Linna Golf

A magnificent front nine! The 9th hole is the highlight. The overall quality of the course is top-notch; it hosts European Tour events. However, the back nine is a bit of a letdown. After the front nine—where you can enjoy a fantastic layup—things get dull. The quality is fine, but the holes themselves lack interest. It would be great to swap the nines so that players finish on the more impressive stretch and leave the course with a "wow" factor.

Last course we played in Finland was Linna. Its part of the NorthenLightGolf group where belong top Finnish courses. Linna Golf is part of European Tour destination network, therefore its must for all golf enthusiast. We were lucky to play this course in almost competition set up, since few days before us they hosted the European Amateur Championship. Course is located near city Hämeenlinna founded in 1639, its must to visit as well. It is one of Finland's oldest inland cities, founded in 1639. It is best known for its medieval castle, beautiful lakeside surroundings, and rich cultural heritage. We arrived as always day earlier, did small training walked around to check the place and clubhouse to get the vibe of the place. Its big resort even with own accommodation and great training facilities. Next day we checked in, I had talk with manger about the course and we were off to first tee. We were paired with American profesor from Hawaii so we also had good chat on course. From first hole we were enjoying the course since its exactly that layout we liked, fairways surrounded with trees uphill and downhill shots and beautiful and clean nature surrounding us. Quality was almost on level of ROCK Golf, however it was visible that course was very busy lately, nevertheless even here the greenkeeping team did great job. Appreciated very much fast greens which were really tough, since they were quite undulated on many holes and with recent speed it was not easy to score. Once we reached teebox of 9th hole we realized that its signature hole, its nice par 4 with beautiful green in front of clubhouse. The back nine is completely different, more open with wider fairways and with less trees, also with much more water in the play. It was a bit pity that its back nine, cause we can imagine the opposite routing especially when finishing hole 18th is not next to clubhouse. I assume for tournaments they might change the routing to make it more challenging and picturesque. I admire also pace of the game, our threesome could not catch up on foursome in front of us, this applies for majority of Finnish courses, golfers here just try to play fast as it supposed to be everywhere. Its hard to find something to improve on this course, quality standards are quite high, I would definitely recommend everyone to play there, and spend night in hotel as well. We enjoy the course and admire the hospitality, overall I would say its one of the top 5 courses in Finland with no doubt.

Tim Lobb-designed Linna feels like a championship course – with expert bunkering, interesting water features, and very fast putting surfaces on devilish green complexes. Before wielding the first tee driver, we spent time honing our game on the excellent practice facilities. However, having had two months of rock-hard fairways during one of the hottest springs on record at home, we weren’t prepared for a rain-sodden day and balls that barely ran a foot after landing. That certainly wasn’t the fault of the Linna team – the water table was just so high that the course could barely take another drop. Thankfully, the greens repelled the downpour and were perfectly playable so we got on with it. The course is set in a forest, and the opening holes have the running theme of avenues of pine and birch trees. However, the fairways are plenty wide enough to avoid their threat. Possibly the pick of the outward nine is the ninth because it looks so good with the splendid clubhouse in the distance behind the green that runs around a lake. This is a chance hole if right-side bunkers are avoided off the tee. Alas, my ball plopped into one. I believe the back nine is consistently better. The par-five tenth sets the tone with an intimidating drive between trees before the fairway opens up and turns to the left. The common-sense second shot for a mid-handicapper is to lay up in front of two heart-shaped bunkers before attacking a green which slopes to the left where more sand awaits. Two lakes are the feature of the par-four and the par-five 15th. The latter was notable because it was the subject of a worldwide competition to design a hole. Dave Sampson was a student at the time and did such a good job that he was taken on by Tim Lobb’s company, European Golf Design.  I can understand why – he ran the hole between trees to the left and the lake to the right before water emerges again in front of a fiendish perched green. The drive on 17th is Linna’s most mind-bending – because it needs to avoid a stream on the left, a bunker on the right, and draw between two tall trees By the time we reached the 18th, we were soaked to the skin, but it says much for Linna that we found our round memorable despite the persistent rain. And the vibe of the busy club gave a clear impression that Finnish golf is on the up.

20230623 Linna golf

Welkom :

Zeer vriendelijk ontvangst

Weersomstandigheden :

Opnieuw meer dan 25 graden en een frisser briesje

Tee :

Met kleuren, topconditie toen wij speelden

Zwart 6624m

Wit 59665

Geel 5663m

Rood 4959m

Opmerkelijk geen blauwe tee

Uitdagend, kies de juiste tee om te spelen

Niet volledig egaal maar wel mooi afgelijnd

Veel uitgeslagen plaggen maar plaats genoeg om uw bal te plaatsen

Terrein

Diffuse lijn tussen fairway en lage rough

Fairway vertoond symptomen van Koning Winter, niet overal even volgroeid

Rough niet altijd te hoog, bal gemakkelijk terug te vinden

Soms zones met kale plekken (oorzaak Koning Winter)

Bunkers in speelbare staat, strategisch gelegen en het zand erin is wel perfect, ook zijn ze veel aanwezig op deze baan

Green :

Enorm grote greens

Niet altijd mooie lijn green apron, grotesk, niet egaal, zeer snel

Mooie lijn tussen apron en fairway/rough rond de green

Buggy :

Aanwezig met GPS

Restaurant :

Alcohol is nog duurder

Een terugkomer waardig?

Zeker en vast en dit ga ik wel herhalen

Dat Koning Winter het heeft uitgehangen kan niemand kwalijk nemen zo zit de natuur eenmaal in elkaar, we kunnen enkel hopen dat de greenkeepers hun werk uitvoeren

We hebben gespeeld met regel dat plaatsen mag op de fairway omdat deze er niet altijd goed bij lag

In optimale vorm kan dit terrein zich benoemen tot de een van de beste van het land

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Linna was my 75th visit to a golf club in the Top 100 of Continental Europe.

This club is a bit more high profile than other clubs in Finland, I already noticed that when I went to reception desk, and how neatly they were dressed.

A really nice thing is that at reception they showed me a big layout of the course and went through it with me to show the main things like where are the driving range, first and 10th hole located. Many other clubs could learn from this service. They also asked me to respect a 10 minute break after hole 9.

Linna seemed to be more busy than all other clubs we visited in Finland, and we were paired with two locals, which wasn't of course a problem.

I really enjoyed the layout of Linna, it is a very good design and earns its spot in the top 100 of Continental Europe. I agree that this should be the number one ranked course in the country. Maintenance is also good, and they don't seem to have frost damage to their fairways as pleny of other clubs have.

The bar was for me the most dissapointing aspect of Linna. For a 33cl can of Aura beer I was charged 8 EUR (!) while I remember paying 5,5 EUR at another club, which already was more than enough.

Very recommended club that needs visiting in Finland.