Golf and golf equipment

[Lat34]

First, I have to declare that Golf is not my thing at all - @Happy Dude suggested I post some brief info in this thread about Iceland as a golf destination after I mentioned a "fun" course on Heimaey island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the Iceland south coast.

Basically we were just keeping a look-out for any interesting course locations during our recent Iceland road circumnavigation for a golf-loving Aussie friend and her English husband.

Home - Golficeland

(some) General Information

'There are 65 golf courses throughout the country whereas 15 of them are 18 hole golf courses and 50 are 9 hole golf course, all of them are available to visitors. In Greater Reykjavík area there are 10 golf courses whereas 5 of them are 18 hole courses and 5 are 9 hole courses.

Akuyeri Golf Club is the second oldest in Iceland (formed in 1935) and it's reckoned to be the most northerly 18-hole layout in the world, according to the R&A.

Golf players:
There are 24.000 golfers registered in golf clubs in Iceland. According to public surveys from Capacent Research about 45.000 individuals play golf every year or more than 12 % of the population in Iceland.

Length of the golf season:
The golf season in Iceland generally runs from late May to early September.

Midnight golf:
Midnight golf is generaly playable between early June and later part of July.

Handicap:
Handicap according to EGA (European Golf Association) regulation is required by some of the 18 hole golf courses, usually 36 for men and 36 for ladies. See further information about those requirements on the individual pages of the golf courses.

Dress code:
Dress code on golf courses in Iceland are the same as all over the world. No jeans and T-shirts without a collar are allowed.

Enjoy!

 

[Scarlett]

65 golf courses hey? More than I thought, especially with the limited season.

I’ve played two of them:
Hólmsvöllur out past Keflavik airport, and
Golfklúbbur Hellu a rural course an hour and a half from Reykjavik towards the waterfalls and fjords attractions in the direction of Vik. I think it was too late in the season for midnight golf though.

 

[Happy Dude]

Midnight golf - super interested to add to the list of golf experiences I need to do. Great info @Lat34. Ta!

 

[Scarlett]

I posted some shots in the trip report thread but thought I might comment here as well, mind you I suspect I’m in a pool of single digits of Australians who have bothered to play here: Addis Ababa GC, Ethiopia. It’s the only real golf course in the country, although there is apparently a little pitch and putt course within the grounds of the British Embassy.


Wet season meant significant long grass and those plethora of yellow flower shrubs everywhere as the rough. There was no ‘first cut’ just fairway followed by lost ball rough.


Par 5 11th approach view, first time around (only holes 10-18 open due to the wet season having not concluded yet). The area beside the green was mud.


Same approach view second time around, with added hazards.


Greens were really soft. Every approach or decent length pitch was leaving craters. Greens very basic too with minimal contouring, but putted reasonably consistently.

I played poorly as first game in a month meant little touch around the greens. The heavy conditioning didn’t help. One birdie to keep me coming back!

My Garmin did actually have the course available but some of the distances seemed a little ‘variable’.

My golf bag travelled for free courtesy of the following status and class of service:
CBR-MEL on QF. Y - QF Gold
MEL-SIN-BKK on SQ. Y - TK Elite (*A Gold)
BKK-ADD-CAI on ET. J - TK Elite
CAI-ATH-LIS on MS/A3. J - TK Elite

The check in lady at CAI did have to check to see what the deal was with carriage of ‘special items’ but eventually agreed with me that golf clubs are considered part of regular baggage allowance. That does seem pretty consistent across *A.

Today I’m taking them LIS - Ponta Delgada (PDL - the main city in the Azores islands) on SATA Azores Airlines (code S4) and they carry one golf bag for free in addition to regular baggage allowance, but I did have to email them beforehand and let them know I was bringing a golf bag and get an approval email in return.

 

[zig]

First, I have to declare that Golf is not my thing at all - @Happy Dude suggested I post some brief info in this thread about Iceland as a golf destination after I mentioned a "fun" course on Heimaey island in the Vestmannaeyjar archipelago off the Iceland south coast.

