Sand Valley Golf Resort has been named the 78th best golf course in Europe by the influential Golf World magazine panel the most established & trusted authority on golf course rankings.

The accolade comes in the highly competitive field of almost 5000 golf courses from around Europe and cements Sand Valley’s place as Poland’s flagship course & Golf Resort.

“This is a great honour for Sand Valley and all those who have worked tirelessly over the last 10 years to make it such a special place. The credit of course goes to Lassi-Pekka Tilander, Tony Ristola and Kai Hulkkonen for their vision as the architects of this creation. Also, this is a very proud day for Polish golf and for us to be in the privelaged position of holding the Polish flag high up in the air. For me, every award Sand Valley has ever recieved has always been a kind of a stamp of approval that lowers the risk for foreigners to come and have a look at what Poland and Gdansk region has to offer – as there are more and more people coming it is also a testament of the amazing work our whole team is doing” said Antti Pohjonen CEO of Sand Valley.

Poland’s first appearance in Golf World’s Top 100 Golf Courses: Continental Europe ranking, Sand Valley delivers a vivid,
intense and strategic test of golf. 

Built on the sand belt that defines this part of northern Poland, some 40 miles south-east of the northern coastal town of Gdansk, Sand Valley is often touted as an inland links. The course’s designer, Tony Ristola, isn’t quite so sure:

“Honestly, I cannot tell you what type of golf course Sand Valley is. She has multiple personalities.”

And you can see his point. The holes at Sand Valley run through forest, open rolling spaces, along the river, parallel to the railway line, across wetlands, around ravines and ledges, through an abandoned quarry and across river dunes.

Within a decade, this wild ride has established itself as the country’s best golf course, and the country’s sole representative in Golf World’s Top 100 Golf Courses: Continental Europe. If Poland might not be an obvious choice for the travelling golfer, Sand Valley is helping to make it an inspired one. It is also no less accessible than the hotspots of Spain and Portugal.
No fewer than 11 UK airports offer direct flights of around two-and-a-half hours. A 45-minute drive south-east down the new S7 Expressway and you will find yourself at Sand Valley’s gates.

As you turn in, the row of luxurious Scandinavian-style white-walled villas, complete with swimming pools, gardens and barbecue areas, reminds you Sand Valley is also ranked inside the top 5 of Golf World’s Top 100 Golf Resorts: Continental Europe. The themes here are width off the tee, open green fronts and clipped aprons.

While the 1st could almost be British parkland, the par-4 2nd introduces you to the gorgeous, wriggly-edged sandy waste areas.
With pine and silver birch flanking the fairway, you could momentarily be in Pine Valley. Just 130 yards long, the par-3 3rd is a heavenly pitch to a devilish plateau green, hitched up a few yards from its surrounds with reed beds to the left.
The par-5 4th changes pace again, swinging you into open landscape, with more waste areas guarding the water hazard around which the fairway boomerangs. Asking you to wind up your power game one minute, then demanding finesse and precision the next, these holes provide an exhilarating and bewildering start. The strategy and the wide open spaces make it hard to know what you’re doing first time.

The first round can sometimes feel like a slap in the face. But once you get the hang of it, you are hooked. Sand Valley is not an inland links.
Only the sandy soil, the grass types and the ground game they afford paint it as such. A better description would be a heathland course without heather. Better still would be to avoid characterizing it at all. Playable, versatile and fun, it simply offers a rollicking good game of golf for a wide range of abilities – and that’s not far off the definition of a great course.

Sand Valley Golf World

..and what an amount it was.. a new record of more than 80 000 PLN was collected and emotions were understandably high – everyone who was there and got to experience it will know that something can not be explained without being there. These kind of days are important for everyone and it is our please as the Sand Valley Team to be part of supporting a good cause. Next year is just around the corner, so make sure you book it to your calendar!

We have been inviting foreign golfers to Poland for years, met many new friends and learned countless things in the process ourselves. This weekend we will break new ground when more than 200 tourists got to enjoy their time @ Sand Valley. Here is what our guys had to say:

Antti:

10 years ago when we started there was no concept of having large amounts of tourists playing golf in Poland. Yes, there were some, but not many. A long time ago I was joking with Paul about the situation where our problem would not be the fact that Sand Valley is empty, but the fact that we would not have tee times. As it turns out, that day has come and I have to say that I am so proud of the whole team doing such amazing work to make all this possible!

Paul:

Poland is still in it’s infancy when it comes to golf. Being Irish has given me a different look on things and for me it all really clicked the first day I arrived to Sand Valley. I knew this place is something different and something that I want to be a part of. Now after all these years seeing Sand Valley having over 200 foreigners during one day really makes me proud of running the foreign market. ps. we are not full every day, so feel free to send me a mail paul.oconnor@sandvalley.pl

Marek:

Paul and Antti always told me the history lesson of the days when there were no people in Sand Valley and granted, even when I started two years ago it wasn’t like it’s today. I came when things were already running pretty fine, but the amount of requests we are getting at the moment daily is something else. Today we had over 200 Scandinavians on the course that’s pretty Amazing – I really hope everyone gets to play this course – it’s my favourite!

Last week our Three Musketeers – Antti, Paul and Marek went to visit our dear friends in Finland during GoExpo 2019. The reception was overwhelmingly positive and we got to meet old friends, people who had already booked their trip for this season and most importantly new friends – many of them who already booked their trip for this season.

There was a competition on our stand and we would like to congratulate Jari Marja-Aho for winning an amazing 4 day golf holiday for him and three of his friends!

