Christian Tage Nyvang Hansen knew when he took over in March as CEO at top Danish golf club The Scandinavian that he would not only need to hit the ground running, but he would have to be running at an Olympic sprinter’s pace.

The European Amateur Championship was scheduled to be held at his new place of work just three months later, an event that involved 144 competitors from 40 different countries.

“I think my first ten days’ work at The Scandinavian were probably the most hectic I’ve ever had in my whole life,” he recalls. “I had meetings from eight in the morning until four in the afternoon and some days we even forgot to put in time for lunch.

“But I had to hit the ground running and I got some knowledge from those first ten days, from outgoing CEO David Shepherd and all the other parties, so the managers at The Scandinavian helped me catch up pretty quickly.”

The intensity of both those meetings and subsequent cascading of information to staff proved highly advantageous as it meant that Hansen – who had spent nearly a decade as general manager at Royal Copenhagen Golf Club – got to know his team, and they him, in rapid fashion following Shepherd’s departure to The Wisley.

“I definitely got closer to my staff, got to know all their capabilities, how we could work well together as a team,” he recalls. “Even though I have the role of CEO, I really want to be close to my staff and I want to be close to my members, of course, and to my guests.

“This year, for example, for all 48 company day events we have had, I have been a part of it, either welcoming them in the morning or participating in the prize ceremony. In one shape or form, I have been a part of those events even though I have an event manager to execute it.”

Now, as Hansen, who turned 45 in November, awaits for the caprices of the weather to decide when The Scandinavian must close its two Robert Trent Jones II-designed courses for the winter, you might expect him to be contemplating a quieter spell at his new ‘home’. Not a bit of it.

“My ‘to do’ list right now is longer than it’s ever been going into a winter,” he reveals. “I have already done the budget for next year and it’s a huge improvement from what I took over and, what we’re going to deliver this year, it’s going to be fun.

“It’s going to be interesting to execute on such improved numbers. Compared to last year at the same time we have plus 59 members, which is approximately five per cent, six per cent up.”

A worldclass.golf destination, Hansen gives full credit for the rise in numbers to The Scandinavian’s members since the club “does not do campaigns or discounts, we don’t do special this and that,” and says people were encouraged to join due to “our current members’ ability to commend our golf club to their friends.

“Superior quality, high customer service, good food in the restaurant, an overall experience where, if you’re looking for the best in golf, and you are committed to your golf game, this is where you should go.

“Come and join us. That’s what our members say and they are the best ambassadors for us.”

Both of The Scandinavian’s courses – which were opened in 2010 and 2011 respectively – are consistently ranked in the top 50 courses in Continental Europe, a standard everyone is keen to maintain.

“If we are not the highest then we are one of the highest standards in Denmark,” says Hansen. “We have an extremely skilled greenkeepers team, we have done well in the past to invest in a way so we can maintain that high course quality, and we are always looking to get another edge to become even better, even stronger.”

His short-term goals involve supervising winter work at The Scandinavian that will include establishing the first Titleist ProV1 driving range in Denmark, making course alterations that focus on ensuring golf is fun while still challenging for the better player, and the establishment of a ‘yes’ culture “where me and my employees seek solutions, whenever we meet an obstacle.”

But it is safe to say that he is already considering long-term plans, too, for Hansen’s career shows a pattern of longevity within roles.

“I guess I’ve always been the sort of guy that is not going to leave before I’m done,” he explains. “It makes sense. I want to complete the tasks that I have at hand, I don’t want to throw in the towel because I think it becomes too difficult or I can’t find the solution right away.

“I expect to be quite a few years at The Scandinavian to make sure that continuity is here. You build up a good staff, you make sure that the team is even stronger when I one day leave. And, of course, that the product is well defined and as strong as it is.

“I’m a little bit old-fashioned in that I’ve never taken a decision based on what will look good on my résumé, but I always try to take decisions on what I would find an interesting task, what would challenge me, what would make me stronger as a person, but also as a professional within the given industry that I was within.”

Hansen has been an elite level golfer for many years, currently playing off a handicap of 0.8, and took to the game very easily after being used, at the age of ten, as a means to open the door to club membership for his father.

“My dad introduced me to golf when I was ten, primarily because there was a huge waiting list at Royal Copenhagen Golf Club. But he could get in on a family waiting list if I was a member,” he recalls. “So he kind of pushed me forward and five years later I was 4.5 handicap. It just felt fun from the beginning.”

Although clearly gifted, he says he was too absorbed by academia to devote enough time to practise to get to a level where he could contemplate a career as a player.

“I didn’t even consider becoming a professional, I liked going to school too much. I wouldn’t have played good golf if I knew I had to hand in an assignment next day and it wasn’t done.”

Hansen is married and a father to 11-and seven-year-old girls. The eldest has a fascination with celebrity and, thanks to some internet research, discovered her father’s national sporting claim to fame.

“She googled my name and said, ‘I found you on a website where it says you are a part of the padel history in Denmark, you are kind of famous’ and I said, ‘no, I’m not,” he smiles.

Many of Denmark’s padel players know otherwise for Hansen and some friends are credited with building Denmark’s first court having come under the sport’s spell while on a golf training camp in Spain back in 2008, paving the way for padel’s popularity in the country.

As well as his Bachelor and Masters degrees, he also has Wine & Spirit Education Trust qualifications and also speaks three languages – “plus a wee bit of French” – but his thirst for knowledge appears unquenchable.

“I have been lucky enough to have parents who liked to take us to visit other parts of the world, experience some things, so I think learning came pretty natural. I’ve always been good at school, good grades.

“Again it comes back to that thing that you need to finish what you started. I think that followed me all the way round into my work life.”