The Week That Was, october 30, 2011

vietnam The Sound and the Fury

Vietnam has established exactly what a nation of 5,000 golfers needs: An equity golf club.

Excuse the sarcasm. I've long had queasy feelings about golf development in Vietnam, and now I'm starting to get nauseous.

Here's the news:

The developer of Saigon Golf Club, a group called Saigon Development & Investment Corporation -- a name that in and of itself gives me some discomfort -- has begun to sell ownership interests into its plush club, which will feature a golf course designed by Greg Norman. SDIC is hoping to sell a total of 600 shares, at a price that hasn't yet been made public.

According to Thanh Nien News, a press release issued by SDIC notes that “shareholders can choose to apply for membership or treat their shares purely as an investment.”

Get 'em while they're hot! Use the profits to send your kids to college!

Saigon Golf Club will be part of a 335-acre community in suburban Ho Chi Minh City, the metropolis once known as Saigon. At build-out, the community is expected to consist of a few hundred villas and condos, a hotel, a “city spa” managed by Six Senses Resorts & Spas, a health and fitness center, restaurants, and other attractions. A year or so ago, at the golf course's ceremonial ground-breaking, SDIC pledged to create Vietnam’s “most exclusive residential, golf, and country club community.”

A side note: Roughly one-quarter of the community's villas will be Greg Norman “signature” units. These “Reflection by Norman” villas are to be located on a private island, and their design will be based on “Norman-inspired” principles.

As for the club's 18-hole, championship-length course, it's scheduled to open in late 2012 or early 2013. But here's a let-the-buyer-beware moment for prospective shareholders: SDIC has said that the track will be “typical of [Norman's] trademark aggressive layouts.”

I presume that any members who get discouraged by the course's difficulty will take solace in the fact that they've bought into what SDIC has called “the best in golfing facilities as well as a luxurious atmosphere of private club living.”

One other thing: the story in Thanh Nien News says the layout has been “recognized as one of the world’s best seven golf courses under construction."

By whom? I'd very much like to see such a list.

Some information in this post was originally published in the January 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

abu dhabi What Happens to a Dream Deferred?

Remember the visually arresting, post-modernist clubhouse that was supposed to support the golf courses at the Saadiyat Island community in Abu Dhabi?

Well, it hasn't yet been built. The dozers aren't scheduled to arrive until the golf club attracts enough members to make the expenditure worthwhile.

And what about the community's second course, the one to be designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.?

No, it hasn't been built either. Heck, hardly anybody even talks about it anymore. Like Frank Gehry's artful clubhouse, an expression of the psychic delights sparked by oil-fueled boom times, it's become yet another victim of the global economic crash.


In fact, none of the grandest attractions promised for sprawling Saadiyat Island -- the Guggenheim museum, the Louvre museum, the campus of New York University -- have yet seen the light of day.

Not to worry, though. Everything that's been promised -- the houses, the hotels, the office space, the marinas -- will come in due time. Just ask the community's developer, Tourism Development & Investment Company.

“The timing has changed substantially, but we have not taken anything out,” TDIC's chief financial officer recently told the National. “The master plan stays.”

But for how long? In a desert, the sands of time are mere dust in the wind.

Today Saadiyat Island, which has been planned to spread over nearly 6,700 acres, is pretty much an empty place. It has a golf course, a Gary Player “signature” track that opened last year, and a beach club that opened last month. A pair of resort-style hotels, a St. Regis and a Park Hyatt, are expected to open next month.

And there's a visitors' center, complete with a scale model of Saadiyat Island's glorious ambitions. It's where the dream dies hard.

So what comes next?

TDIC, the development arm of Abu Dhabi’s tourism authority, says that Saadiyat Island's next big crowd-attractor will be the Louvre Abu Dhabi. When? In 2014, probably. Tentatively. Nothing chiseled in stone.

“If the world comes back strong and the demand starts to grow and tourism starts to build into the region at the rate that it has over the last three years -- if that continues, 2020 could absolutely be possible to build out a large majority of Saadiyat,” says the CFO. “If it slows down at all, 2020 extends.”

The message: These days, promises are meaningless. Circumstances are beyond anybody's control. Even the best-laid plans are peppered with contingencies and best-case scenarios and fallback positions. We live in a time of uncertainty. A world of “if.”

Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

peru A Taste of Pizá

A Mexican golf architect and the Peruvian Golf Association are hoping to raise enough money to build a nine-hole, beginner-friendly golf course in suburban Lima.

José Agustin Pizá, the principal of Pizá Golf Architecture, hopes to build the course and an accompanying practice center in Cruz de Hueso, on a 56-acre parcel owned by the association.

“This story has gone national in Peru, and I know there are some businesses that are interested in donating to help make it happen,” Pizá recently told Golf Course Architecture. “The involvement of the national government, through the sports federation, is huge. That is very rare in Latin America.”

Pizá, a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, isn't taking a fee for the design work. In Mexico, he's responsible for two courses: a nine-hole, par-3 layout at Puerto Escondido Golf Course on Baja California Sur, and a nine-hole addition at Club Campestre in Tampico, in the state of Tamaulipas.

He's also served as an on-site project manager for Gary Player Design, during the construction of Player's course at the CostaBaja resort in La Paz.

Pizá hopes to start the work in Cruz de Hueso next year. Depending on how the fundraising campaign goes, the facility may open three holes at a time over several years.

Golf Course Architecture reports that the track will be “the first publicly accessible golf course in Peru,” a claim that may not be true. Of the 14 courses that WorldGolf.com lists in Peru, 10 are said to offer public play.

talking points India: The Next Big Thing?

Treading on a very slippery slope, KPMG continues to offer advice to would-be developers.

In a recently published “country snapshot,” the accounting firm’s Golf Advisory Practice opined, with some hedging, that India “may need to build up to 100 new courses to satisfy the demand over the next decade.”

The crux of KPMG’s argument rides on the belief that India’s existing stock of golf properties -– 196 “registered” courses and as many as 35 “unregistered” courses -– is inadequate, considering the demand that will inevitably be driven by the nation’s rapidly growing, ever-wealthier middle class.

“Assuming that in the next 10 years, the proportion of active golfers doubles, to 300,000,” KPMG argues, “then India would have to build between 90-100 new courses to accommodate the increased demand.”

Mind you, this is only 10 golf courses per year. Still, the U.S. golf industry has learned that logic founded on such assumptions is best served with a stiff drink.

Here's the sad part: KPMG understands how to best grow the game in India. “The sport,” it says, “needs to be supported by an increase in accessible courses that focus on affordability to a wider audience.” But KPMG also knows how the bread is likely to be buttered, as it predicts that most of the nation's new courses will unfortunately be built as part of U.S.-style suburban residential communities.

“Future course development seems inevitable and may need to come hand-in-hand with real estate opportunity,” KPMG sadly concludes.

And we all know where that eventually leads: To a golf business whose foundation rests mostly on money, not on a passion for the sport. To development decisions that are put into the hands of people who, because they have dollar signs in their eyes, can't see past the bottom line.

A case in point: A month or so ago, the Asian Golf Course Owners Association announced a plan to create a $150 million investment fund (it hopes the fund might eventually swell to $1 billion) that will be used to underwrite the construction of roughly 150 golf properties in India over the next five years. Prominent among the venues to be built: “golf real estate” and “resort golf courses.”

“We look at golf as a sport only,” the brains behind this harebrained scheme said in a press statement, “but if you dig deeper, you would realize that golf is a green gold mine waiting to be discovered.”

Such thinking isn't a plan for growing the game. It's a plan for exploiting an opportunity.

There's gold, and there's fool's gold. Sometimes the difference isn't immediately apparent.

Much of the information in this post originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

slovakia “The Best” Is Yet To Come

Jonathan Davison’s first solo-designed golf course will be built in Slovakia, as part of a resort community that’s now wrapping up construction on a Nicklaus Design layout.

Penati Golf Resort is taking shape in Senica, a town roughly 60 miles north of Bratislava, the nation’s capital. The 300-acre community was originally to be known as Gold Golf & Country Club, but a new investor has taken over and tapped Davison to help turn it into what’s been called “the best golf resort in Central Europe.”

Davison is keeping details about the project under his hat until he writes a press release, but a couple of months ago he told me that the site is “stunning” and that “it resembles the heathlands around Surrey -– pines, sand, and heather in places.” He called it “just perfect for golf.”

