What does it take to greenkeep in Iceland?

In our latest Super Series, we sit down with Einar Gestur Jónasson from Leynir Golf Club to find out.

There are around 64 golf courses across Iceland, and golf has become remarkably popular for a country of its size. At Leynir, around 30,000 rounds can be squeezed into a season of roughly six months. For part of summer, there’s enough daylight to play golf around the clock. When winter takes over, much of that enthusiasm moves indoors to simulator golf.

For the greenkeeping team, those conditions create a completely different rhythm.

Einar talks us through the grasses they’re working with, preparing turf for winter, dealing with ice, drainage and disease, and trying to manage disease with as little fungicide as possible.

Their maintenance is changing too.

At the time we spoke, Leynir was rolling its greens five to six days a week and mowing around once a week. Einar says that without rolling, they would probably be mowing around three times a week at this point in the season.

It’s a particularly interesting example of rolling more and mowing less, coming directly from what they’re seeing on their own greens.

There’s much more in the conversation: STERF research plots, seasonal teams, BIGGA, GIS, FEGGA, robotic mowing, Iceland’s greenkeeping community, international education and what Einar and his team are continuing to test and learn.

And next March, Dr Thomas Nikolai is expected in Iceland to continue the conversation around rolling and more. Our latest Super Series is a chance to hear what greenkeeping and golf really looks like in Iceland.