{"id":81054,"date":"2013-10-23T17:00:30","date_gmt":"2013-10-23T17:00:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.golf1.is\/?p=81054"},"modified":"2014-01-02T15:21:54","modified_gmt":"2014-01-02T15:21:54","slug":"introducing-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/introducing-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Introducing Icelanders who play on US College Golf teams no. 11: Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson"},"content":{"rendered":"

The interview tonight (October 21st 2013) is with the 2012 Club Champion of GSE (short for Golf Club Setberg in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur Iceland,)\u00a0Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson<\/strong>, Hrafn studies in the Staates at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. Hrafn has been playing some fabulous golf in Iceland this past summer, despite rather crummy weather here in the northern hemisphere. \u00a0Hrafn is\u00a0not only a great golfer but move very likeable young man and today is his 23rd birthday. Have a happy, happy one and all the best from us here at Golf 1 in Iceland!!!<\/p>\n

Here we\u00b4ll publish an interview we had with Hrafn earlier this year (2013):<\/p>\n

Full Name:<\/em>\u00a0Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson.<\/p>\n

Which Golf Club are you a member of in Iceland?<\/em>: GSE – Golf Club Setberg in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur. Originally I was in GFH (short for Golfkl\u00fabbur Flj\u00f3tsdalsh\u00e9ra\u00f0s) in the eastern part of Iceland, near Egilssta\u00f0ir.<\/p>\n

Where and when were you born?<\/em>\u00a0I was born in Reykjav\u00edk (capital of Iceland), October 21st 1990.<\/p>\n

Where did you grow up?<\/em>\u00a0I grew up in Dj\u00fapivogur (small town in the eastern part of Iceland with 348 inhabitants in 2013) until I was 8-9 years old and then moved to Egilsstadir (the capitol of the eastern part of Iceland with 2303 inhabitants in 2013).<\/p>\n

\"Hrafn<\/a>

Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson, GSE and Faulkner. Photo: In Hrafns possession<\/p><\/div>\n

What is your family status and does anyone in your family play golf? Dad and many relatives of mine play golf , my uncle\u00b4s play golf (i.e. mom and dad\u00b4s brothers) Mom is starting – just today (January 7th 2013) she bought herself her first pair of golfshoes. I have an older brother who lives in London and is called Freyr and he plays a bit of golf just for fun, but \u00a0mainly plays soccer.<\/p>\n

When did you start playing golf ?<\/em>\u00a0I started to play golf in Dj\u00fapivogur, about 6 or 7 years old.<\/p>\n

What made you start playing golf ?<\/em>\u00a0I guess I started at a young age to play golf with my dad and uncles \u200b\u200b; then it just kind of evolved ef since I got my first golf set 7 years old . I had a huge interest in the game right from the beginning. I played alot of soccer , but then I got injured one summer and ended up playing golf all summer 2002.<\/p>\n

Are you happy with your performance in golf if you look back over this past year , 2012 ?<\/em>\u00a0After staying winter long in the Staates \u00a02011-2012 I practiced well for the spring semester and was pleased with my golf tournaments. I played \u00a0alot instead of slamming 200 balls on the practice g ground – I became more steady and fared well – \u00a0one tends to undestimate the value of playing golf instead of hanging in the practice area. Everything worked out well that winte , but when I got home (to Iceland) I injured my wrist so the first half of the season I played very litle golf.<\/p>\n

How many tournaments did you take part in this preceding summer?<\/em>\u00a0I played just three tournaments and then Team Championships of GSI (GSI is the Iceland Golf Association) . I participated in the first tournament on the Eimskip Tour (where the best golfers compete in here in Iceland during the summer). This time the first tournament was in Leiran (an 18 hole golfcourse in Keflav\u00edk). The first round was OK but I played badly the latter round. Right there I started to feel the injury. \u00a0As I said, I played little or no golf in Iceland.But then I pulled myself together and\u00a0in late June or early July I was already in decent shape. I played well in the Club Championship of GSE , was 7 under par after two days and had a great battle with \u00d3li J\u00f3h . The Icelandic Championship in stroke play \u00a0was disappointing because I was not in good enough shape . It really was not until the GSI Team Championships when I was beginning to feel comfortable with my golf, again.<\/p>\n

\"Hrafn<\/a>

Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugson, GSE and Faulkner University. Photo: In Hrafns possession<\/p><\/div>\n

What are you studying at Faulkner?<\/em>\u00a0I am studying business administration to a BS degree.<\/p>\n

What were you most surprised by when you first came to the United States ?<\/em>\u00a0I’m in the deep south ( Alabama) so I was perhaps most surprised by how very polite and decent \u00a0Americans all in all were. And also the amount of deep fried foods they have there.<\/p>\n

