The Golf Course Gljúfri in Ábyrgi in the North of Iceland

One of the Icelanders most beloved travel destination is Ásbyrgi in the North of Iceland. People have long since loved to camp in Ásbyrgi.

Ásbyrgi is one of the wonders of nature, with cliff faces rising up to 100 m at the inner end of a horseshoe-shaped canyon.. It is 3.5 km long and over 1 km wide. At its innermost end lies Botnstjörn, a small pond surrounded by luxuriant vegetation. A distinctive rock formation rises up from the centre of Ásbyrgi, up to 250 m wide, known as Eyjan.

The area is covered in woodland consisting mainly of birch, willow and mountain ash. Several thousand recently planted pines also prosper. Arctic fulmar nest on the steep cliffs, while many other birds prefer the woods and meadows.

Ásbyrgi was formed by two or more catastrophic floods caused by glacial bursts from the northern part of the Vatnajökull ice cap, one between eight and ten thousand years ago and a second approximately three thousand years ago. Since then the bed of the river has moved eastwards. However according to legend, Sleipnir, the Norse god Odin’s eight-legged horse, put one of his hooves down as the god rode by.

From GOG in Ásbyrgi in the North of Iceland. Photo Golf 1

In Ásbyrgi you´ll also find Golf Club Gljúfri (abbreviated GOG). It´s one of the Golf Clubs in Iceland with the fewest members. In 2011 the members were only 11.  The 9 hole golfcourse is in fact a miracle.  It´s rather flat and par-66, but it´s meticulously kept and you´ll play golf in a landscape of which there´s no duplicate in the world. GOG is a Club that´s only 17 yrs old, founded in 1995. There were only 3 holes 1995 but 2 yrs later they were 6.  By the turn of the century this litle golfcourse was a proud 9 hole one.   Can you pride yourself of having played golf in the hoove-print of Sleipnir?

Well, if you come to Iceland and play on the course you´ll definately have something to tell your golfingbuddies about, it´s not the golfcourse itself it´s more the nature and the feeling playing the golfcourse, which scores high in the feel-good ratings if you prefer to get that complete feeling of freedom some experience when playing golf!

From GOG in Ásbyrgi in the North of Iceland. Photo: Golf 1.

When you come to Iceland you should do as Tom Cruise when he was filming Oblivion in 2012; experience the North of Iceland; it´s wonderful capital Akureyri, it´s beautiful and scenic towns for instance go whale-watching in Húsavík, but not last but least  bath at the „blue lagoon” a natural hot thermal pool by Mývatn (means Mosquito lake in English) eat the best salmon in the world there from the lake…. and of course play golf. When mentioning Mývatn there is another hidden Golf Gem albeit only a 9 hole one, Krossdalsvöllur.  Both of theses golfcourses are in the Þingeyja County and love to compete against each other. The Golf Club Mývatn (GKM) has 26 members.

Húsavík, the capital of the Þingeyja County  has a surprizingly hard and well kept golfcourse also 9 holes and it´s Golf Club had 138 member 2011.  And yet another 50 member Golf Club is in this most beautiful of all Counties in Iceland the Golf Course Lundur in the Fnjóska valley. It was founded only 3 yrs. ago, 2009, and had already 50 members 2011.  All of the other golfcourses of Þingeyja County will be introduced here at Golf 1 later.

From the Golf Club Gljúfri golfcourse also called the Ásbyrgi Golf Course in Iceland. Photo: Golf 1.

Let´s in the end take a glance at the little 9 hole GOG golfcourse:

1 st hole par 4 yellow: 300 meters  red: 250 meters  hcp 5

2nd hole par 4 yellow: 260 meters red: 220 meters hcp 13

3rd hole par 4 yellow: 330 meters red: 265 meters hcp 3

4th hole par 3 yellow: 155  meters red: 135 meters hcp 9

5th hole par 4 yellow: 270 meters red: 240 meters hcp 17

6th hole par 5 yellow. 465 meters red: 405 meters hcp 1

7th hole par 3 yellow: 142 meters red: 142 meters hcp 7

8th hole par 3 yellow: 133 meters red: 133 meters hcp 15

9th hole par 3 yellow: 180 meters red: 147 meters hcp 11