Basically we were just keeping a look-out for any interesting course locations during our recent Iceland road circumnavigation for a golf-loving Aussie friend and her English husband.

Home - Golficeland

(some) General Information

'There are 65 golf courses throughout the country whereas 15 of them are 18 hole golf courses and 50 are 9 hole golf course, all of them are available to visitors. In Greater Reykjavík area there are 10 golf courses whereas 5 of them are 18 hole courses and 5 are 9 hole courses.

Akuyeri Golf Club is the second oldest in Iceland (formed in 1935) and it's reckoned to be the most northerly 18-hole layout in the world, according to the R&A.

Golf players:
There are 24.000 golfers registered in golf clubs in Iceland. According to public surveys from Capacent Research about 45.000 individuals play golf every year or more than 12 % of the population in Iceland.

Length of the golf season:
The golf season in Iceland generally runs from late May to early September.

Midnight golf:
Midnight golf is generaly playable between early June and later part of July.

Handicap:
Handicap according to EGA (European Golf Association) regulation is required by some of the 18 hole golf courses, usually 36 for men and 36 for ladies. See further information about those requirements on the individual pages of the golf courses.

Dress code:
Dress code on golf courses in Iceland are the same as all over the world. No jeans and T-shirts without a collar are allowed.

Enjoy!

Iceland is on my to do list and I love the idea of midnight golf.

 

[Scarlett]

Played today at Claremont GC in Hobart. I like the course as it juts out into the Derwent R. and so has water on effectively three sides of the land. On the other side is the Cadbury factory, which I guess was still operating on Boxing Day, as the sweet smell of chocolate was in the air on some of the nearby holes.

I’d played here many times over the past 20 years. Annoyingly on this visit however, they’ve sold off some land and built about 30 townhouse like things near the clubhouse and this has made what was already a fairly short course, even shorter. The last hole is now a boring par 3 next to the subdivision.

Seems to be a trend of golf clubs selling off some land for housing developments to keep themselves afloat for a while. Near home, Yowani and Federal are both doing the same and Gold Creek has been trying to completely convert nine holes into pure housing for a couple of years. I hope they invest the proceeds well.
It’s annoying as a golfer, as invariably the layout becomes compromised.

 

[JohnK]

I played Claremont, November long time ago. I'm sure there were icebergs floating down the river.

Boy that was freezing cold at the time and apparently it had snowed Mt Wellington at 300m.

 

[Happy Dude]

My old club in QLD put townhouses in when they ran up unmanageable debt in the mid-90's renovating the clubhouse to put in pokies and associated kitchen etc and lost a lot of members in the process. The club/course is now run from a small room in the clubhouse with the rest run as a separate hospitality business.

I had a hit not long ago. The greens had shrunk from their original size and were rough as Tooheys New (basically just closely mown fairways), when they used to be excellent smooth Bermuda 328. Some bunkers had been filled in. Greenkeeping staff is largely part-time or volunteer. Pokies still there though. Sad to see really.

 

[Happy Dude]

Played today at Claremont GC in Hobart. I like the course as it juts out into the Derwent R. and so has water on effectively three sides of the land. On the other side is the Cadbury factory, which I guess was still operating on Boxing Day, as the sweet smell of chocolate was in the air on some of the nearby holes.

I’d played here many times over the past 20 years. Annoyingly on this visit however, they’ve sold off some land and built about 30 townhouse like things near the clubhouse and this has made what was already a fairly short course, even shorter. The last hole is now a boring par 3 next to the subdivision.

Seems to be a trend of golf clubs selling off some land for housing developments to keep themselves afloat for a while. Near home, Yowani and Federal are both doing the same and Gold Creek has been trying to completely convert nine holes into pure housing for a couple of years. I hope they invest the proceeds well.
It’s annoying as a golfer, as invariably the layout becomes compromised.

I'm a member at Royal Canberra. Our third nine could be converted to housing with the proceeds put to a decent clubhouse and bringing the Westbourne course up to a better standard. Maybe a merger with Federal and build something special along the lines of Peninsula Kingswood?