On the evening of 26 March 1912, twelve Swedes met at the Golfers’ Club in Whitehall Court, London. They were invited to the meeting by Detlof von Braun to discuss the formation of a Swedish Golfing Society.
At the time interest in sport was ever increasing. The previous Olympic Games had been held in London in 1908 and the Stockholm Olympic Games 1912 were just round the corner. Considerable sums of money had been donated by wealthy London-based Swedes to the sports movement in Sweden and they were also represented on the committees for the Stockholm Olympic Games. National pride was riding high among the 4,000 Swedes in London.
Detlof von Braun was a 53 year old ‘gymnastikdirektör’ – a Certified Physical Training Instructor from GCI (Gymnastiska Centralinstitutet in Stockholm), one of a large number who had come to England to practice the new Swedish method of ‘physiotherapy’, made famous in Britain by Dr Henrik Kellgren. Von Braun was passionate about sports, the outdoors, and was looking to find a natural way for likeminded people to meet, play golf, and socialise.
The other eleven London-based Swedes he had invited to the inaugural meeting came from different walks of life, but can be clearly distinguished into two groups; Swedish businessmen and Swedish physiotherapists. The physiotherapists were often with a medical doctor’s degree like CA Ryman. The others were Hjalmar Hedberg, CG Håkansson, E Johansson, J Söderberg and G Zethrin. Later in the year they were joined by colleagues Henrik Kellgren and his brother Ernst Kellgren, and Johan Svanberg. At the time, Svanberg had among his patients Sir Morton Stanley, best known for his discovery of a missing explorer at Lake Tanganyika forty years early and his utterance of the iconic phrase, “Dr Livingstone, I presume?”
At the end of the first year the society had twenty members. Also among the physiotherapists was Dr Owe Erickson, probably the most talented golfer ever in the society, with numerous holes-in-one under his belt and playing off a handicap of plus 1.
The first ‘President’s Cup’ from 1912 was retained by the winner, physiotherapist E Johansson. The following year von Braun donated a new President’s Cup, which is the still played for.
At the AGM in 1927 von Braun stood down as President and was elected Hon. President. He was succeeded by another founding member from 1912, Olof Reich, who presided for the next 11 years. Olof Reich took the society to Aldeburgh for the Spring Meeting in 1927. The society reserved their own private carriage for the journey from Liverpool Street Station to Aldeburgh. The Carriage was parked at Aldeburgh Station for the weekend and the members just walked across the street to The White Lion Hotel, next door to Wentworth Hotel, their current home. The Royal Swedish Golfing Society is the oldest visiting society at Aldeburgh Golf Club.
At the AGM in 1981 the society’s name was changed to The Royal Swedish Golfing Society, since HRH Prince Bertil of Sweden had agreed to become their Patron. Prince Bertil was a very good golfer. In his honour, individual members contributed with donations for the Prins Bertil Cup, which member of the club have been playing for since 1989.
