Pärnu Bay

What a pleasure it was to play Estonia’s top golf course, Pärnu Bay Golf Links, the day after the country’s most celebrated day in the sport.

The evening before our game in Estonia's summer capital, the country's best player, Richard Teder, chipped in at West Lancs during final qualifying for the Open at Royal Portrush.

Teder, who won the Estonian Championship at Pärnu Bay, had locals thrilled with his progress on the international stage.

Meanwhile, I had my own moments of glory on a back nine considered among the toughest in Continental Europe's top 100 courses.

Pärnu is about two hours from Tallinn and proved another gorgeous stop on our trip to Finland and Estonia.

This links course, opened in 2015, offers another compelling reason to visit a resort long favoured by holidaymakers from the opposite side of the Baltic Sea.

Pärnu Bay was the dream of businessman Peter Hunt, who enlisted the help of Finnish architect Lassi Pekka Tilander and shaper Mick McShane, renowned for his work on Kingsbarns.

They created a stunning blend of forest, sandscapes, and water hazards right beside the beach.

Though Estonia may only have 3,000 golfers, the standard of Pärnu Bay rivals the best venues in Spain and Portugal. 

The clubhouse is impressive, and the practice facilities, including a nine-hole par-three course, are admirable.

The championship links aren't overly long, so I drove from the white tees, but my game had to be at its best to record a decent score.

This is due to two factors: the architect's skill in making wide fairways appear almost invisible from the tees, and greens with extreme undulations.

Water lies to the immediate right of the first drive, with a fairway cut between wide sandy waste areas that span almost the entire length of the par-five.

Beyond them lie tall pines, and a cleverly placed tree guards the left side of the fairway, with another pond near the green.

 My initial viewing of these hazards on YouTube genuinely unnerved me. However, the fairways are wider than drone footage suggests, making scoring very possible.

This setup becomes a recurring theme, but that doesn't mean the holes are similar. The variety at Pärnu Bay is evident in its five par-fives, five par-threes, and eight par-fours.

The most exciting of the opening holes is the 200+-yard par-three fourth, featuring vast expanses of sand on either side and a slippery green that slopes from left to right over a rustic bunker.

I aimed towards the single tall tree at the back of the target, and my ball curved towards the hole, leaving me a birdie putt I narrowly missed.

My encouraging start was interrupted on the fifth, the first par-four—a narrow 400-yard hole with dense forest on the right, sand to the left, and some deep fairway traps.

I found the trees, hacked out into the sand, then hit into a bunker, and thereafter, tried forlornly to save a Stableford point. At least I had encountered every obstacle except water (that was yet to come!).

The par-four eighth is an outstanding hole, with pines sparsely dotted around the edges of a fairway again framed by sandy waste areas.

I was delighted with a drive down the middle but thinned my approach, which slid down the run-off behind a green defended by a huge bunker on the right. It's an easier hole than I made it seem.

The two-ball behind us were gaining, so I offered to let them play through as Mrs. W took a courtesy buggy to the clubhouse for drinks and snacks. They politely declined, but it was uncanny how often they witnessed my golf at its worst during what turned out to be a decent back nine.

For instance, I was somewhat unnerved from the 10th tee, where barely a sliver of fairway can be seen as water, sand, and trees seem to fill the horizon.

My usually reliable driver failed me, and I pulled the ball into reeds down the left. However, out of their sight, I still managed a six on the par-five.

They also watched as I duffed my tee shot on the fabulous par-three 11th, with thin pines as the backdrop to a green resembling an oasis in a desert of sand. Again, I doubt they saw my recovery.

They certainly didn't see my drive down the short par-four 13th, which left me with a short wedge into the green. I was left with a ten-foot putt for birdie but narrowly missed.

The sublime par-three 14th is directly out to sea. Its green has extreme undulations and fall-offs, which Mrs. W's excellent shot unfortunately rode, sending her ball off the rear.

My ball headed towards a group of trees on the left that stand on a slope leading down to water. I was sure it would be above ground but decided to take what turned out to be an unecessary provisional just as the chaps behind reappeared. And, yes, I sliced it wildly into the water.

The 15th was my favorite hole at Pärnu Bay. This is a short par-four, but the key is the drive, which has water on either side and must carry over long grass, reeds, and sandy waste to find the fairway.

Again, I had a birdie putt that threatened but stayed above ground.

We found the fourball looking for balls in the woods to the left of the par-three 17th—a lovely hole with more pines behind the green.

"How on earth did they go so far offline?" I asked Mrs. W. Inevitably, despite having scored five fours in a row and being on a roll, I pulled my ball to the same spot—just as the two-ball reappeared next to me.

They surely didn't see my pleasing escape and putt that just missed out on par.

Nor would they have spotted me clout the ball miles down the 18th—a glorious par-five finale. Inevitably, this relatively short par-five is surrounded by sand, with forest further to the left and a river leading to the sea on the right.

The waste area down the right merges into a bunker that resembles a beach before the raised green.

This is where championships have been won, and I was hoping to sink a 30-foot putt to finish off a round at this superb course with a birdie.

Sadly, I came up just short, but it didn't diminish the experience of playing Estonia's finest.