Opening of Nordic golf season

Since the Easter holidays run from the coming Thursday until next Monday in Norway, quite a few take this week off for Easter vacation. Most of us head for the mountains to get the last taste of winter and snow. Weather in the south part of Norway is perfect; a bit below freezing, sunny and enough snow for both cross country and downhill. In the news today, we saw young people having fun on snowboards in bikini:-) Yes, I know: we are the crazy Vikings!

Our family, however, headed over the Swedish border to our summer paradise in Mariestad. Spring has arrived early this year, the birds are singing, the crocus is blooming and most important of all; the golf season has begun:

The seasons first swing:-)

This morning, my wife and I opened the golf season with a good round in fantastic sunshine and good spirits. Our game might not have been perfect, but everything else was. A hole in one of spring experiences – the last round was in October last year! I know some of you don’t play golf at all or you might play it all year long. To a Scandinavian, after a cold and snowy winter season, it is like braking out of hibernation to see green grass and a lush putting green. The only trees that are green are the pine trees, but you can almost smell the growing buds on the birch trees:

Nordic golf course waking up from hibernation.

Walking around in a crisp wind and in temperature around 18C (64F) was so refreshing. I started with a wind proof jacket and ended in a t-shirt. I had both my Nokia mobile phone and a step counter on my belt. Click to enlarge the pics and I can tell you we walked almost 12 000 steps so it’s a great workout too!

The charming couple – The club house.

Golfing is one of the most social activities you can ever do. In a flight of four we met a nice and charming Swedish couple from the local area. He was a history teacher and we exchanged and discussed a lot of mutual Scandinavian history. Remember; Norway has been in union under the Swedish rule (1814 to 1905), so it’s always interesting to share opinions and knowledge. To a certain extent, that is what golf is all about.

Talking about history, experiences and culture of the Nordic countries; would you like to know a bit about Iceland too? Well then you are welcome to join us in Lifecruisers Cyber Cruise as we are in Niceland today. Click here to explore together with us!