Estonia/Finland DG vacation

[Ilona]

Hi, I am planning a vacation with my boyfriend. We would like to go to Estonia or Finland to play some nice courses. We've never been there, therefore we would like to ask for your recommendations. Do you know some nice "must visit" courses? We will have only 10 or 14 days, therefore we will probably choose only one of these two countries. Which one would you recommend? Thanks a lot for any comments!

 

[notroman]

Disclaimer: I have not visited either country.

Disc golf is relatively new in Estonia. I'm sure they have some great courses, but I feel the scene is still just getting established there. Finland on the other hand has a wide variety of courses that fit players of all skill levels. The sport has been there for quite some time. I have a feeling that if your primary goal is to play disc golf you will find more options in Finland.

 

[Evak]

Hello, a few months ago I took a boat cruise around Scandinavia and visited both Tallinn Estonia and Helsinki Finland. I was relying on taxis so I researched the closest courses to the cruise ports. In Tallinn, I played Nomme Disc Golf Park which is in the forest and is beautiful. I played on a Saturday and the course was busy. In Helsinki, I played Kivikko and it was a beautiful course set on a winter sport training facility so there was quite a bit of elevation change and cool rock outcroppings. This course was not as busy and there seemed to be a lot of courses in Finland. Have fun out there!

 

[Ilona]

Thank you for your comments! We've decided to go to Finland. You are right...if the goal is to play discgolf (which is), Finland would be better. So now comes the planning part, which courses to choose, as I can see there are sooo many in Finland. Have to do some research. If you have tips for some really nice courses in the southern part of Finland, around Helsinki, Turku or Tampere, please share it with us. Thank you!

 

[Celos]

It's not that relevant any more, since you decided on Finland, but here's some information about Estonia anyways.

Most of the DG courses are listed here: discgolfirajad.ee. It's in Estonian, but if you click on the green button ("Näita kõiki parke kaardil"), it'll show all the courses on Google maps.

Everything related to disc golf is done on discgolfmetrix. Scoring, weekly competitions etc.

As for specific courses to play, off the top of my head my recommendations would be Jõulumäe, Kõrvemaa and Kuutsemäe. There are loads of other wonderful courses out there, though. If you're just there for a day or two, Nõmme and Männiku and Keila are good places to go that are accessible by public transportation. Järve talu is nice as well, if you have a car.

You can see some courses listed here with a bit more info.

 

[Ilona]

Wow, Celos, thanks a lot! These courses look awesome! Well, maybe we will change our mind in the end... Especially Kõrvemaa you mentioned seems exactly like the type of course we love.

We plan to rent a car, therefore it should be no problem to get to any course, however we do not want to travel too much. In Finland it seems like we like courses that are too far from each other and it would require a lot of driving. In Estonia it would be much easier in this way. If you have any other tips to courses worth visiting in Estonia, please share it with us Thank you very much!

 

[Celos]

I'm certain you'll have a wonderful vacation either way. The sport is older in Finland, there are more courses and more players. I assume that there's more money for course maintenance as well, on average. To my eternal shame, I've yet to play a single round there so I can't really share any personal experiences, but if the Finns don't treat you right, I'll eat my hat.

As for other worthwhile courses to visit in Estonia (I'll skip some of the ones from my previous post):

* In/near Tallinn are the courses I mentioned in the above post. Männiku is very sandy (it runs around a man-made lake), but is otherwise a nice course. Keila has two courses: one is longer and more technical. The other (situated away from the first) is pretty easy to par, but the I love the nature there. Well worth a visit.
There's also a course in Saku that is not really worth it, if you have limited time: it's a technically good course, but the setting/nature is kind of desolate.

*Pärnu has a number of nice courses: inside Pärnu is the Pärnu Jõekääru DG park. I've not played the Valgeranna DG park, but I've been to the beach numerous times: it's wonderful. The name translates to White Beach and it certainly lives up to its name. It's also one of the most crowded beaches in Estonia on a hot day. Around Pärnu there are the Tõstamaa DG park and the aforementioned Jõulumäe DG park. Tõstamaa is an 18-hole course on the grounds of an old manor. It's mostly flat, but is surprisingly well thought out and executed. Jõulumäe is probably one of my favorite DG parks. It has 3 courses: red, yellow and blue. Red is proabably the hardest course in Estonia. Loads of mandos, long narrow straight shots etc. Yellow has 27 baskets and while some of them are definitely filler holes, most are very fun. The nature is also brilliant.

*The islands have some nice DG parks. I can vouch for Pühalepa and Karujärve. It probably doesn't make sense to include these in a shortish trip, but if you do decide to go, I recommend camping here. Randmäe course is on/around the camping grounds. Beautiful places to visit.

*Tartu and south-east Estonia have too many DG parks to mention. Annikoru is a great course: very diverse with decent elevation changes and a good mix of technical and bomb holes. Vooremäe is a super fun course with loads of downhill shots. Kuutsemäe, Tehvandi, Valgjärve and Mammaste are all very nice courses. Alatskivi is a short and easy course, but it's on the grounds of the Alatskivi castle. The park around the castle is usually very well maintained and it's a pleasure to play in.

