A new golfcourse to open in Siglufjörður – near the Arctic Circle

Siglufjörður is a small village in the North of Iceland and its current number of inhabitants (according to the  Statistics Office in Iceland as of February 14th 2012) are 1217; 609 male and 608 female.

Siglufjörður. Photo: nordurland.is

Siglufjörður used to be the commercial capital of Iceland early in the 20th century in the Herring Era, when herring was the Iceland´s main export. Around 1968 the herring vanished and so did most of the inhabitants of Siglufjörður, who moved to other parts of the island. But although the current inhabitants are only 1217, there are hundredfold more Siglufjörðurians living all around Iceland – people who have their roots in Siglufjörður and enjoy visiting the town whenever they can.

Siglufjörður used to be isolated, surrounded by a ring of beautiful mountains and accessible only by sea or air or over a narrow mountain pass (in Icelandic: Siglufjarðarskarð) which was open only during the summer.  Now the town is easily accessible by road through 2 tunnels  the Héðinsfjörður Tunnel (opened 2010) which is 11 km (6.8 miles) in length and connects Siglufjörður to  Ólafsfjörður, but two towns merged to form a municipality called Fjallabyggð, which literally means Mountain Settlement.

Siglufjörður was already connected by the 800 meter Strákar Tunnel to the west; the tunnel being completed 1967.

Now there are  plans of building a new golfcourse, hotel and renew the skiing facilities to draw more tourists to this goregeous part of Iceland which has been called „the Alps of the North.”   There is a golfclub in Siglufjörður called Golfklúbbur Siglufjarðar (abbreviated GKS) which was founded in 1970. Five years ago, 2008  the club had 49 members and in the year after they were 60 and have been increasing at the same rate ever since.

The foreman of the Golf Club of Siglufjörður is Ingvar Hreinsson, who has done an incredible work in attracting new golfers, just as the fore(wo)man of GKS before him, Jóhanna Þorleifsdóttir.

Ingvar Hreinsson – foreman of the Golf Club of Siglufjörður (GKS) and behind him…. the majestic mountains of Siglufjörður. Photo: Golf 1

Golf 1 will keep you informed on the building of the new golfcourse in Siglufjörður and golf there in more detail later.

As for now…  an article was recently pulished on the website of golfarchitectures about the new golfcourse in Siglufjörður – which work started on this past summer 2012. and is scheduled to open 2015 – an article which you can see by CLICKING HERE: 

The 3rd green and the 4th fairway on the old golfcourse of GKS (The Golf Club of Siglufjörður). Photo taken from the 5th fairway.  Photo: Golf 1