We sat down with club manager Hanno Kross to talk about the new course designed by Annika Sörenstam at Estonian Golf and Country Club.
Q: Can you tell us more about the Annika course and the whole process you’re going through? How many years have you been working on it now?
Hanno: Well, we started construction in 2024. But actually I signed the contract with Annika back in 2014, on the 19th of December. So the project took a little time. There were different things — Covid, and one of our main owners went bankrupt in the construction business, so at that point it was quite difficult to find additional money. Now, basically this year, we’ll probably oversee all the holes. So publicly I can say: summer 2028 it opens as 18 holes — but by July or August 2027 we’ll likely be playing at least nine.
Q: And the old stone course — is it being reused in the design, or is it going away completely?
Hanno: We will dig it up completely.
Q: How did you first get in touch with Annika?
Hanno: We sat at this very table with Jeremy from European Golf Design. He had a booklet with fifty-something names — the Montgomeries, all of them. We looked through it and thought, “Annika — why not?” That was the idea. Then she was at the KPMG Golf Business Forum in Turkey, I think in 2012. So we went there and said we wanted to meet her. Of course, when some Estonians turn up, at first you’re not taken very seriously. But she gave her presentation, and she’d just had a baby — and the picture of her child looked very similar to mine, only about two months apart. Initially it was all quite reserved, but then when I showed my son’s picture, and photos from here in Estonia, she said, “Ooh — it looks exactly like Sweden, where I grew up.” So it started slowly, and then the trust began to grow — once we’d paid the first invoice, it grew from there.
Q: Did Annika want to do it here for a specific reason? She could probably get a similar contract anywhere — why choose to work here?
Hanno: It’s a good question, but I don’t think it’s true that you can do it just anywhere — the competition is quite strong. Back in 2014 she was just ending her career. A lot of courses had been built in China — something like 700 — and most of the design companies were all there. Nothing big was happening in Europe. In Turkey she had a contract, but it never happened. She has courses in China, at Mission Hills, in South Africa, in Canada — but nothing in Europe.
Q: Not even Sweden? She doesn’t have anything in Sweden?
Hanno: No. In Sweden there aren’t many new courses being built — there’s one now, I think the Norwegian one, with an extension. It’s competitive; you’re up against Nicklaus and all those companies. But we liked the idea of having something different. And Sweden has, I’d say, roughly half a million golfers. Marketing-wise — I don’t know how much Annika is still thought of as Swedish…
Q: Oh, very much. She is still very popular in Sweden.
Hanno: She’s been living in the US a long time.
Q: Is she easy to work with?
Hanno: Yes, yes. She’s a true professional. She’s not the type to say, “Oh, I’m one of these…” — she’s good with people, and a real professional. The way she stood in a bunker, looking at the line and thinking, “This doesn’t work, we need to raise this a little” — she’s hands-on. It’s not just about putting her name on it; she’s really put the time in here.
Q: And how involved is European Golf Design in the project?
Hanno: European Golf Design is who we hold the contract with, with Annika Sörenstam as the signature designer. It’s the normal European Golf Design arrangement — they have the players and the names and the signature design, but they do about 95% of the work.
Q: How many times has Annika herself been here?
Hanno: I’ve visited her twice in the US, and she’s been here twice. Last September she made some final changes — the things you can still adjust at this stage. But Carrie Johnston from European Golf Design is the one who puts Annika’s vision onto paper. Carrie is here every month, and even last time he changed some small areas. It can be ideal on paper, but you have to watch the nature. They’re artists — the way they think about and understand golf is incredible. And Carrie Johnston has done the last two Ryder Cup course renovations, so it’s the same standard they want to bring here. But this is a more open site. There will be two totally different courses: one a little more forest-style, and the other totally links — open parkland.
Q: Are you going to make it linksy — with links-style bunkers and that kind of thing?
Hanno: Annika loves links. So that’s what she wants to do.
Q: Roughly, how much does it cost per hole — to design or to build one?
Hanno: Roughly, the whole project is ten million. Which actually isn’t expensive. I think ten years ago a new course cost about the same.
