The Arctic Open

Filed in archive Golf Travel on February 24, 2007

Courtesy: Iceland Tourism

The Royal and Ancient golf club of St. Andrew's Handbook for Golfers says the most northerly 18 hole golf course is in Iceland.

It's called the Akureyri Golf Club.

And this summer, Akureyri is hosting The Arctic Open!!

Now, first of all, just imagine playing golf in a country called Iceland!

When people think "Canada", they conjure up silly visions of igloos and snow year round.

But Iceland? Wow.

What a novel idea for a tournament!

The higher your latitude, of course, the longer the sun stays in the sky during the summer. And in Iceland, like much of the high arctic, including Alaska, the sun just never sets in the summer.

So, in late June, the Akureyri Golf Club is hosting The Arctic Open.

Organizers say they get more than 120 players from around the world.

Akureyri was founded in 1935 and the first Arctic Open was held in 1986.

The tournament runs over 36 holes using the Stableford points scoring system.

The entry fee is $450 US which covers two days of golf, an opening reception (I hear Icelandic vodka is very good...) an awards dinner, gift and a tour of the region.

Now that's not bad, at all, for the experience of teeing it up in The Arctic Open.

The golf season in Iceland runs from May to September. Even so, Akureyri boasts over 500 members.

It's certainly not the only golf course in Iceland, either - there are more than 50 courses and the scenery is usually spectacular.

Iceland is a volcanic island and these pictures taken by professional photographer, Paul Severn, demonstrate the wild beauty of the golfing landscape.

Scotland, with its windswept, craggy hills, heather covered moors and seascapes may be the birth mother of the game.

But Iceland seems to have adopted golf as its own child.