The Week That Was: July 4, 2010

philippines Hanafil Will Blow Its Deadline

"All is not well at the old Binictican golf course" in Subic Bay, reports the Manila Standard.

Hanafil Golf & Tour, Inc. can't rustle up the money it needs to transform the 18-hole golf course into a "world-class" 27-hole complex. Hanafil and its parent company, Hana Tours -- South Korea’s biggest travel agency -- have all but admitted that they won't be able to complete the project by November 2010, the deadline they'd agreed to.

But help could be near. The Standard says Antonio “Tonyboy” Cojuangco has agreed to buy at least a 50-percent stake in Hanafil, mostly because the Binictican golf course will complement his nearby Nabasan beach resort.

switzerland How Orascom Climbs Mountains

Sand or snow -- they both serve the same purpose for Sami Sawiris, the Egyptian hotelier who developed the El Gouna resort on the Red Sea and is now building a ski community in the Swiss Alps.

The El Gouna model has made Sawiris a billionaire, and he's using it to build the Andrematt community in Switzerland. Andrematt will eventually become a veritable town with villas, apartments, hotels, and a golf course, and Sawiris' Orascom Development Holding will control all of it, down to the garbage collection.

"Since we provide everything," Sawiris says, "we make money."

canada The Anatomy of Cougar Rock's Failure

Seven hotels, a casino, a slew of cabins and time-share condos, a guest ranch, a health spa, a campground, and a championship golf course -- Cougar Rock seemed to have plenty going for it. But 10 years after it was originally proposed, the big resort in Alberta is all but dead, and the developers and the province are playing the blame game.

"It's an ugly mess," the Edmonton Journal says, "that could get even uglier."

canada A Preview of Lambton's Makeover

Inside Toronto got a preview of the redesigned 27-hole golf complex at Lambton Golf & Country Club in Etobicoke, which will officially open next month.

The club, which has been closed for nearly a year, hired Rees Jones to oversee the biggest overhaul in its history. The club has already spent $7 million, and Inside Toronto reports that still more upgrades are in the works.

Lambton, one of the oldest clubs in suburban Toronto (it opened in 1902), hosted the Canadian Open in 1907, 1910, 1925, and 1941.

abu dhabi Kyle Phillips, Yas Man

In a press release, Kyle Phillips talks about the new golf course he's designed on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi.

“What makes Yas Links so intriguing,” says the Granite Bay, California-based architect, “is how traditional it is, because nothing like it has ever been attempted before in the UAE. There are a lot of very good courses in the UAE, but up until now there hasn’t been anything that would feature on a golf connoisseurs ‘must play’ list.”

Phillips is responsible for some highly regarded tracks -- among them Kingsbarns Golf Links in St. Andrews, Scotland and the Dundonald course at Loch Lomond Golf Club in Scotland -- but he says the three finishing holes at Yas Links “are three of the best closing holes of any course in the world I know.”

poland A New Clubhouse at Modry Las

The best golf course in Poland has broken ground on its clubhouse.

We're talking about Modry Las Golf Club, which features a one-year-old, Gary Player-designed course that's been ranked among Europe's top 100. The clubhouse will include all the usual attractions -- a restaurant, a sports bar, a pro shop -- along with 11 guest suites, an exhibition gallery, and an indoor practice area.

"We want to create a place where members and visitors not only enjoy the experience of playing a world-class course but can savor their time off the course as well," said Arthur Gromadzki, the club's chairman.