Swedish Golf
A small country that plays big
Sweden has a short golf season and long winters, yet it keeps producing players who win at the highest level. Much of the answer lies in how the game is organized: a club-based system and a national player pathway run by the Swedish Golf Federation. Pernilla came up through it.
Golf in Sweden today
Record numbers at home
The Swedish Golf Federation (Svenska Golfförbundet, SGF) was founded in 1904. In autumn 2026 membership was again at a record level.
The Swedish pathway
From the local club to the world stage
The Swedish Golf Federation describes a development “staircase” of competitions, camps and player-development principles that runs from the local club to the professional tours.
The federation stresses that it works with individuals rather than forcing players into one model. But almost every Swedish tour player has, in one way or another, climbed the same steps.
Researchers have looked for the reasons too. A 2007 study in the International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching, based on interviews with players, coaches and experts, pointed to the structure and organization of Swedish golf, well-established club training programs, motivated and skillful coaches, a priority on developing the whole person, and a team spirit that made golf fun.
The club
It starts at the local golf club, with junior programs and coaches who build passion and knowledge for the game. Even for national-team players, individual training mostly happens at the home club or at a golf high school.
Junior competition
Children need not compete nationally before 13. Teen Cup, which began in 1976 (once known as the Colgate Cup), starts at clubs across the country and ends in a national final. The Swedish Junior Tour, for ages 13–21, places players in divisions by ability, not age.
Talent camps
From 13, the federation looks for potential. Supercamp brings together committed 13–15-year-olds for three camps a year; from 15 comes the Framtid (future) program and, for the best players, the first international assignments.
Golf high schools
Sweden has two national sports high schools for golf (riksidrottsgymnasium), in Helsingborg and Uppsala, plus 25 approved NIU schools, where students combine their studies with elite golf training. One in six European players in the 2023 Solheim and Ryder Cups had attended the national golf high school in Helsingborg.
National teams
The first national-team assignments come at 16–18, mainly to gain international experience. From 19, players move to the women’s and men’s teams, a step that often coincides with a college scholarship in the United States.
Support as professionals
Since golf became an Olympic sport, the federation also supports professional players through the national team. Before that, it worked only with amateurs.
Pernilla’s path
Climbing the staircase
Pernilla’s career follows the Swedish pathway step by step.
- The club: golf from the age of four at Bollnäs Golfklubb, introduced by her father.
- Junior competition: top of the Swedish Junior Tour Order of Merit in 2003, winning the Annika Sörenstam Trophy.
- National teams: European team titles with Sweden at girls’, junior and senior level, and the 2008 Espirito Santo Trophy (the women’s World Amateur Team Championship) with Caroline Hedwall and Anna Nordqvist.
- US college: a three-time All-American at Oklahoma State.
- The tour: an LPGA Tour member since 2010, the 2016 Olympics, and the 2018 ANA Inspiration, now the Chevron Championship.
Along the way she worked with Patrik Jonsson, who spent 18 years as a national-team coach in Swedish women’s golf. In that time he coached many of Sweden’s leading players, including Anna Nordqvist and Pernilla, and was at three Olympic Games and eight Solheim Cups. He has since stepped down from the national team to become sports director at Eskilstuna Golfklubb.
Milestones
Moments in Swedish golf
- 1904
The Swedish Golf Federation is founded.
- 1976
The national junior competition now called Teen Cup begins.
- 1988
Liselotte Neumann wins the U.S. Women’s Open, the first Swedish golfer, man or woman, to win a major.
- 1995
Annika Sörenstam wins the U.S. Women’s Open, the first of her ten major titles.
- 2003
Sweden hosts the Solheim Cup at Barsebäck. Sörenstam is part of the winning European team and enters the World Golf Hall of Fame.
- 2007
The Solheim Cup returns to Sweden, at Halmstad.
- 2009
Anna Nordqvist wins the LPGA Championship, the first of her three majors.
- 2016
Henrik Stenson wins The Open at Royal Troon, the first Swedish man to win a major, and takes Olympic silver in Rio.
- 2018
Pernilla Lindberg wins the ANA Inspiration.
- 2021
The first Scandinavian Mixed is played at Vallda, with men and women competing in the same professional event.
- 2025
Maja Stark wins the U.S. Women’s Open. Swedish golf sets records for memberships and junior memberships.
- 2026
Golf Digest ranks Bro Hof Slott’s Stadium Course #5 and Ullna #19 in Continental Europe.
Major champions
Swedes who have won majors
A selection, each verified individually. This is not a complete list.
Liselotte Neumann
1988 U.S. Women’s Open, Sweden’s first major title. European Solheim Cup captain in 2013.
Annika Sörenstam
Ten major championships and 72 LPGA Tour wins. World Golf Hall of Fame, 2003. The only woman to shoot 59 in competition.
Anna Nordqvist
Three majors: the 2009 LPGA Championship, the 2017 Evian Championship and the 2021 Women’s British Open. Pernilla’s teammate at the 2008 Espirito Santo Trophy.
Henrik Stenson
The 2016 Open Championship at Royal Troon, closing with a 63. Olympic silver medallist in 2016 and five-time Ryder Cup player.
Pernilla Lindberg
The 2018 ANA Inspiration (now the Chevron Championship), won on the eighth extra hole. Read more
Maja Stark
The 2025 U.S. Women’s Open at Erin Hills, the first Swedish winner of that championship since Sörenstam in 2006.
Where to play
Sweden’s highest-ranked courses
Golf Digest’s 2026 ranking of the best courses in Continental Europe includes five Swedish courses in its top 20.
| Rank | Course | Region |
|---|---|---|
| #5 | Bro Hof Slott, Stadium Course | Stockholm area |
| #11 | Visby | Gotland |
| #12 | Barsebäck | Skåne |
| #15 | Falsterbo | Skåne |
| #19 | Ullna | Stockholm area |
Play them with Pernilla
Stockholm Pro Access
Two of these courses, Bro Hof Slott and Ullna, are among the Stockholm courses Pernilla recommends to visiting golfers, alongside Royal Drottningholm and Stockholms Golfklubb. Book your own trip, then add a round, a clinic or an evening with her.
Sources
- Membership, juniors, rounds: Svenska Golfförbundet, statistik (2025 final count; October 2026 update). Courses: Visit Sweden. SGF founded 1904: SGF press boilerplate, Cision, Nov 2024.
- Pathway, Teen Cup, Junior Tour, Supercamp, national teams: Golfa! (SGF), “Så funkar tourspel – vägarna till världseliten”, Sept 2023. Golf high schools: golf.se, Golfgymnasier. Player-development wheel: golf.se, Golfens kravprofil. Support for professionals: Fredrik Wetterstrand, Svensk Golf, Nov 2023. Research: “Swedish Golf Success: Its History and Future”, International Journal of Sports Science & Coaching (2007), doi:10.1260/174795407789705433.
- Patrik Jonsson: Golfbranschen, 14 Nov 2024; SGF press release via Cision (above).
- Major champions: Wikipedia articles on Liselotte Neumann, Annika Sörenstam, Anna Nordqvist, Henrik Stenson, Maja Stark (citing LPGA, ESPN, BBC and Svensk Golf); Pernilla Lindberg.
- Solheim Cups in Sweden: 2003 Solheim Cup; Halmstad 2007 via Greenfeeguiden. Scandinavian Mixed: Wikipedia. Rankings: Golf Digest Continental Europe 2026, via Svensk Golf and Golfbranschen.