Shameless Self-Promotion, January 2011

So what's happening in golf development as we kick off the new year?

“A little Napoleon” has hired Kyle Phillips to design a golf course in the Netherlands. Economically speaking, Gary Browning, a Canadian designer, believes that “things are ready to loosen up.” (Here's proof: He's expecting to break ground on at least two new courses this year.) The president of Uganda believes that Murchison Falls National Park could use a golf course. Brit Stenson and Ron Fream are working on new courses in Vietnam. Greg Norman is working on two.

What else?

Fream is also designing the first 18-hole course for a ski resort in Hebei Province, China that could eventually have five 18-hole courses. The new mayor of a small town in Slovenia -- people call him the “Obama of Piran” -- wants to build a golf course. Harry Colt is serving as the inspiration for another new course in the Netherlands. Joe Jemsek is designing a golf course in one of the world's most polluted cities.

You can read about these projects, as well as others, in January's World Edition of the Golf Course Report. We've even got an item about a British consultant who believes that Ireland's golf business won't get back on its feet until about 50 of its 433 golf clubs close.

That sounds familiar, doesn't it?

If you'd like a copy of this month's World Edition, give me a call at 301/680-9460 or send an e-mail to me at WorldEdition@aol.com.