Describe the normal school day in the US + practices that you do ?<\/em>\u00a0I try to have my \u00a0schedule \u00a0so that I go to school at \u00a07 and finish at 12 o\u00b4clock. That\u00b4s the routine Mondays through Thursdays. \u00a0Then I have lunch and get to the practice ground. Either one plays 18 holes og practices. Somedays I practice all day or practice and play 9 holes.\u00a0We have about three world class golf courses to choose fromin Prattville , Alabama : they are on the RTJ Trail, RTJ is short for Robert Trent Jones , who was the architect . The facility is great for all aspects of golf , short game, too. One often doesn\u00b4t quit playing until begins to darken . Then I get myself something to eat and look at homework. And around 20:00 o\u00b4clock some days I\u00b4ll go to the gym . We relax on Fridays , Saturdays and Sundays in school, but we, the tema, still often play rounds og golf or we practice \u00a0and play .<\/p>\n

What do you like best about the United States?<\/em>\u00a0The good weather and golf facilities, the standard of golf and how, in fact, in many respects, the ” easy” life . There is so much of people great people around me.<\/p>\n

What do you think the worst with the United States ?<\/em>\u00a0Public transport – it hardly possible to walk to anything – a person is so bound to have a car.<\/p>\n

How do you like golfcourses in the United States compared to golfcourses in Iceland?<\/em>\u00a0It is much easier to have great golfcourses in the U.S than in Iceland so of course they are better in the United States . The greens are so much better – however I am very impressed by the local golf courses in Iceland.<\/p>\n

What do you prefer parkland courses og linkses?<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0I play more on parkland courses – however Royal Dornoch in Scotland is one of the most amazing golfcourse I’ve ever played on . It\u00b4s \u00a0one of the oldest golfcourses in the world and generally considered one of the best – it’s a bit depending on media, but I ‘ve seen it on one list over the 3 best golfcourses and on another as one of the 13 best golfcourses in the world. The course is different from others and quite unique; designed by Donald Ross .<\/p>\n

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\"The<\/a><\/dt>\n
The 10th hole of Royal Dornoch, one of Hrafn\u00b4s favorite golfcourses in the world<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What do you prefer match play or stroke play?<\/i>\u00a0 After the Team Club Championships here in Iceland this past summer – I\u00b4m more drawn to match play – one isn\u00b4t as stressed out, one can take a deep breath and take chances (on the course).<\/p>\n

What is you favorite golfcourse in Iceland? \u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 The Westmanna Islands, the the Hvaleyrar golfcourse at golf club Keilir, and then there are many more good ones.<\/p>\n

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\"From<\/a><\/dt>\n
From the golfcourse at the Westman Islands – one of Hrafns favorite golfcourses in Iceland<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What is your favorite golfcourse in the whole world? \u00a0\u00a0<\/i>Torreby (Sweden) where I lived in 2010-2011 in Munkedal but also Sea Island in Georg\u00eda – that whole area is a dreamplace to live on (its both one of my favorite courses and my favorite area to live on in the future).<\/p>\n

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\"From<\/a><\/dt>\n
From the Torreby golfcourse in Sweden one of Hrafn\u00b4s favorite golfcourses abroad<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What is the most special golfcourse you have played on and why?\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 One of the 3 courses we pracitce on at Faulkner is called the Judge. It\u00b4s quite unique and it starts right away on the 1st tee which is elevated and it\u00b4s a far way down on the fairway and there are difficulties everywhere, water on the right side and a forest on the left side. There\u00b4s water by every single fairway. \u00a0Every par-3 hole is about 200 meters long and one has to cross water and hit islands. Then there is one par-5 fairway which is 711 yards long (650 meters). \u00a0The name of the course is enlightening whereas one gets judged on how good of a golfer one is. \u00a0This is one of the most difficult courses I\u00b4ve played.<\/p>\n

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\"Fr\u00e1<\/a><\/dt>\n
Hrafn on \u00a0The Judge, one of the golfcourses on the RTJ golftrail in Prattsville which in Hrafn\u00b4s opinion is one of the most special golfcourse he has played on.<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What is your handicap?\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 I think I\u00b4m playing to a 1 handicap.<\/p>\n

What is your lowest score in golf and where\/on what golfcourse did you achieve it? \u00a0<\/i>\u00a0The lowest score? I think it\u00b4s my 2nd round at the GSE Club Championships in 2012, 4 under par og the Setberg golfcourse. I have also had 9 hole practice rounds where I\u00b4ve played 4 under par.<\/p>\n

What is your greatest achievement in golf to date?<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0One of the most fun golftournament that I won, was when I was in Sweden and lived with Sturla H\u00f6skuldsson golfinstructor and his wife Kristin. This was a tournament on the Swedish Scandia Tour for competitors under 20 yrs of age and there I won in a rather strong field in Gothenburg. What is funny is that it\u00b4s a tradition (in Sweden) that the winner holds a speach and I had to give one in Swedish. I used words like j\u00e6vla bra and they laughed alot!<\/p>\n

Have you had a hole in one?<\/i>\u00a0 No, not yet.<\/p>\n

What snack do you have in your bag?<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Usually a banana and granola bars – a herbalife shake to maintain my energylevel – one can feel how enpowering they are on the las holes – especially when one has to get up early.<\/p>\n

Have you taken part in other sports?\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 I practiced soccer for many years with H\u00f6ttur in Egilssta\u00f0ir (in the East of Iceland) but I quit 2009 when I broke my leg and after that I focused completely on golf. Then I played handball and my coach there was P\u00e9tur Fannar G\u00edslason.<\/p>\n

