Linna Golf, one of the best new golf courses in Europe and the latest member of the PGA European Tour Courses Group, is offering visitors the unique experience of midnight golf.
The stylish Finnish resort, set around an historic country house hotel 100km north of Helsinki, receives 24-hour daylight during mid summer, allowing golfers to play all night.
The summer golf package (available June 26 to July 30) gives players the opportunity to stay at one of Scandinavia’s finest hotels, an exquisite former hunting lodge on the banks of a 7km long lake, and offers them an unusual choice of after-dinner activities – retire to bed or tee off on the spectacular, new 18-hole championship golf course designed by European Golf Design (the design company of the European Tour and IMG).
Anssi Kankkonen, former European Tour professional and director of golf at Linna, said, “Being in the southern part of Finland, we have 24-hour daylight when the weather is good so you can play golf all night. For visitors, playing golf at night is a surreal experience – it’s beautiful to see the sun go down, but to finish your round as the sun is rising again is magical.”
The outstanding new golf course, specially designed to host top class professional events, has been hailed by golf legend and five-times British Open Champion Peter Thomson as a “national treasure”. The naturally beautiful and undulating 6,624m (7,244 yard) course cuts through birch and pine forest and offers both an enjoyable experience for the average golfer and a challenge for better players and pros thanks to a variety of tee positions on each hole.
Vanajan Linna Hotel, built in the early 1920s as a private hunting lodge for a wealthy industrialist to entertain VIPs, including the Finnish president, is the only one of its kind in the country and is famous for its impressive interior and dà©cor. As well as accommodation in the main hotel, there are also rooms in the clubhouse complex, plus individual cottages.
The summer golf package costs €130 (£90/$170) per person per night, based on two people sharing a room, and includes breakfast, 18-hole green fee and practice balls. The peak time for midnight golf is mid to late June, weather permitting. From mid to late July it is possible to play until approximately 11pm.
www.vanajanlinna.fi
Midnight golf special
