What’s Up Bro | Day 23

Woke up this morning about 7:15 to get ready for a long golf day. Before I started this trip I knew it wasn’t going to be a golf trip but if I could sneak in a round somewhere that would be killer. I didn’t see myself being anywhere for a long enough time to sacrifice a day to golf except for in Sweden. I hit the internet searching for best golf courses in Sweden and a highly recommended course complex was called Bro Hof Slott. It wasn’t to far outside of Stockholm and it was home to a Solheim Cup and multiple European Tour events. I figured if there was any place to play it would be there. As the trip started and Stockholm got closer I reached out to the course to see if it was possible to come out and play. I mentioned in my email that I was a member of a club in Hawaii and did that help me at all. The course emailed back and they told me that in fact Hoakalei is a part of a prestige club and that would get me a discount on the rounds. I replied with a thank you and please sign me up for the specific day.

The course was about a 45 minute metro ride from the hotel and directions say I could walk the mile and a half to the course haha. I left with plenty of time because it was a bit expensive to play and I didn’t to be anywhere near late. I walked out the door with my camera gear and a pair or shorts just in case. I didn’t bring any golf clothes with me so I knew I would have to buy a collard shirt. Navigating the metro was easy and it was just 1 train. The ride only took 30 minutes and it left me at out in the countryside. When I walked out of the metro I opened the Uber app and since I was out in the countryside it said it would take about 30 minutes for an Uber. The Uber wait was about the same time as the train ride out haha. I had to chuckle because I sat on a bench at a bus station but across from the bus stop was a random little shack that was a pizza and beer joint. I had some work to catch up on so actually the 30 minute wait wasn’t that big of a deal. The Uber driver arrived and we set off for the course. The club was made up of two separate courses with one being the Stadium course where they played the professional tournaments, and the other the Castle Course. The Stadium course, from photos I had seen, had a few holes on the water. We drove down the long drive and it was clear the Uber driver had never been there before. He tried to go where the maintenance shed was but I got him back on track and we were headed for the club house. As we rounded the corner we could see the castle club house through a rod iron gate. He didn’t think we could go through the gate but as we got closer the gate slowly opened and I told him we could drive in. It was a long gravel driveway that led to a roundabout with a fountain in the middle. The course had told me that the Castle Course had a tournament on it so I was to be playing the Stadium Course first. I got out of the Uber and walked over to the pro shop. It was a little house off to the side and as I walked in I was greeted by two very attractive young ladies. I smiled and said good morning. I mentioned that I knew I was a bit early and what my name was. The one blonde girl said, “ohh you’re from Hawaii!” I smiled and said, “Yup thats me!” Her name was Emily and the other girl was Alice. They were both very lovely and we had a nice chat for about 15 minutes or so. I told them I think I needed to buy a shirt, rent some clubs, buy some golf balls, and a glove. I looked around the pro shop and landed on a logo shirt that in good fashion had hula girls and palm trees on them. I knew that was the one for me haha. I settled up for the two rounds and all the other items I purchase and was then told I could go to the castle and use the locker rooms or grab some food in the restaurant.

The castle was “small” by fairytale castle standards but it was awesome inside. I headed to the restaurant first to wrap up the bit of work I had and get something to eat. The course was crowded with people all showing up for the tournament that was scheduled. I wasn’t really sure what type of event it was but everyone looked nice and they had cart girls and plenty of beer and snacks. They had free breakfast sandwiches out on the tables so I worked away and ate one of those. After breakfast I headed down to the locker room. It was located through a small door just off the main entrance and you walked down small stone spiral steps. At the base of the stairs stood a knights armor set. GANGSTER! You followed the path past a glass walled room that was a private dining area with wine racks cut straight in to the stone. Would be pretty neat to have a private dinner in there haha. You then entered in to the respected locker rooms. They had a very nice setup. The locker room offered about 50 full sized lockers, showers, sauna, hot tub, and a sitting room. I chose one of the available lockers and changed in to my shorts and newly bought shirt. I wrestled with taking all of my camera stuff but I did bring it so might as well pack it with me. I returned to the pro shop and they outfitted me with clubs and a push trolly. I had hope to ride but all of the carts were in use for the tournament. Before I walked to the range Alice told me that there were two kids who were 18 playing in front of me and if I wanted I could join them. I said that would be awesome and could meet them at the tee after the range. I walked with another gentleman and we chatted. He had played out here before and every year brings some of his friends and clients to golf. We chatted till we got to the range and the it was every man for himself to find an open stall. Playing with rental clubs is always a challenge. There wasn’t a whole lot of time before the tee time so really it was just a session to swing the club and loosen up. I deemed that the two kids next to me were the ones I was joining so I inquired. The one closest to me had headphones in but the other introduced himself and his name was Axel. I told him that whenever they were ready so was I. We hit a few more balls and then they said they were ready. As we marched back up the hill I came to my senses and said I was going to run to the locker and put some of the camera stuff away. Axel told me to make it quick haha. I raced down put 90% of it away and came out with just my camera, 70-200mm, and a 50mm lens. I met them on the tee, introduced myself the Axel’s friend Gustav, and we were off!

