“Bizarre, surreal and exclusive, Pyongyang Golf Course sits between a rock and a hard place, providing a morally conflicting spot of fun within an otherwise dark, oppressive nation of well publicised human rights violations. Situated across arguably the most secretive border on earth, the course is guarded by well over ten million active, reserve and paramilitary personnel and requires express permission to visit—Augusta eat your heart out. Technically a public course, you won’t find a soul here, it’s played only by a handful of the regime’s elite, and well…open to tourists both crazy enough to find themselves in North Korea and who want to play golf. Apparently that’s rare.”
That’s the opening paragraph of a fascinating description of a visit to North Korea’s only golf course by Elliott (no last name given), a youngish resident of Hobart, Tasmania, who is hoping to visit every country on earth and is chronicling his travels on a website called earthnutshell.com. If the rest of his adventures are anything like his round at Pyongyang GC, he is worth following. And that’s him, above, with one of his guides on the 15th hole, where he had his only birdie of the round.
