Iceland’s golf courses have been fully booked this summer and during the brightest weeks people play 24 hours a day. People of all ages play golf and sometimes families play together.
The sport is becoming increasingly popular among the younger generation, but older people are not afraid to learn how to play either, Morgunbladid reports.
“One of our golfers is over 90 and he started playing at 60. He plays every day at our course,” said Fannar Freyr Ívarsson, who works at the Golf Club of Kópavogur and Gardabaer in the capital region.
Gísli Páll Jónsson, the course manager on Grafarholtsvöllur, on the outskirts of Reykjavík, said golfers often arrive after work and play one round in the evening. “We have also noticed that when we come to work around 7 am that people have showed up really early to finish the round.”
Several golf tournaments are held this summer, the most popular being the Arctic Open held on Jadarvöllur golf course in Akureyri, northeast Iceland, where golfers play in the midnight sun.
According to Tryggvi Zophonias Pálsson of the Akureyri Golf Club, the Arctic Open tournament has never been as popular as it was this year. The international tournament is held around the summer solstice every year, this year June 21 to 24.
The annual “pink golf tournament” for female golfers, held to support the Icelandic Cancer Association, took place at Hvaleyrarvöllur golf course in Hafnarfjördur, near Reykjavík, yesterday.