The course was really nice. It had a great layout and was difficult no matter the tees you played. I had wanted to play from a further back tee to make it a bit more difficult but I didn’t want to be rude so I played the Men’s tees with the guys. I of course always want to shoot a good score but with no golf shoes and rental clubs I knew that might not be ultra realistic. I took a smooth double bogie on the first which was fun haha. A big difference with this course and most in Hawaii is that they are incredibly hilly. Every green had giant mounds and multiple levels to them. It made it quite difficult if you found yourself out of position. Starting with a double is never fun, but then dunking a 50ft putt on 2 for birdie and following that with another birdie will change your attitude haha. Gustav, Axel, and I had a lot to chat about. Gustav had just finished the high school equivalent and was starting his gap year while Axel was one year behind. I was learning that in Sweden when kids finish high school they take a gap year. They can do with that what they choose. They were saying that most go travel, or in the winter go to the ski resorts and work as lift operators. Basically it is just a year for you to go live. After that you go to university and continue your studies. Also, when kids start school they mostly learn in English and of course Swedish at home and in school as well. Axel was amped to play with someone from America so he could practice speaking English. They spoke pretty great english so was easy. They had only started playing golf 2 or so years ago and had a coach who helped get them signed up for a membership at the club. They pay $1,100 a year and can play unlimited golf. That is a screaming deal! It didn’t dawn on me that for a little over half the year Sweden is covered in snow and freezing conditions but in the summer you can just live at the course. Having my camera I shot photos a long the way and also shot some of them and their swings. Something else that was a bit different is they have a halfway house you pass 3 times during the round. We passed it the first time after hole 8 and they wanted to stop to actually sit down and enjoy a bit of food and a drink before resuming play. That worked for me and we sat and chatted while having a breakfast sandwich and some water. When we resumed on the 9th hole there were these crazy vehicles in the lake. As we got closer they looked like little tanks. They had treads on them with a bulldozer front. There were two of them and the guys had said they have never seen those before. Turns out they drive around the lake gathering all of the moss and vegetation that is on the top of the water and moving it to the banks for removal. They were the craziest vehicles! The back 9 was harder for sure with 15, 16, and 17 being extremely difficult. I had a pretty good round going but then hit those holes and fell a part a bit. I had a great recovery on 18 and made birdie to shoot 79, but hard to shoot a good score when you have 4 double bogies. Everything considered was a pretty decent round and should have been a whole lot lower but I had no expectations for the round. When we finished we all shook hands and I told them that when I downloaded the memory cards I would send them a few more photos of themselves and if they ever found themselves in Hawaii to please let me know and will go play at Hoakalei. They were really nice and had a great first round!

I made my way back to the castle to grab some lunch. I had about an hour and 15 or so before I was to tee off for the second round. I parked the trolly outside and walked through the entry way and in to the restaurant. There was one other couple in there but the staff was getting ready for the players from the tournament to arrive. The chef had mentioned in a few it would get a bit nutty in there so would suggest ordering asap. The menu was in Swedish so he started reading me the menu which was very kind of him. When he hit the club sandwich I said, “SOLD!” Sandwiches seemed hard to find in Europe for some reason or I was just looking in the wrong places. I waiting for the sandwich and got a Swedish beer to sip on. When the sandwich arrived I have to say it was a different than I thought. It came with french fries but it was half a sandwich and had the regular lettuce and bacon, but was half of a chicken breast. Normally you get sliced turkey but had been a while since I had had a club that was half a grilled chicken breast. With that being said, I killed it haha. I was pretty hungry after that 6 mile walk and so it stood no chance. I chatted for a moment with the couple next to me and they were here on holiday from north Sweden and wanted to come check out the course. Some of the players started coming in and getting beers and chatting about the round. I had learned from Axel and Gustav that the tournament was for some Swedish drink company and it was filled with a bunch of Swedish celebrities, athletes, and social media influencers. When you don’t live some place and know who those people are you could walk passed someone ultra famous but have no idea. I paid for the meal and headed to the pro shop to check in for the second round. I wanted to get a cart for the next round but I was paired up with two others and they were walking so decided to walk again.

