Remarkably impressive. Bro Hof Castle doesn’t look Swedish, it doesn’t feel Swedish. But the man behind it is Swedish. Bro Hof Castle is situated 30 minutes from Arlanda airport, 30 minutes from Stockholm – by car. So everything is wrong, but it turns out so right. So bloody right. Alas you, Swedish envy, keep yourself in check and ENJOY.

Läs Per Klemmings artikel med underbara foton av Ulf Berglund och Lennart Hyse (pdf)

– This project is my passion. Enthusiasm plus capital is usually a good driving force. Bro Hof is not only about the ideal, not about boyhood dreams but about making good business, says Björn Örås.

Björn Örås is the man, the myth and the fellow man behind Sweden’s greatest golf creation of all time. And this despite the fact that Swedish Golf (and international golf for all that) has a slight problem regarding timing for the moment. The practitioners are abandoning the sport – it simply takes too long time to play. (Spouses usually don’t consent, primarily because of the time aspect.)

Well, a normal golf course costs in the region of 30 million Swedish crowns – SEK m – to set up. The Bro Hof Castle investment has cost 360 SEK m so far. (The preservation of the nature reserve alone has amounted to the net sum of 5 SEK m. Other good courses in Sweden are built on sand. In Stockholm there is no naturally occurring sand in the ground. Consequently sand had to be transported to Bro Hof Castle. A 20 cm layer of green-sand entails an extra cost of almost 20 SEK m. This has resulted in greens which facilitate a nice soft landing for the ball. (No run off.)

360 million in Swedish money. Taxed Swedish money – from Mr Björn Öras’ own pocket. Well, he got a great deal of wow-factor for his money. It is particularly un-Swedish, purely unique, that one man should take on a project of this nature. And doing it alone with his own money. This man, Björn Örås, ought to be a national, if not international, hero. But he is hardly to be found on the internet, at least not on a search for “Björn Örås” – it takes 0.22 seconds and the results are only a couple of hundred hits! This is more or less insignificant, given the context. (Search date: 30/04/08.)

The Castle is no place for poor wretches. This is a pity, because it is good for the soul just to be around the place, to bask in the ambience, indoors and out. Several pleasurable sights greet you along the way – seeing the bunkers from the car, with their white crushed marble, the drive up the avenue and the appearance of the castle would in all probability make a brittle soul cry for joy. Beautiful it is. And for those who dare to sit on fairway 5, 6, 7 or 8 with a deckchair, a book and some tea – it is the culmination of stress management – BIG TIME. It will never ever happen, however. It’s just as improbable as children and young people from socially-deprived areas in the region getting a day out at the castle. It’s too expensive, according to Örås, to play social uncle. Then there is the “kiosk” at hole 9. There are Kiosks and there are kiosks … The classical hotdog (in a roll) is not on the menu, but why not try Belgian waffles instead. All the food at Bro Hof Castle is signed with the LUX restaurant emblem. It is only a matter of time before “the kiosk” ends up on the food critics’ top list – as well. Öras and LUX seem to be a match made in heaven. The golf club restaurant has already landed number five on the ranking list.

“The course is the most expensive in Scandinavia. It’s the best in Scandinavia. It will become one of the most outstanding in Europe”, says Björn Örås, in a mannerly and matter-of-fact tone.

Björn Örås is a wealthy man, simply loaded. (Perhaps he is also filthy rich, but it really doesn’t matter.) Björn Örås is an impelled entrepreneur. Considering that he is not to be found in the virtual world, all at once one is bombarded with the thought – here we have a modern day Wallenberg. (“Act without being seen” was the motto of that family, and perhaps it still is. It was easier in the past, before the internet.) His collaborators say that it is very informal, working together with Örås. Let this be noted, dear reader, working together with – not working for.

Perhaps that is why the possibility was realised, from the first excavation starting up in 2004 until 2007, when the first of two 18-hole courses was brought into operation. Creating your own golf course may seem like a tough task to take on – and the result of a slightly dictatorial bent. More than 40 authorities, all having some form of power at their disposal, have been involved in the genesis of Bro Hof Castle.

(The extent of manoeuvres in mined terrain. Here is the list: the County Administrative Board, the land surveying authorities, the National Road Administration, the Regional Air and Traffic authorities, Regionnät AB, Norrvatten, AB Stockholm Lokaltrafik [the greater Stockholm public transport company, SL], the Stockholm County Museum, Skanova Networks AB [formerly Telia], Graninge Nät AB, Graninge Mälarkraft Värme AB, the Attunda Fire department, association of local residents in the Upplands-Bro area, the Bro Centre trade association, Saltsjö and Mälaren boating association, the National Administration of Shipping and Navigation, the Swedish Church i Bro, the National Heritage Board, Kungsängen’s residence association, town planning authorities, Bro regional history society, the Swedish Association for the Promotion of Outdoor Life, the National Trust, Rättarboda’s house owners and residence association, the Tärnsund trust, Kungsängen’s Model aircraft, Tele 2 Sweden, Kulturbojan, Bro sport fishing club, the Residents’ and Tenants’ association, the National Rail Administration, the Swedish cooperative union’s financial organisation, the Board of Works and the environment, the Board of Education, the municipal council for Disabled Persons, Upplands-Bro mitt i, Social welfare board, Stockholm’s Näs regional history society, Kungsängen West parish community, Upplands-Bro police.)

Not only did Bro Hof Castle open in 2007. Bro Hof Castle became Sweden’s best golf course at one and the same time in 2007. This has never happened previously.

