Golf in Finland; green cards and club memberships

So I’m getting a master’s degree in Finland and moved out here in September. Not wanting to deal with the hassle of flying with clubs, I did a tori. fi search (Finn craigslist) and scored a set of Hogan Apex Edge Pros for $60 in very playable shape. Being who I am, I dealt with the hassle of flying with a set of S300s and various woods, wedges, grips, and putter, but that’s just me. I could have (and maybe will) augment the bag with other findings as I search.

Anyway, I’m all set to play with clubs and such, but noooot so fast cowboy... Finnish golf courses require having a ”green card” and a club membership to play. What this amounts to is a $120/year membership fee and a $200-300 green card course, which teaches some fundamentals and etiquette so you have a sense of knowing what you’re doing. (Although a couple clubs offer a $300ish student 1yr unlimited play deal, which I intend to take)

I’ve played a couple of times now here without the Green card under the innocent tourist defense. Everyone tells me the membership requirements are for insurance purposes; namely my membership fee would cover me liability-wise for wherever my ball went.

The point of this is mostly to talk about the Green Card, and what I should think about it. On the one hand I don’t want to spend money to learn skills I’ve known for 15 years. On the other hand a skills/etiquette class wouldn’t be that bad for beginners. I played the other day, a Sunday at Alastaro Golf with a very crowded tee sheet and the round took 3-1/2 hours. I wonder if the green cards do help pace of play.

What do you all think? Any weird bureaucracy ever come up trying to golf in a foreign country? Should the US try green cards?

It's a wonderful idea that to insure before you get out on a course, you have some fundamental ideas of etiquette, pace, etc.

BTW, that's a nice set of Hogan's.

Americans won't tolerate such nonsense.