Ullna

It was like a scene from a Hollywood script. When the restoration was complete, Jack Nicklaus stood on the 18th and looked to the skies, as if to say, "Sven, I hope we've done you proud."

Ullna's new chief executive, Henrik Oscarsson, spoke passionately about how the greatest golfer ever elevated his club's course.

Nicklaus was brought in by his friend, the original designer Sven Tumba, who sadly passed away during the renovation. Their legacy is one of Northern Europe's finest and most challenging courses.

Though Ullna was only built in the early 1980s, it feels more established on and off the course. Its impressive pro shop and restaurant offer a delightful experience.

We enjoyed the traditional Swedish dish of Kolbulle, an unlikely but delicious mix of bacon, pancake, and lingonberries.

The speed of the putts on the practice green thereafter served as an early warning of the task ahead.

Members at Ullna consider it to be Sweden's greatest challenge and boast the best conditioning.

On a windy day when it had rained heavily, it soon became easy to see why.

The first hole, a par five between an avenue of trees, offers a relatively gentle introduction, though I didn't score well, dumping my approach into the bunker in front of the green.

The "wow factor" becomes obvious as early as the third, a stunning par-three to an island green.

I feared the worst as our two Swedish hosts found the pond before the green.

I, however, clubbed up and saw my ball cling to the bank. Two putts later, I tapped in for a very pleasing par.

From then on, water is an omnipresent danger, whether off the tee, on approaches to the green, or often both.

The fourth is a captivating hole; it's a bending par-five for average golfers, while luring bigger hitters with the mouth-watering prospect of cutting the corner over the lake to go for the green in two.

However, we discovered on other holes that attacking the flag comes with the peril of fast, undulating greens that neither hold low-trajectory shots nor filter them into bunkers.

My champagne moment came on the par-three fifth – 200 yards over water, against the wind, into a green defended by a sand trap.

I have no shame in admitting I took driver because the ball shaved the hole and rested about ten feet away. I was thrilled to sink the downhill follow-up.

I felt invincible on the fiendish par-four sixth when I thought I had failed to carry another expanse of water from the tee, but was delighted to see my ball ricochet off a rock onto the fairway.

I was then faced with an approach through trees on the left and a lake on the right into a two-tiered green. This time, the ball dived straight into the drink.

The eighth is another beauty from an elevated tee. The drive needs to be over a stream and between further streams before an approach over a lake to a vast, swirling green. The joint comedy moment came when Mrs. W bounced her ball on the water to safety on the other side.

Incredibly, she did the same on the shorter ninth, where a rocky stream snakes across the fairway.

This hole should offer an opportunity, but the tiered green slopes dramatically from back to front, with bunkers left and right.

There's no let-up on the back nine, with the 10th arguably the toughest hole on the course.

This par-four has a brook in front of the tee and a fairway that feeds left between trees on either side, with bunkers down the right. Another brook forces strategic decisions before a steep rise to a green with a run-off to the right.

The 14th is a cracking dogleg par-four around a copse on the left, with a pond threatening from the tee's right.

Water encroaches again from the right of a green, which is also guarded by bunkers on either side. The British lead over the Swedes was hanging by a thread as we tackled what Nicklaus described as a "Strong Hole."

This is a very challenging par-four through an avenue of trees before an approach over a large pond to a tiered green.

Defeat seemed likely until we reached the 16th – a majestic par-three with the seemingly infinite lake to the left and a sliver of land next to a tree on the right, beside the green's false front.

Our Swedish hosts were ambitious with their tee shots, which disappeared into the murky depths. The Brits stayed dry; my par meant I completed Ullna’s four par-threes one-under.

It's followed by the stroke index one, which demands a hair-raising drive over water and inside trees on the right.

Thereafter, the challenge is to guide the ball between the forest on the right and the water on the left.

The target is on a peninsula with the lake on the left and a run-off to a "valley of sin" on the other side.

Somehow, we arrived at the 18th one up, but still had to conquer a par-four that had all of Ullna’s elements – water, trees, and sand. After flushing my drive, I found the bunker in front of a tiered green.

I was thrilled to clip the ball about 15 feet beyond the flag and plonked my downhill par-putt into the hole.

To stand on the same green as Jack had done was a privilege enough, but to round off this great course with a par and a win was a genuine thrill. Ullna will live long in the memory.