Golf as nature laid it.
Brautarholt was built to sit lightly on an extraordinary piece of ground. Rather than bulldozing the land flat, the architects laid the holes on top of it, using the rock, the sea and the tidal pools as the hazards. The way the course is looked after follows the same idea.
Mown by robots
About thirty autonomous electric mowers cut the fairways, and an electric mower handles the greens and tees. Almost all of the mowing is electric, and nearly all of Iceland's electricity comes from renewable hydro and geothermal power. The robots are part of the round: the local rules even cover a ball that hits one (play it as it lies).
No chemicals
The course is kept without chemicals, and Iceland's rain does most of the watering. Head greenkeeper Einar Jónasson put it simply: "We don't care if you see any weeds in the fairway."
Room for the birds
When the course was laid out, generous margins of untouched land were left for birdlife. Eider ducks nest along the shore. The tip of Kjalarnes is an Important Bird Area for wintering harlequin ducks. The island just offshore, Andríðsey, is home to thousands of puffins in summer.
In the founder's words
"I think we are the greenest golf course in the world."