Academy Course

Latvia's golf scene is small but serious, and the Academy Course at Babīte — part of the Ozo Golf Club complex west of Riga — sits at the center of it. Ozo has been the country's flagship golf facility since it opened in the early 2000s, and the shorter Academy layout exists specifically to serve beginners, juniors, and anyone sharpening their short game before tackling the club's championship track. It's a teaching course in the truest sense: designed to reward controlled ball-striking and clear thinking rather than length off the tee.

The setting is classic Latvian lowland — flat, open terrain softened by birch and pine, with the Baltic light giving the place a quiet, Nordic atmosphere that longer holes couldn't improve. Babīte municipality sits just outside Riga's western edge, where the capital's suburbs give way to forest and farmland along the Lielupe river basin.

For visiting golfers, the Academy Course is a practical and pleasant warm-up to the region's golf, not a destination in itself — but as an introduction to playing in the Baltics, it does the job honestly.