Viking Golf: Tour Norway For Some Thunder

This is the land of Fjords, Viking Expeditions, extremely complicated mythology and religions that predate Christianity. Associated with the all powerful Norse Gods like Odin and Thor this is the land first peopled as early as the tenth millennium BC Welcome to Norway, home of the northernmost golf courses in the world. Even though Norway has just a little less than two dozen top quality courses, one golf tour would still not be enough to catch them all.

A country steeped in history and some breathtaking geography, Norway boasts of a rich cultural heritage and a very progressive, contemporary outlook to life. These are two chief reasons for a very healthy tourism industry in Norway, add to that the captivating natural landscape and you have tourists lining up at the numerous ski resorts. But the very features that attract wintertime tourists to Norway create a wonderful demesne for golf in the summer months. (Read the article in full)

The Lofoten Islands are breathtakingly beautiful. Alpine mountains rise majestically from the ocean to a height of almost 1,000 metres, fringed by chalk-white beaches and separated by swathes of green. The sea is crystal clear and teeming with fish. Here you can try your hand at deep-sea fishing, scuba diving, kayaking or go on a whale safari. Amidst all this activity at Hov on Gims¸y is Lofoten Golf Links, as unassuming a 9-hole course as the pioneering spirit behind it. But its proximity to the ocean, the jagged mountains and ever-shifting Arctic light make this more than just a round of golf. Few, if any, golf courses offer such a combination of golf and magnificent scenery. Thomas Hagdeldt of Golf Digest Sweden (no.3, 2004) described it thus: The links are as remote as those at Ballyliffin and Royal Dornoch. They were built on land that at sometime in the distant past was created so that some golfer or other would finally realise its true purpose. Around the greens there are bunkers, rocks, seaweed and sea. More recently, Lofoten Golf Links was discovered by Jeff Klein of the New York Times who waxed lyrical about the course over three pages under the heading Golf in Norway, the Land of the Midnight Tee Time (NYT, 7 August 2005). For Klein had experienced playing golf under the Midnight Sun. From mid-May to early August you can play golf at Lofoten round-the-clock. Thats 144 holes in 24 hours if you can stay awake, that is!