I hit the putting green and waited for the other two to arrive. We were the first tee time after the tournament so was fairly easy to spot who I was playing with. After 15 minutes or so two gentlemen came walking towards the first tee and as they passed I inquired if they were the 4:30 tee time. They said they were and we all introduced ourselves. The older of the two, Goran, introduced himself and also his son in law, Yoran (I hope I spelled that right). I had heard that they Castle Course was a bit easier than the stadium so I decided to play from the back tees. We were underway and would see what this round held. My playing partners were from Stockholm as well and they had tried to get together to golf earlier in the year but they said it had been a bit difficult. Goran had a couple of homes around Europe and so he wasn’t always in Stockholm to golf and Yoran was an anesthesiologist who also helped in the ICU. This was the one day that they both had off and so made a day of it to come out and play a new course. We chatted about all kinds of things and had an awesome afternoon. As far as my golf game went fatigue kicked in and just kicked my ass haha. Christ I played so horribly that I stopped keeping score. On the 2nd hole it started to rain and luckily enough Goran had an extra rain jacket. My feet were absolutely killing me and by 14 I must have looked like a 90 year old man. Rain is never my favorite and once your glove is wet then it is game over. Needless to say I had a blast but that was a tough round haha. An interesting part of the Castle Course is that is mainly made up of par 5s and 3s. Normally you have two par 3’s, 2 par 5’s and four par 4’s in each of the 9 holes. This one I believe only had 1 or 2 par 4’s in total. It was pretty interesting and I would love to play it again when I’m not ready to keel over. As we were ranging up on being finished Goran asked how I got out to the course. I told him I took the metro out and then an Uber to the course which wasn’t so bad. He then offered, since he lived in downtown Stockholm, to give me a ride back if I was open to it. I considered my options and reasoned he probably wasn’t an axe murderer. An Uber was tough to get earlier in the day so I figured in the later evening it wouldn’t be any easier. I asked if he was sure and if it really wasn’t a problem. He said, “heck no.” So when we finished I told him I just needed to grab a few things from the locker and I would be right out. The 17th hole runs along side the 18th hole of the Stadium Course. The 18th hole of the stadium course wraps behind the island green 17th. As we walked by the sunset over the lake behind the island green was so cool and there was even a rainbow off in the distance. I paused, pulled out my camera, and ran across to get some shots. Golf courses are so beautiful and I can’t help myself when I see an awesome golfscape. We finished the round, shook hands, and I jetted off to the locker room to grab my stuff. I met Goran in the parking lot and his son in law waived from his car saying it was awesome meeting me and hoped to see me again in the future. I loaded my few things in the car and we set off for Stockholm.

Goran and I chatted the whole way. He was saying now that he is retired his wife and him want to do a lot more traveling. We chatted about where all they wanted to go, where they had been, and shared stories from places we had both been. He was really great and so kind for giving me a ride back to the city. When we arrived at the hotel we exchanged emails and hoped to connect again either in Sweden or in Hawaii if they ever decided to come out. I gathered my stuff and thanked him a million times and the hobbled in to the hotel. I was so tired it was insane. I can certainly walk a golf course but back to back rounds in street shoes is not the ticket haha. There was only one thing that could help me now, beer. I ran up to the room dropped my stuff and returned to the lobby for a beverage. 1 was all I could muster before I had to retreat to my room. A hot shower was incredibly welcome and plopping on the bed was a dream. Tomorrow I had a mid morning train to Copenhagen for the next round of concerts. The ride was to be about 6 hours in total and was excited to see more of the Swedish countryside. Stockholm you have been amazing! I will certainly be back and would recommend if you are ever in the neighborhood of Stockholm to go check it out. There is so much to see and it is just overall beautiful. Until the next time Sweden!