CROATIA Golf Park Dubrovnik, Dubrovnik

Late last year, Greg Norman visited Croatia, where he pitched a proposal to build a golf complex atop Srd Hill, overlooking the city of Dubrovnik.

Srd Hill (a.k.a. Mount Srd) is certainly an appealing site, as it looms more than 1,300 feet above Dubrovnik and offers inspiring views of both the ancient walled city and the Adriatic Sea. The hill was a popular hangout until 1991, when, during Croatia’s war of independence, the cable car that took tourists up and down was destroyed. Now the hill, which is difficult to climb, is rarely visited and stands as a symbol of times that Dubrovnik would love to forget.

So we’re sure that the city fathers and Croatia’s tourism officials listened closely to Norman and his colleagues, for they are eager to establish Dubrovnik as a vacation destination. No doubt, many of them agreed with Ivan Kusalic, the director of Razvoj Golf and a member of the development team, when he called the venture a “project of national interest.”

And we’re sure that they didn’t need to remind themselves that various developers have been trying to develop the property on Srd Hill since 2003, if not before.

Norman and Kusalic are part of Golf Development Company, Ltd., which plans to build a resort called Golf Park Dubrovnik. The resort is expected to consist of a hotel (maybe two), a spa, meeting space, and, perhaps most important, a means of linking the property to the city.

Golf Park Dubrovnik has been called Croatia’s biggest current development venture. Norman will design its golf complex, which will consist of a private 18-hole course (possibly a tournament-worthy layout), a public six- to nine-hole course designed for beginners, and a Norman-branded practice center.

Norman is also one of the partners in Golf Development Company, which owns about 800 acres. Another partner is Braslav Turcic, who served as a consultant to a German group that tried to build a similar project, called Golf Park Srd, on the property in 2003.

Today an Israeli arms dealer, Aaron Frankel, owns the site. Frankel has been trying to build a golf course on the property for several years; he met with Jack Nicklaus in 2006, presumably to discuss the course’s design.

If Golf Park Dubrovnik is ever completed, it would be Croatia’s fourth golf property.