Sudurnesja (Holmsvollur)

Sudurnesja Golf Club was formed in 1964 and members played over the Holmsvollur course as a 9-hole layout before it was stretched to 18 holes by the Swede Niels Skjold in 1986. The club has since established another 9-hole course called The Joel.

Hólmsvöllur was constructed on farmland and involved the removal of stonewalls and boulders before the fairways could be shaped. Back then, nobody could have believed that forty years later the course – located in the south west of Iceland, near Reykjavik International airport – would be chosen to host the 2005 Icelandic golf championships.

The signature hole at Suðurnesja, called “Bergvik”, is the par three 3rd (measuring up to 190 yards long, depending on the chosen tee) where the tee shot is flown over a sea inlet to the green – little margin for error and many balls are lost to the water, especially when the wind is up, as it often is here!

And speaking of weather, Icelandic golf is enriched not just by the landscape and the startling scenery but also by the rapid changing meteorological conditions that can occur during a typical round. The front nine might have three holes of sunshine, two of rain, one with sleet and another three holes of sleet – only for the combination to be repeated on the back nine!