Golf Course Architecture - Issue 62: October 2020

30 TEE BOX THE INTERV I EW with Caspar Grauballe GCA spoke with Caspar Grauballe about the renovation work he is overseeing at Djursholm Golf Club, north of Stockholm, Sweden “Recreating the character of the course was just as important as improving the surfaces” Photos: Caspar Grauballe How did this project come about? The original 18-hole course is from the early 1930s, but it has seen many changes over the years. The clubhouse was originally positioned next to the train station providing a direct link to central Stockholm. However, in the 1960s, the railway shifted to a new track that went through the course, leading to a reconfiguration of the layout, which included a nine-hole course. In the early 2000s the club upgraded all greens to USGA specification as well as changing the surrounds and bunkers. The result was a much- improved playing quality of the greens, but somewhere along the way the course had lost its identity as an early 1930s design. Since then, the grass composition of the putting surfaces had deteriorated to a point where the club wanted to Grauballe is aiming to bring back the course’s 1930s identity with flashed sand faces on bunkers, as seen here at the par-three eighth