Golf Club for a while.
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