Lofoten - Norway

[Ally Mcintosh]

Courtesy of a spectacular picture from Adam Lawrence on that unnameable social media site that everyone uses to try and dominate the globe, I was re-alerted to this project:

http://www.golfcoursearchitecture.net/Article/Major-expansion-for-Lofoten-links/2562/Default.aspx

The picture was of the reversed par three 2nd hole out on to a tiny spit of land in the arctic ocean...

Is the extended and redesigned course going to be a cracker, Adam?.... Tell us about how difficult it is to travel there...

[Scott Warren]

That par three looked amazing.

Though I checked out how far from Oslo - 19hrs drive north, so probably not on the itinerary soon!

[David Harshbarger]

24 hour golfing day! Even I could get 100 holes in that amount of time :-)

[Adam Lawrence]

You fly to Evenes from Oslo - there are a few charter flights from elsewhere in Europe too - and then it's a spectacular 2-3 hour drive onto the archipelago. Alternatively, there's a small airport near Svolvaer, the largest town in the islands, but that's two flights from Oslo.

There is, though, a plan to build a larger airport for the Lofotens, which would have direct service from Oslo, and the possibility to take flights from anywhere round Europe (the islands are a significant tourist destination, mostly for Scandinavians, with the midnight sun in summer and the northern lights later in the year, and great walking, pony trekking, sea kayaking, sailing etc). The proposed airport would be on the island of Gimsoy, only five minutes from the links. Clearly, that would have a big impact.

I think the course will be pretty spectacular. It's genuine linksland, mostly (that rock pile isn't, obviously!) and Jeremy's routing looked plenty impressive when I was there last year. Can't wait to go back.

I have some more photos, nd Kevin Murray took some great ones while we were there. I'll try to post later.

Adam

[John Chilver-Stainer]

Spectacular - but I wonder how they will combat the inevitable salt spray on their fescue greens?

[Thomas Dai]

Interesting and impressive. Nice photos. On-site dormy accommodation. Troon Golf to manage the facility so, based on what I've seen of their approach in the UK, it should be damn good. Further details here - http://www.lofoten-golf.no/english.php. If you type Gimsoy golf into Bingmap you can see the course. Always wanted to go to that part of northern Norway, now there's another reason to go.
All the best.