Everyone knows that Russia is a massive country but as a golfing nation it’s tiny. A decade ago, golf in Russia was a novelty and the preserve of wealthy diplomats rather than a serious professional sport. But things are changing and the pleasures of the Royal & Ancient game are slowly but surely being discovered.

Naturally, Russians are stereotyped as Cossack dancing, vodka drinking, fur hat wearing, Lada driving folk who love all night parties. There must be some exceptions? This huge country is so diverse that we couldn’t possibly even begin to describe it here, so we’ll get straight on to the golf.

Naturally Moscow Country Club put Russia firmly on the golfing map, but there are now thirty golf courses in the country and more are either in the planning or construction stages.

Mill Creek Golf Club in St Petersburg opened for business at the end of 2017. Designed by Ross McMurray from European Golf Design, the golf facility is owned by Sergey Borisov, who asked the architect to lay out a course that can be played in multiple ways, using two distinct teeing areas on every hole. Not only that, additional tees offering alternative directions of play allow golfers to indulge in a form of cross-country golf across the property – welcome to the brave new world of ‘Kaleidescope Golf’.

If you've played some of Russia's golf courses and would like to help shape our future Russian golf course rankings, we’d love to hear from you, so please get in touch. Dosvidania for now.

We learned of a new course opening in late 2022 at AK Bars Golf Resort in Kazan, with holes laid out on the banks of the Volga river by the Engo Group working to a design by Harradine Golf. The project was led by Michael Harradine from his father Peter and colleague Matt Osborne and they designed three lakes to provide enough fill – along with dredged material from the river – to raise the playing corridors on the flood-prone site by an average of two metres.

Due to real estate considerations, only the par three 17th and par four 18th are laid out adjacent to the river. Other highlight holes include the left doglegging par four 6th (with a lake to the right after the bend in the fairway) and the par five 16th, which has water all the way down the left side of the hole as it bends slightly left towards the green.

Our Russian golf course rankings were last updated in February 2020.