Linna

"You know this place is haunted, don’t you?”

I feared that the restless night prompted by my late-night nod to Varajanlinna’s past put Mrs. W off her stroke on the neighbouring golf course.

Sadly, there were no spirits to celebrate birdies released from the drinks cabinet on our visit to Finland’s number one course.

But, thankfully, we did have an occasional shaft of light emerge onto our scorecards on a dark, rainy day an hour north of Helsinki.

Linna Golf was opened in 2005 and is now part of the Varajanlinna Group that owns the hotel where we stayed.

As well as its ghost – a former Lady of The Manor who goes wandering – it has an intriguing past that involves high-ranking Finns, a Second World War German arms manufacturer, and the Soviet Union.

I digress. The much more modern golf club and course has held many prestigious events and is part of the European Tour Destinations Network.

One of its shareholders, Mikko Ilonen, was arguably Finland’s most famous golfer and was a top ten Open finisher in 2001.

Thus, it should be of little surprise that 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 is 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.

The first is a curving par four to a perched green which must be entered from the right-hand side to avoid a large greenside bunker on the left.

The second is a gorgeous, doable par-five which turns from left to right past three large fairway sand traps.

I thought it was my first big opportunity until I saw my approach sink into a bunker cunningly placed directly in front of the target.

Going for the flag at Linna may not always be the best plan, as I discovered on the par-four sixth where Mrs. W and I fancied our chances after good drives down the right.

We were also pleased with our approaches to a green that is tucked in a corner, surrounded by trees.

However, Mrs. W’s flew just through into tangly rough, and mine hit the center of the green only to take a steep slope, curl past the flag, and off the putting surface.

The eighth goes over a stream and bends uphill between bunkers to another raised green. It is a lovely hole.

Possibly the pick 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.

Notwithstanding the excitement of the ninth, 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.

Thereafter, the vista changed completely with much wider views of the course as we took on the gorgeous downhill short par-four 11th.

Here the drive is over a stream before a short-iron into a green that falls off so sharply to the left that even a blow to the center of the green can see the ball drop into the bunker.

The nearest we came to a champagne moment was on the par-three 13th where Mrs. W struck the perfect iron shot to five feet from the pin. Alas, her birdie putt ran around the hole.

Two lakes are the feature of the par-four and the par-five 15th.

The 15th 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.

 I know to my cost that a bunker lurks behind the target to catch out those who are over-aggressive.

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.

Mrs. W and I hit our best of the day but still had plenty to do as the fairway curves between more trees and traps to a green that falls speedily from back to front.

The 18th is less dramatic by comparison – it is on the hotel side of the road and once again a stream and bunkers come into play but it offers a greater opportunity to score.

By this stage, 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.