There are a bunch of others that I'm doing a disservice to by not mentioning them, but the ones above are the ones I can personally recommend.

PS! I've mostly linked to discgolfirajad.ee for my own convenience, but there's a good bit of info on this site too and I try to update/add stuff every now and then.

 

[Ilona]

Celos, you are awesome! Great recommendations! Thank you, we really do appreciate it a lot

 

[notroman]

It's amazing how the sport has grown in Estonia in such a short period of time. I had a girl from Tartu that lived with us for about a year here back in 2004 and when I took her out to play she had no idea what it was. I think maybe around 2008 or so courses started appearing? I could be wrong. Now, according to your post there are so many options.

I'm certain you'll have a wonderful vacation either way. The sport is older in Finland, there are more courses and more players. I assume that there's more money for course maintenance as well, on average. To my eternal shame, I've yet to play a single round there so I can't really share any personal experiences, but if the Finns don't treat you right, I'll eat my hat.

As for other worthwhile courses to visit in Estonia (I'll skip some of the ones from my previous post):

* In/near Tallinn are the courses I mentioned in the above post. Männiku is very sandy (it runs around a man-made lake), but is otherwise a nice course. Keila has two courses: one is longer and more technical. The other (situated away from the first) is pretty easy to par, but the I love the nature there. Well worth a visit.
There's also a course in Saku that is not really worth it, if you have limited time: it's a technically good course, but the setting/nature is kind of desolate.

*Pärnu has a number of nice courses: inside Pärnu is the Pärnu Jõekääru DG park. I've not played the Valgeranna DG park, but I've been to the beach numerous times: it's wonderful. The name translates to White Beach and it certainly lives up to its name. It's also one of the most crowded beaches in Estonia on a hot day. Around Pärnu there are the Tõstamaa DG park and the aforementioned Jõulumäe DG park. Tõstamaa is an 18-hole course on the grounds of an old manor. It's mostly flat, but is surprisingly well thought out and executed. Jõulumäe is probably one of my favorite DG parks. It has 3 courses: red, yellow and blue. Red is proabably the hardest course in Estonia. Loads of mandos, long narrow straight shots etc. Yellow has 27 baskets and while some of them are definitely filler holes, most are very fun. The nature is also brilliant.

*The islands have some nice DG parks. I can vouch for Pühalepa and Karujärve. It probably doesn't make sense to include these in a shortish trip, but if you do decide to go, I recommend camping here. Randmäe course is on/around the camping grounds. Beautiful places to visit.

*Tartu and south-east Estonia have too many DG parks to mention. Annikoru is a great course: very diverse with decent elevation changes and a good mix of technical and bomb holes. Vooremäe is a super fun course with loads of downhill shots. Kuutsemäe, Tehvandi, Valgjärve and Mammaste are all very nice courses. Alatskivi is a short and easy course, but it's on the grounds of the Alatskivi castle. The park around the castle is usually very well maintained and it's a pleasure to play in.

There are a bunch of others that I'm doing a disservice to by not mentioning them, but the ones above are the ones I can personally recommend.

PS! I've mostly linked to discgolfirajad.ee for my own convenience, but there's a good bit of info on this site too and I try to update/add stuff every now and then.

 

[Celos]

It's amazing how the sport has grown in Estonia in such a short period of time. I had a girl from Tartu that lived with us for about a year here back in 2004 and when I took her out to play she had no idea what it was. I think maybe around 2008 or so courses started appearing? I could be wrong. Now, according to your post there are so many options.

I think the first permanent public course was built around 2003 and the second one in 2004. The sport exploded around 2013-2014 and it's been growing ever since. Loads of players, tracks popping up all over the place, too many events to attend etc.

Private businesses like sports facilities and accommodation providers see it as a cheap way of attracting more customers. Local municipalities see it as a cheap way to promote healthy activity and tourism. So everyone's putting up at least 9 baskets somewhere on their property.

There are currently around 111 public courses, with some unaccounted for and more in the works. Apparently some guys are even trying to produce local plastic. It's a pretty good time to be a disc golfer in Estonia.

 

[Celos]

Forgot to mention: there are now 4 indoor practice centers (loads of putting options + driving into a net) with group coaching on weekday nights. 3 of them opened in 2017.

 

[FinHatch]

Ilona what kind of courses do you like best/how experienced are you? I may be able to give you some suggestions.

 

[FinHatch]

Here's a map to see all Finland's courses: https://frisbeegolfradat.fi/frisbeegolfradat-kartalla/

I live south in Turku and my local favourites are Masku, Lieto, Lokalahti, Suopelto (easier), Hevonlinna and Lauste (challenging).

If you go east to Helsinki there's great courses but they tend to get crowded: for example Kivikko and Tali (very fun but very crowded).

Some other random courses around Finland: Riutta (challenging, lots of elevation) , Kylmäkoski (havent been here yet, planning to do it this summer), Kaatis(again a challenge, this place also has a 5€ fee).

Havent played in the northern Finland yet.

If you have questions I can try to answer.

 

[FinHatch]

Saw you were interested in Tampere area also: Epilä(15 holes in reality, havent been here) and Julkujärvi.