What is your favorite food \u00a0your favorite drink; your favorite music; your favorite film and your favorite book? My favorite food is my mom\u00b4s\u00a0<\/i>lobsterpasta<\/strong>; \u00a0my favorite drink is \u00a0Coke; my favorite music:\u00a0Alt-J\u00a0(\u2206)\u00a0<\/strong>, The Beatles, \u00a0Arcade Fire, the Strokes<\/strong>\u00a0and then I\u00b4m a huge fan of\u00a0Jack White<\/strong>; my favorite movies:\u00a0Shawshank Redemption<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Big Lebowski<\/strong>; my favorite book: this is a difficult question. I guess its\u00a0Hugleikur Dagsson\u00b4s<\/strong>\u00a0(Icelandic author)\u00a0latest book.<\/p>\n

Who is your favorite golfer, name one male and one female golfer?\u00a0<\/i>\u00a0 Male: Luke Donald and Tiger Woods have been my favorites for a long time. Female: Lexi Thompson – she set a new age record on the LPGA (was the youngest to win a tournament on that Tour) in Prattsville, Alabama the year before the last (2011) on the Navistar tournament and there I was working getting her score and other competitiors on the LPGA web.<\/p>\n

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\"Alexis<\/a><\/dt>\n
Alexis Thompson, Hrafn\u00b4s favorite female golfer<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What is your dream foursome?\u00a0\u00a0<\/em>\u00a0It\u00b4s me and …. Tiger,\u00a0 David Beckham and Luke Donald.<\/p>\n

What\u00b4s in the bag? \u00a0<\/i>\u00a0I have \u00a0Titleist irons and AB2 wedges and Vokey. I\u00b4m going to check out sem new woods. \u00a0Then I have a TaylorMade R-11 Driver and R-9 TaylorMade 3-tree. \u00a0I have a \u00a0Scotty Cameron GoLow putter with a wide grip. Maybe I\u00b4ll add a new hybrid or some new trees.<\/p>\n

Have you been to a golf instructor?<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 Yeah – Sturla H\u00f6skuldsson has helped me alot – he moved to Egilissta\u00f0ir when I was there – and then I went \u00a0to \u00a0Sweden – he is a great guy and golf instuctor.<\/p>\n

Are you superstitious?<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0 Yes – for example when I start a round in rain and I play very well then I don\u00b4t take my wet clothes off (for the rest of the round). Likewise, I don\u00b4t use whatever tee there is, I never use black tees, I prefer white tees.<\/p>\n

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\"Hrafn<\/a><\/dt>\n
Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson, GSE and Faulkner University. Photo: belongs to Hrafn<\/dd>\n<\/dl>\n<\/div>\n

What is your maingoal in life and golf?<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Roughly I\u00b4m gonna try and play some serious golf 2013 – set some goals. I\u00b4m going to play on the Eimskip series (in Iceland) and play in full this year. \u00a0My goal in life is to study and then just be happy and content with life.<\/p>\n

Who do you think will win the Tournament of Champions? (Question posed 7. jan\u00faar 2013) \u00a0\u201eOur scandinavian nephew”\u00a0Jonas Blixt<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

What do you like the best about golf?\u00a0<\/i>This is a great sport, great company and one finds a channel for one\u00b4s competitiveness. Golf is the perfect sport …. and then one always meets some new people.<\/p>\n

How high percentagewise is the mental part of your game (in cometitions)?<\/i>\u00a0 It\u00b4s rather high – one is always getting better and better but one has to work on it. To have a clear head is very important.<\/p>\n

At last: Do you have some good advice you can share with other golfers?<\/i>\u00a0 \u00a0Yes. In golf it\u00b4s not about striking the most perfect golfshot, it\u00b4s about getting the ball in the hole. \u00a0One has to stress practicing chipp\u00b4s and putting – even though the long game is important too – but its most important to practice all strokes within 100 meters. Then it always helps to play alot of golf \u00a0instead of hitting the pracice area all the time.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The interview tonight (October 21st 2013) is with the 2012 Club Champion of GSE (short for Golf Club Setberg in Hafnarfj\u00f6r\u00f0ur Iceland,)\u00a0Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson, Hrafn studies in the Staates at Faulkner University in Montgomery, Alabama. Hrafn has been playing some fabulous golf in Iceland this past summer, despite rather crummy weather here in the northern hemisphere. \u00a0Hrafn is\u00a0not only a great golfer but move very likeable young man and today is his 23rd birthday. Have a happy, happy one and all the best from us here at Golf 1 in Iceland!!! Here we\u00b4ll publish an interview we had with Hrafn earlier this year (2013): Full Name:\u00a0Hrafn Gu\u00f0laugsson. Which Golf Club are Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":81057,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_exactmetrics_skip_tracking":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_active":false,"_exactmetrics_sitenote_note":"","_exactmetrics_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-81054","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news","cat-7-id"],"acf":[],"views":1985,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81054","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81054"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81054\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81057"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81054"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81054"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.golf1.is\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81054"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}