“It has to be so” wrote Golf Digest magazine, explaining its choice, “Bro Hof Castle is better than, or at least as good as, other Swedish courses on several points: Layout, aesthetic, variation, length, atmosphere and clubhouse.” Yes, even the condition, despite the fact that the course is newly opened. “Genuine quality straight through the whole arrangement” is the jury’s appraisal. Ordinary clubs have several thousand members; Bro Hof Castle has 550 shareowners. The practitioners who can afford to pay several hundred thousand SEK for the opportunity of playing on a good course are genuine golf enthusiasts. They are not on their way out of the sport. Örås understood this a long time ago, and he knows how to tickle their fancy.

That big, big tournaments will be played at Bro Hof is only a question of time. At Bro Hof Castle EVERYTHING is already set up in preparation. The parking alone will facilitate 15,000 cars when the time comes. And one thing that the shareowners don’t have to worry about for the duration of the big tournaments is where they will be able to play themselves. The shareholders can always play golf at their home club. Not just when there are big tournaments – but in the rain and the winter too.

Before Bro Hof Castle came along, the courses in Stockholm were only playable from midsummer up to the middle of September. No, it has nothing whatsoever to do with the climate change that you can play all year round in Stockholm, it’s solely due to Bro Hof Castle. With the help of modern technology at the castle, the conditions on the course can be mastered. (With the Sub-Air-System, among other things. Consequently then, at Bro Hof Castle you only have to master your play, not the weather. This can mean a lot, in psychological terms.) Björn Örås has his eye on the future. He sees it from a long way off. Such a long way off that others require binoculars. But he has a background, good old Örås. A B.A. in economics from the University of Lund, Product Manager at Pierre Robert, Head of Product Department at IKEA and CEO for two different advertising agencies. After this he did a couple of jobs as a market consultant, for Åbro brewery among others, plus a failed attempt to start up a newspaper publishing house. He started Poolia in 1989 and, along other things, the subsidiary company Uniflex a little later on. He got an awful amount of Swedish money out of his 20 percent of Poolia. He consequently invested a part of these Swedish crowns in “the castle.”

Bro Hof Castle has two courses. The Stadium Course has opened. At the moment of writing this Bro Hof Castle now has an 18- hole course. And 18 green keepers! Plus a chief for all the green keepers. Bro Hof Castle is Europe’s longest golf course, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr., one of the world’s foremost golf course designers. (There are almost 40 rejected suggestions lying on Örås’ service area, from almost all the other best golf course designers in the world.) The other, the Castle Course, will soon be opened. The first nine holes will be ready for play in 2008, the remaining nine in 2009. The Castle Course has the character of “less wind and water, more trees and tougher bunkers.” It is not as long as its brother beside it, – the little sister lacks black tees.

There are about 500 golf courses in Sweden; how many are to be found throughout the world is a significantly tougher nut to crack. The real in-depth and extensive knowledge of how to produce a world class golf course is something which Örås & Co has imported. It has not only been about the golf course but also about the environs – the reverential restoration of the existing buildings in the area. Nothing is done without a reason, however. And this reason has been to produce a golf course of class, by means of class.

– Nowhere else in Sweden has a golf course been designed which incorporates a larger place for a public which wishes to see golf “live”. I want people to think “What an experience! I want to come back here next year again” says Björn Örås.

He has already succeeded in this. Those who have played at “the Castle” are easily struck by cognitive dissonance. In the era of Bro Hof, this means that golfers will think other courses a little paltrier after having played on Sweden’s best golf course (according to Golf Digest). 9 of the 10 golfers whom the writer of this article surveyed in relation to Bro Hof Castle, expressed it in these terms. It is not something they wish to expose to all and sundry, however. For fear of being regarded as … eh … snobbish.

But it is snobby at Bro Hof Castle. It cannot be denied. That’s how it should be, accordingly snobby. On the other hand, golf has turned into a real, real sport of the people. Close on 75,000 people follow the final hole from the stands in Victory Valley. That’s a totally unbelievable number. The logistics for dealing with that number of people are already in place.

It’s fairly interesting from an outsider’s point of view. The level of ambition, the resolve, is to create a national arena for national golf by means of the Stadium Course. And to create one of the world’s best competitive courses. Bro Hof Castle is not only the best in Sweden. Bro Hof Castle is unique in world terms. At five locations along the Stadium Course, the spectators can follow play on several holes – simultaneously. These locations are called “stadium points” and are not to be found at any other golf course in the world. Each “stadium point” can take up to 15,000 persons. In order to understand the magnitude of Bro Hof Castle, what do you say to a spot of maths? “The Castle” can take up to 300,000 visitors on a single day! Barsebäck has had 100,000 spectators at most – spread out over four days. Then 50,000 came on the last day, 15,000 of them parking at the 18th hole.

As mentioned earlier, a national Swedish arena for golf. Golf is the largest sport in Sweden, with its 600,000 players. When other sports plan arenas for the future (take football, for instance) it is always with the aid of financial institutes. Money is pumped in, and the arena is christened after the one with the fattest wallet.

That kind of ego is not to be found in this investment. It’s called Bro Hof Castle, not Björn Örås’ Golf & Country Club. Örås has been playing golf since he came of age. Today he has a handicap of 7. To watch Björn Örås gazing out from the first tee is like seeing a content, fulfilled man, to hear him describing the first green is like listening to a happy young lad.

closeAuthor: Per Klemming Name: Per Klemming
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