Keilir Golf Club

The Hvaleyrarvöllur course of Keilir Golf Club is located in Hafnarfjordur, a 25-minute drive from the international airport and 10 kilometres south west of Reykjavik. The course consisted of nine holes when the club was formed in 1967 (with the farm house of Vesturkot as a clubhouse) but this was extended first to 12 holes in 1972 then to 18 holes in 1994 by local architect Hannes Þorsteinsson. In 1996, the club added a further nine holes and this slightly shorter loop is called Sveinskotsvöllur. Mackenzie & Ebert has recently undertaken a major renovation.

The new front nine was constructed over lava fields “Kapelluhraun” so if you stray off the fairway you are bound to have a difficult recovery shot. The back nine holes – the original course – were built on old farmland beside the sea so water comes into play at many of these holes.

A beautiful new clubhouse was built in 1993 overlooking the property with spectacular views out over the Atlantic Ocean across the bay to “Snaefellsjokull” the glacier where Jules Verne’s “Journey to the Centre of the Earth” took place.

The toughest hole on the card is played before you have had a real chance to warm up, at the 384-yard, par four, 2nd where a decision must be made on the tee. Play safe down the left with a fairway metal, leaving a long approach to the small green, or take out the driver and aim the tee shot right, over a lava ridge to a very tight landing area which then allows an easier second shot to the green?