EIGCA Associate Members Spogárd & VanderVaart to renovate Helsinki GC, Finland

The Club was founded in 1932 and has an incredible history. The course is located less than 4 miles from the city centre of Helsinki – a very unique location for a golf course in a European capital city. Over the years the city has surrounded the golf courses. This provides the club with different challenges, such as safety towards public paths, which is just one of the aspects the masterplan will deal with.

The course is situated in an old park and the clubhouse is located in the historic Tali manor. There are a lot of considerations to take in terms of how to work with the land and vegetation. It is going to be an exciting project to work with, which fits well with our other historic projects currently on the table. Last year we renovated 3 holes at the historic County Louth GC in Ireland which ranks among the top 100 courses in the World.

The club, with its unique location, is considered the most prestigious in Finland and the course has hosted more championships than any other Finnish golf course.

”We are currently working on projects in 6 European countries from Croatia and Portugal in the south, to Ireland in the west, Netherlands in the centre and Denmark and now Finland in the North. Previously we have been involved with projects in more than 15 countries so we bring this knowledge and experience to the table to help identify and create the best possible golf course for our clients. Especially when working with historic golf courses it is imperative to have a strong insight into their unique nature and history”, says Philip Christian Spogárd.