On our way, we woke up from a very comfy flight to see Greenland below us, low and clear. White mountains, brash ice floating in sounds and a fabulous glacier paving its way through a valley to the sea.

Since we were coming in from the west, we didn’t see Iceland until we were above it and landing. Our luggage somehow managed to come off first, my carefully selected orange bag quickly melding into a sea of other orange bags— so much for being distinctive! And our golf bags both arrived. Hooray.

We’re here for such a short stay, that we decided on a taxi tour rather than a rental car. Our first driver, Abraham, was delightful and quite excited about the idea. He took us through a small village in Keflavik, then toward the lighthouse when John suggested we go to the local golf course.

Apparently, there are 61 to choose from! At Sudurnesja Golf Club, we checked in for a 5:30 starting time, went to our hotel, changed, and had Abraham drive us back to the golf course. Iceland is small enough that all of that was a 30 minute round trip, all without leaving the Keflavik peninsula. 

Sudurnesja was a links-like course, with lots of views of the sea and shore. It’s nearly the longest day of the year, so we had “sweet light” for the whole game with the sun low in the sky and not moving. Iceland is a volcanic island, mostly flat, and largely without trees. The course rose and fell around small lakes, up to the green, then downhill to fairways. The ground was spongy and the rough was deep—a lot like the US Open. Even though we didn’t know a thing about the course, just getting out in the sunlight and swinging a club was glorious. Hole 1 was downhill with a blind shot to the green. Hole 5 was a long par three over a lake. Hole 9 was another par three uphill and to the vacant starter’s shack.

People are quite tall here, and most adults are able to speak English and Icelandic easily. Teenagers just nod and shake their heads. Unlike so many tourist places we might have visited, we were the only Americans around today. Even though American politics is unpopular these days, the restaurant manager (cook and bottle washer) was very helpful with our many small issues, finally helping us get a taxi to return to the hotel. There seems to be one taxi service here and no Uber, but still we ended up with a new driver, Patrekur, a great guy who took us on another tour that included the new and old lighthouses. He was very interested in John’s knowledge of geothermal, a hot topic here (no pun intended). Iceland has continuous harmonic tremors caused by magma flow, which bubbles up under pressure as the land pulls apart under stress. This explains why the land is flat here, as opposed to our slip/strike faults, which cause earthquakes and mountains. 

More about the look of this part of Iceland. It’s flat and green with a few sheep and horses here and there, and with very few buildings of any kind. Buildings are sparse, and the few dwellings in this area (far west near the airport) are built close together. The architecture is largely corrugated steel, with houses having more of a plaster look. Wood is quite hard to come by here— no forests. Even the floors are prefab. The result is a very square and sometimes rusted look to the villages. More about this country again in a few weeks when we return.

Thanks for joining us! Until tomorrow, good night.