Strawberry fields

Пеники (Peniki) is a small settlement in the Leningrad Oblast, roughly 30 kilometers south of St. Petersburg along the Pulkovo corridor — a stretch of countryside that carries the weight of extraordinary history, having been the front line of the Siege of Leningrad during World War II. The landscape here is characteristically northwestern Russian: flat to gently rolling, dense birch and pine forest, dark soil, and long winters that compress the playable golf season into the warmer months between May and October.

Strawberry Fields is a private members' club operating in a region where golf remains a genuinely rare pursuit. St. Petersburg and its surroundings host only a handful of courses, making any club in this orbit part of a small, tight-knit golfing community rather than a competitive market. Membership here carries real exclusivity by necessity as much as design.

The name — an obvious nod to the Beatles song — gives the club a warmth and personality that cuts against the formality you might expect from a private Russian club. Whether that spirit carries through to the course design and culture, it sets a tone worth exploring.