No. 16 World
Golf World Top 100 X Factor Courses – World
Golf World / Today's Golfer · 2026
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No. 61 Europe
Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe
Golf World / Today's Golfer · 2025
Source ↗ (opens in a new tab)No. 1 Iceland
Golf Digest – Best in Iceland
Golf Digest · 2026
Source ↗ (opens in a new tab)No. 1 Iceland
Golf World – Best in Iceland
Golf World / Today's Golfer · 2022
Source ↗ (opens in a new tab)The rise
From twelve holes to the world list.
- 2012First holes open
- 2021Editorial coverage: CNN Living Golf feature + video (CNN)
- 2022Golf World – Best in Iceland: No. 1 (Golf World / Today's Golfer)Golf World X Factor – Continental Europe: No. 4 (Golf World / Today's Golfer)
- 202518 holes open (July)Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe: No. 61 (Golf World / Today's Golfer)
- 2026Golf World Top 100 X Factor Courses – World: No. 16 (Golf World / Today's Golfer)Golf Digest – Best in Iceland: No. 1 (Golf Digest)
As seen on CNN Living Golf · 14 Oct 2021
“This Icelandic golf course is one of the best in Europe.”
CNN's Living Golf visited in 2021 for a feature on how Iceland could reshape the world of golf: twelve holes, robot mowers and a founder who calls it “the greenest golf course in the world”.
Watch on CNNWhat they wrote
In their words.
“I am not sure I have ever seen a course more closely connected to the sea than Iceland's Brautarholt.”
“…as dramatic as any feature on any golf course. Anywhere.”
“It is a brilliant hole, offering much of the drama of the most famous water carry par three of all…”
“The layout tumbles down beautifully rolling terrain along the clifftop shores, making for dramatic vistas and fun holes.”
“Unquestionably bucket-list stuff”
“Jaw-dropping beauty, but that is very much standard for Iceland!”
“I'd say it is surpassed only by Lofoten in Norway in terms of its beauty.”
“It just may be the world's most dramatic opening hole.”
“I don't think anything can prepare you for Brautarholt.”
“Parts of it remind you of Cypress Point – particularly the coastal holes.”
“There are just not many courses with the drama and sense of scale as Brautarholt.”
“There's a chance I'm on another planet.”
“The fifth hole knocks me flat.”
What golfers say · player reviews
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9.4/10Golfscape · player review score
8.7/10Leading Courses · player review score
4.5/6Top100golfcourses · player review score
Bandon Dunes and Pebble Beach giving birth on MarsOliver Lewis, Top100golfcourses.com review · Nov 2025 · Read ↗
Media kit
For journalists, creators and tour operators.
Fact sheet
- Name: Brautarholt Golf (Golfklúbbur Brautarholts), Kjalarnes, Reykjavík, Iceland
- Location: Brautarholt 1, 162 Kjalarnes. About 30 minutes north of downtown Reykjavík; about an hour from Keflavík International Airport.
- Course: 18 holes, par 70, 5,323 metres from the back (white) tees. Yellow 5,052 m, blue 4,614 m, red 4,089 m.
- Opened: club founded 2011; first holes 2012; 12 holes 2017; 18 holes July 2025.
- Architects: Edwin Roald (routing), Michael Kelly (original holes), Tony Ristola (new holes, 2025).
- Setting: cliff-top links on the eroded basalt roots of the extinct Kjalarnes volcano, on a farm settled in the 9th century.
- Rankings:
- Golf World Top 100 X Factor Courses, World: No. 16 (2026)
- Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe: No. 61 (2025)
- Golf Digest Best in Iceland: No. 1 (2022, 2026)
- Golf World Best in Iceland: No. 1 (2022)
- Featured on: CNN Living Golf (2021); LINKS Magazine; Golf Course Architecture.
- Midnight golf: it never gets dark from late May to late July. Late tee times run from 1 June to mid-July.
- Season: May–October.
- Sustainability: about 30 electric robot mowers; no chemicals.
