Viipurin (Etelä-Saimaa) - Finland

Members at Viipurin Golf Club play their golf at two locations. Their main 18-hole Etelä-Saimaa course can be found on the small island of Tuosa, some fifteen minutes northeast of Lappeenranta. This course, which first opened for play in 2007, is the latest in a long line of golfing layouts that have served several generations of golfers since the inception of the club.

The club has its origins in Viipuri, located twenty-five kilometres to the south, which since 1944 is on the Russian side of the border. Viipurin Golf Club’s first post-war course in Lappeenranta is today the town’s airport, but the 1960s 9-hole kayout at Kahainniemi in the eastern part of town survives.

The club’s main 18-hole island course, Etäla-Saimaa, was fashioned by Sweden’s Peter Fjällman of Fjällman Golf Design, who routed the layout through the pines and spruces to create a dramatic layout that’s almost completely surrounded by Lake Saimaa and its tributaries.