Oulu has many times been called the discgolf capital of Finland – and that is no exaggeration!
There are four discgolf clubs in Oulu. The first club was founded in 1997 and was called Oulun liitokiekkourheilijat. In 2001 the club was formally registered and the name changed to Oulun frisbeeseura. Today this is the largest club in Oulu with about 200 members. The second largets club is BSC Disc Golf Team, founded in 2005. In 2015 two new clubs were founded in Oulu: Holy Disc Golf Club and Oulun BogiTikat. The clubs have a total of almost 300 members, and it has been estimated that about 10 000 people in Oulu plays, or have tried, disc golf.
Antti Luuri, the founding father of Oulun frisbeeseura, got to know discsports in the early 1980’s. He lived in Helsinki during 1990-1998, and when he returned back to Oulu he was eager to see a discgolf course in Oulu. As a result of some hard work and negotiations with the city, the first four baskets were installed at the old golf course in Kaukovainio in the summer of 1998. In the spring 1999 the course had gotten five more baskets. The course got the name Hiironen after the park where it is located. In June 2004 Hiironen was expanded to an 18 hole course fit for the National Championships. Hiironen was the fourth 18 hole course in Finland at the time.
Oulu offers great possibilities to play discgolf. In Oulu city alone there are six 18 hole courses and one 9 hole course. There are three 18 hole courses in the neighboring municipalities, one in Kempele (15 km from Oulu city centre), one in Liminka (35 km) and one in Muhos (40 km).
Bigger and smaller events are held around the year in Oulu. The clubs arranges weeklies, and Oulun frisbeeseura offers a weekly competition that is open to all players. In the summer the clubs offer a joint weekly, called viikkokisat.com. Winter Games is a popular series in the wintertime and gathers around 80 players at each event. The series starts in January, and the players face both blistering colds and slippery ices, or as you could call it: normal Finnish winter conditions. In the summer there are PDGA sanctioned events almost every week.
Disc golf courses in Oulu
Meri-Toppila
We have devoted a whole page for Meri-Toppila DiscGolfPark.
Hiironen
Hiironen was founded in 1998 and is the oldest course in Oulu. Since 2004 it has been an 18 hole course, and it got its current layout in 2013. Hiironen is located in a park and most of the fairways are fairly open with only a couple of holes in the forest. There are no hills on the course. The address is Urheilupuistontie, 90250 Oulu.
Honkimaa
Honkimaa is an 18 hole course in a forest. The course was built in 2012 and is located around a ski stadion. There are some hills at the course and most of the holes are placed in the woods. One speciality is the elevated baskets that you don’t see at any other course in Oulu. The address is Honkimaantie 2, 90900 Oulu.
Peuhu
Peuhu is a nice and easy 9 hole course. It is a good course for beginners while more experienced players can use it to practice their approaching and putting skills. The address is Peuhuntie 194, 90460 Oulu.
Pikkarala
Pikkarala is the first pay-to-play course in Oulu and it is also the newest one, built in 2015. The course is built in and around an old gravel pit. Many of the holes are placed in a pine forest, where the narrow fairways pose quite a challenge even for the experienced player. Pikkarala is the most challenging course in Oulu: the 18 hole course has a par of 65 and the total length of the holes is 2 890 meters. We highly recommend that you take the time to play Pikkarala when you visit Oulu. You can get a day pass for 4 euros from these places. The address is Haukka-ahontie, 90310 Oulu.
Virpiniemi
Virpiniemi course was opened in September 2012. This 18 hole course is located around a skiing stadion, complete with a ski jumping tower and everything. Virpiniemi is a beautiful forest course with lots of hills and elevations. The course is fairly challenging, and up until Pikkarala it was the hardest one in Oulu. The course has seen some great players during the years. In the summer of 2013 Simon Lizotte played a EuroTour event in Virpiniemi. Ever since then the high sky-hyzer line on hole 17 is known as “doing a Lizotte”. The address is Virpiniementie 525, 90810 Oulu.
You can contact the tournament organization for more information about the disc golf courses in Oulu. Detailed course information is also available in Finnish on disc golf course directory website frisbeegolfradat.fi. Protip: Use google translate when you browse the course directory.