Golf Course Architecture - Issue 58 October 2019

78 that he was on a small, rocky point of land that poked out into the fjord. It was not quite large enough for a green, but a judicious piece of blasting – despite the rocky site the only use of dynamite on the project – fixed that and created a quite remarkable short hole, where the further right the pin is located, the more golfers will need to take on the sea. Shaper Shane Ringwood, in grooming the hillside behind the putting surface so that balls will run back onto the green, used stone mined from the location to build a circular stone structure, which could be part of a halfway house complex, or could just be sold to golfers as a historical remnant (a Viking pissoir?). For sure on a nice day, this hillside – between the green of the ninth and the tee of the par four tenth – will be a glorious place to sit with a cold beer, watching friends take on the challenge of the ninth. Ten too plays along the fjord, in the style of a classic Cape par four. When I visited, American architect Tony Ristola, creator of the Sand Valley course in Poland, was helping out the construction crew by finish shaping the green – which sits on fill in an area that was previously sea. Eleven to fourteen then leave the sea and pass by the clubhouse, while the fifteenth, a downhill par three to a green with Redan-like characteristics, returns the course to the water, as well as being the closest point to the castle from which the course gets its name. The sixteenth is an excellent par four along the water to another green created using fill in an area that used to be sea. Hit the tee shot left, close to the water, and the approach will be basically all carry over sea; further right is less terrifying, though players on this side of the fairway will be firing towards the water. Seventeen is another fine par three playing along the fjord. The well-guarded green features the first bunkers to be built on the course using the Durabunker method. One of contractor Nelson & Vecchio’s shapers built them, and they are very pretty, a good example of more complex edges that can be created with revet; the artistic Spogárd would be less than satified with round pots. “We want to give the golfer the feeling of success – and we try to achieve this by putting them in front of some incredible looking holes, which are actually very playable when you discover how to unlock their secrets,” says Spogárd. All in all, the new Castle course is clearly destined to be a very fine piece of work indeed, one of the best in Scandinavia, perhaps even among the best in Europe. The club, which already gets a lot of holiday golfers, is going to have to gear itself up to cope with more and more demanding visitors. For architect Spogárd and his partner Michiel van der Vaart, already recognised as one of Europe’s most exciting up and coming design teams, it is another triumph. Golfers from around the world should be figuring out how to get to the Ålands, where they’ll see something genuinely new and good. GCA ÅLANDS Spogárd says incredible looking holes are actually very playable when you discover how to unlock their secrets Photo: Ålands Golfklubb