The people in charge of the golf event at the 2016 Olympics haven't yet settled on a course designer, but they've apparently settled on a site.
“A site has been earmarked,” reports Peter Dawson, the president of the International Golf Federation, which is overseeing the search.
The property is in “a tremendous location,” Dawson said in a story reported by SportingLife.com, “very close to the beach and only three or four kilometers from the Olympic village.”
Dawson also told the website that Rio de Janeiro's Olympic organizing committee is currently negotiating to acquire the property. “We hope to have more news on that in the next two or three weeks,” he said.
Next up for the Powers That Be: selecting the course's designer.
According to Dawson, “about 15 companies” have asked to be considered, and the winner will be selected sooner rather than later. The list includes both share-the-limelight teams (Jack Nicklaus and Annika Sorenstam, Greg Norman and Lorena Ochoa) and noteworthy sole practitioners (Arnold Palmer, Gary Player).
“It's a part of the world where the grass grows very quickly,” Dawson says, “but we need to determine the architect and get going on it this year, otherwise it's going to be a rush.”
maldives Troon Rides the Wave
The world's least likely golf venture appears to be picking up steam.
Troon Golf, a blue-ribbon management company, has signed on as a “technical advisor” to the developers who aim to build a “floating” resort near Male, the capital of the Maldives. According to a press release issued by Scottsdale, Arizona-based Troon, the to-be-named resort now has a construction schedule -- the opening date is set for 2015 -- and will include “state-of-the-art golf courses.”
And you thought I was nuts when I blogged about the project last September. Heck, pictures of the concept are now available!
The Maldives is an island nation in the Indian Ocean, roughly 600 miles off the southern coast of India. It's the lowest country on the planet -– the vast majority of it is only about three feet above sea level -– and, if the tides of global climate change continue on their current path, it’s in danger of being flooded into extinction.
Last year, the Maldives' government hired Dutch Docklands to explore the idea of building a resort on man-made islands that would both attract tourists and draw attention to its predicament. I'll confess that I never really believed the resort would get off the drawing board. Now I'm not so sure.
Besides its “world-class golf facility,” the resort will include houses and a hotel. Troon's press release says that it'll take shape on a “picturesque site” (in the world of press releases, there's really no other kind) just a short drive from the island's airport.
china The Price of Privilege
Does golf cost too much on Hainan Island in China?
China Radio International, a state-owned media company, reports that the number of golf-obsessed travelers visiting Hainan Island from Japan and Korea is declining, in part because rounds of golf have become too expensive. With fewer deep-pocketed vacationers to fill time sheets, says CRI, “calls for more affordable golf or making golf a mass sport have grown loud.”
Affordable golf in China, one of the most expensive golf markets on earth? A mass sport in a nation that habitually divides itself into haves and have-nots?
Not anytime soon, I don't think. A nation doesn't begin to deliver “affordable golf” -- that is, golf priced to suit its people and the amount of money in their wallets -- until it develops its own unique, up-from-the-masses golf culture. In China, a johnny-come-lately to golf, the process will likely take decades, no matter how much money the government decides to throw at it.
Through its short history, China's golf business has mostly followed the money, tailoring its products for upwardly mobile families who long to live in houses overlooking golf courses and on free-spending travelers eager to fill hotels, restaurants, and spas in places like Hainan Island. CRI says as much when it notes that golf in the People's Republic “is considered an exclusive pastime for the rich and privileged.”
Such a culture doesn't change overnight. It needs to evolve.
Still, it seems that at least one of Hainan Island's resorts might be willing to down-scale its operations.
“Making golf available and more affordable to the public,” said a top official of Yalong Bay Golf Club in Sanya, “may mean a reduction of our overall revenue, but it will bring us more profit because we are no longer targeting high-end customers, [which] means we may simplify luxury services, thus reducing costs.”
I'm thinking that Yalong Bay might want to run that idea past its accountants before acting on it.
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