Grafarholt is an 18-hole course located just outside of Reykjavík, the largest city in Iceland. This 18-hole layout superseded a previous 9-hole layout at the same location, and appears to be almost entirely different.
This course has a great mix of holes. It plays as mostly a tight technical round, which in itself is uncommon for Iceland. Typical fairways have clearly defined lines to hit, with tightly spaced conifer tree trunks on either side. There are left turns, right turns, and straight shots. You'll be pulling many discs out of your bag to try to score well here. A few moderately open to almost wide open holes (mainly near the beginning and end of the course) balance out the overall layout. Those more open holes have OB areas that are clearly defined by stakes and ropes, and elsewhere a couple of mandos are clearly signed as well.
This course offers challenges for any level of disc golfer by way of having three signed layouts. The shortest Red layout makes for a nice rec-level round that would be approachable for beginners. The medium White layout (what I played) is a good challenge for your average disc golfer - hole distances average about 85 m (278'). The long Blue layout provides the closest thing I found in Iceland to a championship level round - adding another 426 m (1400') of total distance to the Whites.
The other striking thing about this course is the elevation changes. There are significant uphill and downhill fairways, "flat" holes with elevation changes just off the fairway, and precarious basket positions. Hole 11 is the most dramatic. This has a top-of-the-world shot from the tee. It plays 152 m (499') from the long Blue tee, or 116 m (381') from the White tee. It's a steep enough downhill that big arms will probably be able to reach the basket. For those of us who don't throw as far though, the fairway is quite narrow - no wider than a flat technical fairway would be. This gives it way more of a technical feel than your typical downhill bomber hole.
Besides #11, I really liked #7 (a big left turn playing uphill in the forest), #9 (a straight downhill shot with a moderately wide fairway but a double mando halfway down), and #17 (a flat and mostly open hole but with these unique "rock bunkers" guarding the approach to the basket). Picture a sand trap at a ball golf course, but filled with small rocks instead of sand. I wondered if these fill with water at certain times of year (there otherwise is no water in play on the course).
The equipment here is mostly great. The baskets are yellow banded DiscGolfPark models. The tee pads are large cuts of turf mounted perfectly flat. The multiple layouts are for the most part accomplished via 2-3 tees per hole and a single basket, although #10 had two installed baskets. Tee signs indicated that multiple pin positions exist on some holes as well.
Speaking of those tee signs, there is a really nice one at one of the tees on each hole (always at either Blue or White). These signs are SO nice - besides having all the info you could ask for, they are just a joy to look at with the dark green background. Among the nicest looking tee signs I have ever seen. The other tees have simpler but still passable little signs, with the hole number and distance.
There are benches at most Blue tees, and a couple of trash cans scattered around. Besides the standard DiscGolfPark welded arrows, there are also a few other navigational signs nailed to trees.
There is a large kiosk at the parking lot, complete with course map. Behind that is what I believe was a small pro shop (closed when I visited on a Tuesday afternoon, unfortunately), three practice baskets, and the second nicest driving range I have ever seen (after Eagles Crossing in Missouri, USA). The driving range has four more practice baskets, each at different distances off of the five tee pads all in line.