This is what our boys had to say:

Antti; I am always happy to go back to my home country, get to see my old friends, speak in Finnish and get to experience the energy during this exhibition – it’s tough work with long hours, but I wouldn’t change it for anything. See you all at Sand Valley and next years exhibition we will have few surprises 😉

Paul; This is my second time in Finland and I have to say I have never seen this kind of crowd anywhere during exhibitions – and I have done few. It’s also nice to see that Finnish people actually come to exhibitions to search for holidays as opposed to “window shopping” as is very often the case in other countries!

Marek; I started my journey in Sand Valley just short of two years ago and this was my very first experience during exhibitions abroad. Amazing people, long days, lot’s of new things to see and most importantly – more people coming to visit us in Poland.. and who knows, maybe to play a round of golf with me 🙂

Dear Golfers,

We have received the notification detailing our nomination in the 6^th annual World Golf Awards.

We have been nominated for:
Poland’s Best Golf Course 2019: Sand Valley Golf Resort

Get voting!
Voting is now open and members of the golf community – consumers and industry executives alike – are asked to vote for who they think is the very best of the best in golf tourism.

We would like to remind you that last year we won in the category Poland’s Best Golf Course 2018. Thank you all who voted for us.

Thank you all for an amazing season 2018!

In short, we had 26 golf tournaments ⛳️ over 15000 golf rounds played by people from 30 different nationalities our kitchen prepared more than 6000 Burgers ? and road S7 to Gdansk was opened in October ? We got two very important prizes: World Golf Awards Best Golf Course in Poland and Top100 Golf Resort in Continental Europe by Golf World UK ? Most importantly we got to meet all of you ? and hope to see you again during the 2019 season!?

EARLY BIRD offer for 2019 Stay&Play Golf PACKAGES

New year has started and we are seeing a lot of bookings for the spring season. Some weekends are already almost fully booked, but there is still plenty of Villas free for you and your friends to join the fun!

We will have soon some exciting announcements – this year we are for example launching amazing tournament packages – stay tuned! ?

Finally, we are now running our early bird booking special where you can receive a 10% discount on all packages until the end of January.

Sand Valley Golf Resort has established itself as a world-class Stay & Play destination in Northern Poland, close to Gdansk airport. Rapid growth and the numerous 2018 ratings as Poland’s #1 golf course & resort mean that the golf product needs be taken to the next level.

A big emphasis is now on offering the best possible playing conditions, regardless of the time of the year. To achieve this, investments are being made in both equipment and know-how.

“It is important to know what your product is and what things are important for your clients. We have noticed that being rated as Poland’s flagship golf project also means that customer expectations for the golf product are higher – It was logical to start tuning the already amazing golf product. For me the logical way to start was by adding world-class know-how to Sand Valley – therefore we are proud to officially announce that Bruce Jamieson joins our team!’

Antti Pohjonen, Sand Valley’s CEO

“I am delighted to be part of the agronomy/greenkeeping team at Sand Valley, having joined the project during the summer when concerns had been raised over several agronomic issues. A plan was introduced to address the immediate problems. I returned during early November and was pleased to note that these issues had received attention and the improvements were noticeable.

For background information, I started my career in golf course maintenance in 1974 as an apprentice greenkeeper for Turnberry Hotel and Golf Courses and attended Elmwood College one of the foremost greenkeeping colleges in Europe.

During this time, I was involved with the 1977 Open, 1979 European Open and several other major events. I took over Powfoot Golf Course in 1980 as the course manager and then moved to Royal Porthcawl Golf Club in 1983. At Porthcawl, I attended Pencoed College to study management. In 1988 I joined the PGA European Tour as Director of Agronomy and remained with them until 1995 when I left to form my own consultancy, B Jamieson Golf Advisors Ltd.

B Jamieson Golf Advisors Limited is a company, which offers expert advice on golf course agronomy, maintenance and presentation, and is dedicated to customer satisfaction and conservation of the environment. I have been involved in the Greenkeeping industry for over forty years during which time I have had the opportunity to work with and advice some of the renowned course in the world.

Between 1989 and 1995 I was responsible for organising and coordinating a greenkeeping support team and agronomy consultants to assist at 36 tournaments each year. I was also responsible for organising three bi-annual greenkeeping conferences for the PGA European Tour which involved planning the programme, finding sponsors and arranging accommodation and flights for all delegates and speakers. I advised and assisted in the preparation and presentation of two Ryder Cups at the Belfry in 1989 and 1993. Additionally, from 1993 I advised European Golf Management (joint venture company between PGA European Tour and International Management Group) on budgets, staffing levels, machinery and material requirements for the maintenance of their golf courses.

B. Jamieson Golf Advisors Limited was founded in 1995 to give a programme of on-site visits to work with staff and officials to produce the best possible golf course conditions. Since 1995, I have developed a client list, which covers Iceland, Finland, South Africa and everything between. I am looking forward to working with Sand Valley next year.’

Bruce Jamieson

World Golf Awards prize as the Best Golf Course in Poland continues Sand Valleys recognition of not only being the best course in the country, but also a TOP100 golf property in Continental Europe. As one of the most prestigious awards in the world it also helps to translate neighboring countries that Sand Valley together with Polish golf is on it’s way to becoming one of the hottest new destinations for short break Stay&Play holidays.

This award comes as a long awaited reward for all those people who have made Sand Valley possible. It is especially heart warming for me knowing that this award is based on voting and that people who visited us clearly enjoyed their round of golf at Sand Valley. For me every award Sand Valley has won is kind of a stamp of approval that “lowers the risk” for foreigners to come and have a look at what Poland and Gdansk region has to offer.

Antti Pohjonen, Sand Valley’s CEO