Holtsmark - Norway

Good course around an hour outside of Oslo. Robert Trent Jones jr has done the design and it fits very naturally into the local parkland landscape. Very "playable" in the sense that it's fun to play more than once which RTJ jr courses often are. Rather underwhelming clubhouse etc., for those who find that sort of thing important (last visited 5 years ago, so there might have been an upgrade). All in all a good golf course, although in my view it's slightly overrated in these rankings.

Woodland course designed by Trent Jones Jnr. Unfortunately due to the type of soil the conditioning of the fairways has been quite a challenge. So early season the fairways might be a bit thin.The course starts off with 2 fairly straightforward holes, 3rd is a great par 3 hole. 4th a rather quirky par 4, 5th quite similar to the 3rd with a ravine all the way to the downhill green. 6th par 5 where a good teeshot makes all the difference. Hole 7 is the monster of this course, par 5 at 530 meters, quite narrow, OOB on the left and a quite lumpy fairway, approach to a redan style green which is of course well bunkered to the front. 8th nice medium par 4. 9th another par 3 with a ravine. Holes 10 and 11 fairly straighforward. 12th a very nice par 3 with a downhill teeshot to a well bunkered long tiered green. 13th a quirky par 4 dogleg. 14th probably the toughest par 4 on the course. 15 and 16th straightforward, however the second shot on the 15th can be a bit of a guessing game. 17th a nice par 3, then the 18th, one of the finest closing holes I know. Long par 5 with a uphill teeshot, when you come up all you see is bunkers, fairway and greenside bunkers are cleverly lined up, so you get this daunting optical illusion.The design of this course offers several options of play, but there's always a risk/reward to be considered.Personal favourite is the 18th, simply a cracking challenge.