54 The renovation of Österåkers Golfklubb on the outskirts of Stockholm, Sweden, represents the debut project of Henrik Stenson Golf Design. The 2016 Open champion has teamed up with a fellow Swede, golf course architect Christian Lundin, for the two-course project and more on the horizon. How did your partnership come about? Stenson: We met through a friend in common when Christian was in Orlando for the Golf Industry Show a few years ago. I showed them around Lake Nona and we had dinner, during which we discussed golf for quite some time. It was obvious that not only do we share the same sense of humour, but we also look at golf courses in a similar fashion. How has the working relationship been, and what do you each bring to projects? Stenson: I obviously provide the player perspective and Christian is a trained architect. So we add different things and keep a very good dialogue between each other. From our first time meeting up until now, a great friendship has been created and this builds trust between us. I have seen a huge amount of golf courses all around the globe. Some great and, in all honesty, some very poor courses. Lundin: It has been great. Henrik comes with a perspective that I don’t have, and he shows that he has a fantastic understanding of the amateur golfer as well. I think what makes our relationship so good is that we can both critique each other in the right manner. Also, we have a very strong understanding of what we think is great golf and do not compromise with this. We challenge each other, and this gives our clients a much better product. To be honest... 2016 Open champion Henrik Stenson and golf course architect Christian Lundin are planning to create ‘honest’ golf courses, as Toby Ingleton discovers INTERVIEW Photo: Peter Corden HENRIK STENSON & CHRISTIAN LUNDIN
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