"If only you could break away from the constraints of having someone else tell you how many holes you must build."
/CNN’s Sean Coppack filed an excellent story and video feature on “how Iceland could reshape the world of golf". I could not embed so you’ll need to hit the link to watch.
There are some amazing reveals and scenery, but this on a course called Brautarholt, whose founder Gunnar Palsson shares words of wisdom about 12 holes. Or whatever is the right number for a site.
"This used to be agricultural land, but that had been declining," Palsson tells CNN Sport. "This land has been in the family for hundreds of years and there were some generational shifts and we decided to build a golf course."
Opening originally as a nine-hole course in 2011 before expanding to 12, Brautarholt was designed by renowned Icelandic architect Edwin Roald.
Roald has attracted plenty of attention in recent years with his "why 18-holes?" movement, a philosophy that suggests golf course design would be improved if architects worked to create the best course for the space they have, rather than cling onto the "antiquated" notion that every course must be 18-holes long.
"When you have limited resources, you are forced to use what nature has given you," Roald told Links magazine in 2017. "If only you could break away from the constraints of having someone else tell you how many holes you must build.
"It is the same as writing books, or making movies. Imagine if all books had to be exactly 200 pages, or a film had to last 95 minutes. Would they be as good?"