Mike Weir and Ian Andrew haven't yet landed a commission to design a new golf course, but they’re just a signature away from doing their first renovation.
This summer, the duo -- Weir is Canada’s top professional golfer, and Andrew is the nation’s most promising architect -- will begin an overhaul of the Blue course at Club Laval-sur-le-Lac in suburban Montreal. The course opened with nine holes in 1917, and the club added a second nine in 1994.
“We are days away from signing the contract,” the club's greens chairman told the Toronto Globe & Mail.
The renovation has been in the works for a year or more. After some debate, the club's members approved it last fall.
“It’s always a generational thing,” the greens chairman explained. “The younger members want to change, but the older generation doesn’t.”
The Blue course is scheduled to reopen in May 2013. The Globe & Mail reports that Weir and Andrew plan to transform the track into “a member-friendly course that is also strong enough to test Canadian Open players” -- a task that's not easily or often accomplished. It's possible that a better professional test could be found at Club Laval-sur-le-Lac’s Green course, which hosted the Canadian Open in 1962.
Weir and Andrew became a design item in March 2009. Last year they were also tapped to create master plans for future renovations of Islington Golf Club in suburban Toronto and Truro Golf Club in central Nova Scotia.
philippines Another Reason To Visit Cebu
A Korean group wants to build a resort community, featuring what's been described as “an 18-hole golf course of international standards,” on Cebu Island.
The course will be the centerpiece of Queen's Castle Golf Club, which aims to lure the Korean tourists who travel to Cebu in an attempt to escape their nation's bitter winters and steep greens fees.
The club will take shape in Medellin, a city of 45,000 that's located in the northern tip of the island. The Philippine Star says that 200 Koreans go to Medellin every week “just to play golf.” These days they have two venues to enjoy: Mercedes Plantation Golf & Country Club in Medellin, which features an 18-hole course designed by Frankie Minoza, and Verdemar Golf Club in San Remigio, which has a Gary Player-designed track.
By the way, Player has also designed another course on the island, Alta Vista Golf & Country Club in Cebu City.
Queen's Castle is being developed by URI Development Corporation. Besides the golf course, URI plans to build some condos, a hotel, a spa, and other attractions.
wales Down the Drain in Coal Country
Carmarthenshire Council has waved the white flag. It's searching for a private group willing to assume management of its money-losing golf course.
The 18-hole Parc Garnant Golf Course, located outside the village of Ammanford and within a veritable stone's throw of Brecon Beacons National Park, was built on a former open-cast coal mine and opened in 1997. In 2004, according to the BBC, the Golf Union of Wales named it the best new course of the year.
Better late than never, I guess.
Unfortunately, the notoriety hasn't translated into rounds, and the course is expected to lose about $240,000 this year -- too much for the local government to handle. To help the course turn a profit, it needs professional help.
“It is a great course with stunning views of the Brecon Beacons,” a councilmember told the BBC. “There is a lot of potential there.”
The council says it's received more than 20 inquiries about the lease, including a pair of what's been described as “firm proposals.”
england A Course To Test Your Metal
If you've ever dreamed of playing golf with a rock star, get out your checkbook. Astbury Hall Golf Club is taking memberships.
The club features an 18-hole, 6,500-yard course that was designed by K. K. Downing, the lead guitarist of Judas Priest, the world-famous heavy-metal band. It's located on Downing's estate in Shropshire, England.
Don't fret: the club won't be filled with stuffy Brits, and its website notes that it “does not enforce a dress code policy.” Back in 2009, when the course's first nine holes opened, Downing told the Birmingham Post that he was intent on creating “a top-class golf center with no snobbery.”
“Astbury Hall has been born from my experiences on golf courses from around the world,” Downing said in a recently issued press statement. “I am fortunate enough to have played some of the finest the world has to offer, and I feel privileged to have been able to create a property that encompasses all my cherished experiences. I have been lucky to work in two industries that have allowed me to be so creative, especially golf course architecture, which has enabled the visions in my head to be transformed beautifully into a reality.”
Doesn't sound like a typical guitar hero, does he? You'd almost think that people were putting words in his mouth.
The course's second nine opened last fall. Downing didn't mention it, so I will: Calum Todd, a British architect, helped to design the course.
Downing, who’s 56, bought Astbury Hall in 1985 and has since acquired some additional property, giving him a total of 720 acres. He hopes to eventually have a 27-hole complex, along with 14 holiday lodges and eight other housing units.
And in case you're wondering, Astbury Hall is no rag-tag operation. Downing has hired Troon Golf to manage the property.
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