- Contact: gbr@gbr.is · +354 566 6045
Boilerplate
50 words
Brautarholt Golf is an 18-hole cliff-top links on the Kjalarnes peninsula, 30 minutes from Reykjavík, Iceland. It is ranked No. 16 in the world on Golf World's 2026 X Factor list and is Golf Digest's No. 1 in Iceland. From late May to late July, it never gets dark.
Rankings: Golf World Top 100 X Factor Courses (World), No. 16, 2026; Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe, No. 61, 2025; Golf Digest Best in Iceland, No. 1, 2026.
100 words
Brautarholt Golf is an 18-hole, par-70 links laid along the basalt cliffs of the Kjalarnes peninsula, 30 minutes north of Reykjavík. Routed by Icelandic architect Edwin Roald, it opened in 2012, became famous as a twelve-hole course that broke into Europe's rankings, and reached eighteen holes in 2025. Golf World ranks it No. 16 in the world for X Factor and No. 61 in Continental Europe; Golf Digest ranks it No. 1 in Iceland. The farm it sits on has been lived on since the settlement of Iceland. From late May to late July, golfers can play through the light night.
Rankings: Golf World Top 100 X Factor Courses (World), No. 16, 2026; Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe, No. 61, 2025; Golf Digest Best in Iceland, No. 1, 2026.
250 words
Brautarholt Golf is an 18-hole, par-70 links on the Kjalarnes peninsula, 30 minutes north of Reykjavík and about an hour from Keflavík International Airport. The course runs along cliffs of ancient basalt, around black-sand coves and tidal pools, with Mount Esja behind and Snæfellsjökull on the horizon on clear days.
Icelandic architect Edwin Roald routed the course around the Músarnes headland to meet the sea as often as the land allowed. American shaper Michael Kelly laid the original holes onto the rock rather than flattening it. The first holes opened in 2012. As a twelve-hole course, Brautarholt broke one of golf's oldest conventions and still entered Golf World's Top 100 in Continental Europe. In July 2025 new holes by Tony Ristola completed the eighteen.
Golf World now ranks Brautarholt No. 16 in the world on its 2026 X Factor list, ahead of Pebble Beach and Bandon Dunes, and No. 61 in Continental Europe. Golf Digest names it the best course in Iceland. CNN's Living Golf featured it in 2021.
The land has been farmed since the settlement of Iceland. Its turf walls sit on volcanic ash from AD 877, and the farm takes its name from Kjalnesinga saga. The course is mown by about thirty electric robots and kept without chemicals. From late May to late July the nights never get dark, and golfers tee off at ten and putt out in the glowing half-light.
Rankings: Golf World Top 100 X Factor Courses (World), No. 16, 2026; Golf World Top 100 Continental Europe, No. 61, 2025; Golf Digest Best in Iceland, No. 1, 2026.
Placeholder · PeopleShort biographies of the founders and architects are awaiting the club's approval and will appear here.
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Fact sheet
Par 70 · 18 holes since 2025 · 30 min from Reykjavík
Par 70 · 18 holes since 2025 · 30 min from Reykjavík
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The story in 200 words
Plus boilerplate in 50, 100 and 250 words
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People
Founders, and architects Roald, Kelly and Ristola
Founders, and architects Roald, Kelly and Ristola
Press contact
gbr@gbr.is · +354 566 6045
News
From the club.
Brautarholt ranked No. 16 in the world for X Factor
Golf World's first world list of Top 100 X Factor Courses places Brautarholt at No. 16, between Kauri Cliffs and Loch Lomond, and ahead of Pebble Beach (28), Bandon Dunes (50) and Royal Portrush (61). Most panellists judged the course on its original twelve holes.
Source (opens in a new tab) ↗Up to No. 61 in Golf World's Continental Europe Top 100
Brautarholt climbs again in Golf World's Top 100 Courses in Continental Europe, to No. 61. It first entered the list at No. 78 in 2021. Editor Chris Bertram: "Jaw-dropping beauty, but that is very much standard for Iceland!"
Source (opens in a new tab) ↗Eighteen holes: the new holes open
In July 2025 Brautarholt became a full 18-hole course. New holes designed and shaped by Tony Ristola run north along a ridge of ancient basalt, joining Edwin Roald's original cliff-top routing.
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