Jan Nordstrom ticks off every 18-hole course in Norway
2013 is a landmark year for our Norway and Sweden Correspondent who has played every 18-hole course in Norway
31 October 2013
Norway, Land of the Midnight Sun, may not be the natural choice as a golfing destination, but with 24 hours of sunlight during the summer months, you could play more rounds of golf here in just one day than virtually anywhere else in the world. Thanks to the Gulf Stream, Norway has a softer climate than you might imagine, but you’ll need to keep your wet weather gear at hand as it can get very wet, especially in Western and Northern Norway.
2013 is a landmark year for Jan Nordstrom, our Norway and Sweden Correspondent. He finally managed to play the last few 18-hole courses in Norway which remained on his “to play” list, including Bjaavann… “And yes, Bjaavann is a very good course,” said Jan with a touch of pride, “so I have now played 64 of the 61 18-hole courses in Norway – one has closed permanently, and two other courses have been reduced to 9 holes to minimise maintenance costs”.
To celebrate Jan’s achievement, we felt it appropriate to take an early and fresh look at our Norwegian golf course rankings and publish a new 2014 Top 20 ahead of most other countries.
Miklagard has topped our Norway rankings for many years and despite this RTJ II layout sometimes splitting opinion, it remains at the head of our Norwegian table for the time being at least.
“When I played Bjaavann I also used the opportunity to revisit Stavanger,” said Jan, “and it was as much fun as my first visit, with course conditioning just as impeccable. It’s a classic, mature, parkland gem.” Stavanger is one of our highest climbers and moves up five positions to 4th place.
Jan is keeping an eye on Lofoten Links in North Norway because the golf club has engaged Jeremy Turner to expand the course from 9 to 18 holes. The build is well underway and the 18-hole Lofoten should be open for play in 2014. “It’s a fantastic location,” said Jan, “ you can play golf in full sunshine at 2am in the summer and enjoy the dramatic Northern Lights in the autumn.” Naturally Jan will be sure to visit Lofoten as soon as the new holes are ready, adding the latest Norwegian 18-holer to his collection.
What’s next for Jan? Well… conquering Sweden… naturally!
Here’s our latest Norwegian Top 20:
Click the link to see the latest Top 20 Golf Courses of Norway in detail.
Footnote: Several Norwegian golf courses suffered severe winter damage during 2012/13. We have taken the stance that these conditioning issues are largely temporary and have not penalised those affected clubs too harshly when finalising our 2014 Norway Top 20 rankings.
Images from top to bottom: 1. Lofoten, 2. Miklagard, 3. Stavanger, 4. Lofoten
