The Royal Drottningholm Golf Club in Sweden has reopened after an 18 month renovation project, including reconstruction of greens, fairways and bunkers, and new drainage and irrigation systems. Swedish firm Benestam Golf Design led the project.

“We expect that this restoration will have golfers falling in love with Royal Drottningholm all over again,” said club chairman Lars Flodman. “Since I have been a member of the Club for over 50 years, we’ve always sought to preserve and enhance its soul. With this project, we think Benestam Golf Course Design recaptured what makes Royal Drottningholm truly special, what will make it continue to stand the test of time.”

“We think the world of Royal Drottningholm, and we just hope that if original architect Rafael Sundblom could see it, that he’d be pleased with what we’ve done,” architect Johan Benestam said. “It was truly an honour to be involved in this project, and we hope people enjoy playing it as much as we enjoyed working on it.”

The genesis of the 24 million krona project began in 2007. Despite holding nine SEO and Scandinavian Masters championships , Royal Drottningholm officials recognised that the course had come to look, feel and play like too many other courses, and was showing its age.

“We could have continued with the status quo, but we felt that something was missing,” said club director Stefan Andorff. “Royal Drottningholm was always meant to stand apart, to embrace its natural elements and to offer a unique atmosphere of quality. We felt the time was right to embrace the original idea of Royal Drottningholm and bring it into the future.”