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By
PGA.com news services
05.10.2006
05:30 pm (ET)
LINNA, Finland -- Linna Golf, the newest member of the PGA European Tour Courses Group, has opened. The 7,244-yard, par-72 layout, designed by Tim Lobb of European Golf Design, cuts through majestic birch and pine forest bordering a long lake on the historic Vanajan Linna Hotel estate about 60 miles north of Helsinki. The course's natural beauty and strategic challenge, featuring memorable holes that ride a rolling landscape peppered with rocky outcrops, has already attracted critical acclaim, raising the possibility of top class professional golf coming to Finland in the near future. "We had a clear brief from the owners to create a European Tour standard course that would also be playable for golfers of all abilities, which is a common request but not easy to deliver," said Lobb. "The positioning of tees to provide a strategic challenge for both professionals and amateurs was essential and I think this is one of the great successes of Linna Golf," he added. "There's also an excellent combination of uphill, downhill and sidehill holes winding through the forest and then dropping down to the lake and hotel, which makes a stunning backdrop." The hotel at Linna Golf, a former hunting lodge, is one of the most historic and best known in Finland. The addition of a world-class golf course, with one of the best practice and teaching facilities in Europe, is set to elevate the resort onto the international golf stage. Copyright 2006 PGA.com. All rights reserved.
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