North Star
The Northern Lights, the Arctic Circle, Viking heritage, otherworldly landscapes and one of the finest links courses on the planet. This is why Lofoten needs to be your next golfing destination
The Viking chieftan Tore Hjort stood in his longboat alongside that of his king, Haakon Sigurdsson, to face the Danish invasion off the coast of Norway. It was 986 and Tore, who ruled all of Northern Norway and whose home was in the islands of Lofoten, had everything to lose if his king’s fleet couldn’t repel the Danes. But the battle wasn’t going their way, and the war – over religion as much as land – looked set to be won by the invading Danish horde. Then, when all seemed lost, the wind changed dramatically, filling the sails of the Norwegians who swept to victory and repelled their enemy.
Tore returned home victorious and, more than a thousand years later, this tale is still told, in varying forms with varying storylines, to every visitor of Lofoten Links in Norway’s Arctic Circle.
The legends of the Viking Sagas may be a muddle of truth and myth, but, as you stand on the back tee of the 1sthole, an elevated perch amid the rocks and named after its former landlord Tore Hjort – it’s also home to the Viking grave of one of his people – you can certainly believe in the sudden change of weather. Lofoten is made up by six islands and myriad islets off Norway’s northwest coast and the next stop west is Greenland, so a sudden icy breeze isn’t unheard of, and the wind can whip in at a moment’s notice to challenge even the most accomplished links golfers.
Today though, in the midst of Spring, the sun is bathing the entire 6,000 metres or so of this most northerly of golf courses. In fact, so eager is the sun to bask in the natural glory of Lofoten Links, it’s staying around for 24 hours. And so we tee-off at midnight when the sun is still shining, albeit somewhat lower in the sky.
The first hole follows the curve of the coastline, arcing around to form a 301m, par four, so the first real safety is at 147m, at which point you can begin your approach, that’s if you don’t get distracted by the view behind you – as the entire course sits within an enclave of snow-capped mountains that dominate the surrounding skyline. Like almost every hole at Lofoten the green is well protected: if not by the sea, then the craggy rock borders, the deep bunkers or the at times severely undulated putting surfaces. And that’s after you’ve defeated rock bundles and avoided the Viking grave that borders the approach.
“It’s a game of chess out there,” we were told before we teed off, “you’ve got to go straight or you’re stuffed, there’s no refuge.”
The short uphill walk to the mount on which you find back-to-back tees for the 2ndand 3rd(if you’re choosing the yellow boxes) is without question the most rewarding you’ll take as a golfer, or even just a traveller, as the sight that greets you is simply stunning. To one side you have the most memorable par three you’re likely play, either here or anywhere. It heads 138m out to sea, crossing back-to-back beaches with a narrow path that’s submerged at high tide. Your target is a rocky islet that’s the regular roost of a sea eagle who no doubt enjoys the daily occurrence of countless golfers watching their seemingly well-aimed tee shot end up rolling down the steep approach and finding its way to either the sandy beach or get lost in the maze of rocks that border three sides. It’s a beauty, but a beastly one.
The ultimate back tee of the 3rd sees you line up from the edge of the islet on the 2nd, with what feels like an awfully long stretch of white sandy beach and a cove of blue-tinged, gin-clear waters of the Norwegian Sea separating you from safety. In the low Midnight Sun, it can seem even further than the 180 to 200m you need just to give yourself half a chance of par. It’ll leave you with three shots to complete the remaining 300m, but even then you have another sandy cove and a sloping fairway to conquer before you arrive at a green set amid another fortress of stone.
The first three holes of Lofoten Links set the standard, but the more you play, the more you realise that this isn’t a course of one or two signatures that appear in all the pictures. This is, to quote Lofoten’s Irish green keeper, a course with ‘sixteen signature holes, and that’s being unfair on the other two’.
Discussing favourite holes is akin to choosing a favourite child (presuming you have 18 of them). Some love the 7th, a dogleg which sharply curls around a lake on one side, with Nordic moorland awaiting to steal your stray balls. The grabby little gorse is like a soft cushion of tiny claws enveloping anything that comes its way.
Others think their favourite is the 9th where you must weave your way through what feels like an ornamental rock garden made of giant boulders, and leaves no room for error.
And then when you feel the constant visual hits of this natural beauty should be abating, you get hit with the final five. “After 13, it’s like Disneyland, and you’re like ‘Christ, what’s going on here?” to again quote our Celtic green keeper. He’s right and, even when speaking to a group of very seasoned golf travellers familiar with the world’s finest 18s, he found no dissenting voices. Instead, the general feeling was that Lofoten was quite simply one of the best coastal layouts in the world, and perhaps the most rewarding golfing expedition yet crafted.
It's not only the golf that has put Lofoten Links on an ever-growing number of bucket lists. It’s also about the itinerary you can built around it.
For instance, you can start with Michelin-starred dining in the historic city of Oslo – the first stop on your journey to Lofoten – then, en route, you can take in one of the 50,000 or so islands of Norway for a catch-and-cook fishing experience.
Once you arrive on the islands of Lofoten, the landscape would be eye candy enough, but when inter-woven with threads of intriguing history, it’s compelling in every sense.
And then, when you finally find yourself on Tore’s tee, the adventure really begins.