Light and shade in Sweden

With a Monday finish in Ireland, it was a quick change-over to the next venue in Malmo, Sweden. A bleary-eyed start early on Tuesday for Scandinavia with no time for recovery from last week's rigours.

For those of us on a budget, the transfer from Copenhagen airport to Malmo was best done by avoiding the exorbitant hovercraft service run by SAS from the end of one of the runways. This involved a few extra manoeuvres that the weary traveller could have done without, i.e a bus to the hover-dock and then a 35 minute trip across the channel to Sweden.

The journey was actually very enjoyable. A route via one of Copenhagen's busy city beaches on a hot summer's day through the city and on to the docks gave a brief but worthwhile glimpse of the Danish capital. I have never seen so many near naked people en masse in a major city.

A smooth jaunt over the Ore Sound followed with food and drinks served on request by hostesses. The ease and rapidity of the journey would not be witnessed by us independent travellers on many similar trips outside Northern Europe. And we were saving a hundred pounds on the SAS crossing.

To visit Scandinavia in the summer months is wonderful. The streets of Malmo were full of people enjoying the outdoor opportunities of fine summer weather: many sunbathing in the numerous parks around the city, others availing of outdoor markets or simply enjoying taking a drink on cafe terraces. Everyone looked healthy and happy. It's hard to believe the statistics for manic depression in these Nordic countries when you are sitting outside a cafe watching happy Scandinavians skip by on a sunny Tuesday in August. Come back in December and perhaps it's easier to understand why. It's grey and miserable and that's a good day Many Swedes use light therapy in order to combat the downs of a dark winter. Some of us caddies were using dark therapy - not to combat over exposure to light, a potential hazard of life al fresco) - but to save some cash. One of the caddies discovered that there were some rooms in the players' hotel going cheap. The catch was that there were no windows in the rooms. The curtains covered a blank wall and this was on the third floor. Obviously, something only a Swedish architect could explain. Those of us who opted for the dark therapy didn't know on waking if we were in a catacomb or a bedroom.

I got the opportunity to meet some of the Swedish national coaches in Malmo. Magnus Sunesson works with the Swedish Federation. He played the Tour for years and lost his card in '95 and has been teaching since then. Magnus is in charge of the professionals on the Challenge tour, among other roles. The Federation looks after professionals, amateurs and juniors. It's an interesting phenomenon that they still take an active role in the coaching of their successful professionals. It's not uncommon for the likes of Sjoland or Johansson, despite having their own coaches, to take advice from the Federation coaches.

The coaches are concerned that the juniors are not getting the same opportunities they were 10 years ago when Swedish golf began its escalation. The fact that there were more than 30 Swedes playing in the Scandinavian Masters and 18 of them made the cut with 24 Swedes currently holding tour cards is a tribute to the programmes they have developed.

The problem now is that golf is too popular. The waiting lists for club membership are extending and playing opportunities are reducing. They cannot build courses quickly enough to cater for the newcomers. Unless this changes soon their standard of competition will decline in years to come.

With golf only playable realistically for seven months, the Swedes have to travel to play in the winter months. It's not all fun in the sun, however, for good Swedish golfers. I came across the girls' national amateur team on a cold and windy Spring day in my home club in Dublin. The Federation had sentenced these unfortunate young girls to a week of wet and windy links practice as part of their coaching programme.

Whatever policies they adopt for golf development they seem to work. If you cast your mind back to the formative days of Swedish golf in the mid-'80s, the four pioneers - Mats Lanner, Anders Forsbrand, Magnus Persson and Ove Sellberg - were the only Scandinavian representatives on tour. Now it looks like three Swedes are going to represent the European Ryder Cup team. This is a great leap for Swedish golf but it hasn't happened by accident. Talent is discovered and nurtured in this part of the world.

Part of the art of making your travel arrangements on a caddie budget is figuring out how well your man is playing and booking a return flight to suit his form. So, if he's playing badly, you might want to book for Friday night. I underestimated my player's form last week and booked a six o'clock flight - on Sunday of course. We didn't get off the course till just before four. With this being the last BA flight and us due to catch an eight o clock flight this morning to Chicago, I was in a tricky situation.

The advantage was that I was in Sweden. Volvo had the foresight to have a helicopter on standby for players, VIPs and a hopeful caddie on a tight schedule. I managed to hitch a lift on an eight-seater Sikorsky to Copenhagen airport. On the 18th green at 3.50 and at gate A14 by 4.30 for my flight to London. I hadn't considered a helicopter in my travel plans but, as usual in this often chaotic caddie life, someone turns up to save you from disaster.