In contrast to Nicklaus’s course, a 7,228-yard resort-style layout, Davison reports that his course will be “more rustic, natural, and have a more traditional feel.”

The Nicklaus course has largely been seeded. Construction on Davison's course is expected to begin in early 2012.

Golf Course Architecture recently reported that Davison’s course will be shaped by Mick McShane, who's been described as “da Vince with a dozer.” McShane made his reputation with two courses in St. Andrews, Scotland: the Castle Course (designed by David McLay Kidd) and Kingsbarns Golf Links (Mark Parsinen and Kyle Phillips).

Davison was formerly an associate at a British firm, Ford Golf Group. While there, he helped to design Sobienie Royal Golf & Country Club in suburban Warsaw, Poland. His new firm is called Create Golf.

Some information in this post originally appeared in the August 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

The Week That Was, october 23, 2011

brazil Let the Games Begin

The search for the designer of the venue that will host the golf competition in the 2016 Olympics has officially begun.

The interested parties -- a group that reportedly includes Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and the co-ed teams of Jack Nicklaus & Annika Sorenstam and Greg Norman & Lorena Ochoa -- will be filing their applications next week. The dog-and-pony shows are scheduled to take place in November and December, and the winner will be announced on December 23, just in time to ruin the holidays for some of the world's most famous designers.

Nota bene: Nobody is going to get rich off this commission, which has shaped up to be the quintessential high-profile, low-pay gig. The design fee is a measly $300,000.

The bid process is straightforward except for this twist: The firm that wins the contract will be required to maintain an office in sunny Rio de Janeiro, the city that hosts the games. I presume this clause was inserted to help fill some of the vacant office space in Brazil's former capital.

The Olympic organizers have called the search a “contest,” but it feels more like a charade to me. If the committee members haven't already settled on a designer (or a design team), then they've surely whittled down the group of usual suspects to a short list. I don't believe the planet's biggest sporting competition is going to entrust the design of an important venue to an unknown, or to a virtual unknown. There's too much money and privilege at stake.

In other words, under-the-radar architects need not apply.

japan Rees Jones: The Global Conquest Begins

Slowly but surely, the Open Doctor is going global.

Rees Jones recently spent some time in Japan, celebrating his makeover of the West course at Ibaraki Golf Club in suburban Osaka. The course has been under the knife throughout 2011, as part of the club's itch to secure a high-profile professional tournament.

A press release issued by Jones' firm states that the newly doctored layout “undoubtedly will rank among Japan's top championship-caliber venues.”


Jones has given the course, which was designed by Seiichi Inoue and opened in 1960, what he describes as “a full-blown renovation.” He's made numerous changes to the track's design elements and, in the words of the press release, “reworked the entire strategic framework of the layout to keep it current with equipment advances.”

Translated, that phrase means Jones stretched the 7,056-yard layout to 7,407 yards and relocated the hazards appropriately. Even in Japan, chicks still dig the long ball.

“Like top tournament courses touched up by Rees Jones in the U.S.,” the club's captain said in the press release, “the redesigned West Course now demands precise, strategic golf shots by professional competitors.”

One other thing: Like many of Japan's courses, Ibarki was built with twin greens, one covered with warm-weather grass and the other one covered with cool-weather grass. Jones eliminated the duality and fashioned a single, all-season green on each hole.

The renovation was overseen by Bryce Swanson, one of Jones' top associates.

Jones' reputation as “the Open Doctor,” which makes cachet-hungry foreign clubs salivate, earned him the commission. “We highly value the fact that Rees Jones is recognized as the Open Doctor for his redesign of so many famous courses that have hosted major championships,” Ibaraki's captain said.

The renovation at Ibaraki was Jones' first commission in Japan and one of only a relative handful of jobs that he's done in foreign nations. To be sure, though, it won't be his last. Given the power of his prescriptions, the Open Doctor will no doubt be on call to heal ailing and aspiring courses all over the international tournament circuit.

Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

vietnam The Fix Is In

Too many government employees in Vietnam are playing too much golf. And one of the nation's ministers has decided to do something about it.

According to the BBC, the minister of transportation believes that “too much time spent on the course had affected [his employees'] performance at work.” A statement on the department's website reportedly suggests that a growing obsession with golf -- the game the Chinese call “green opium” -- has led to “the slow handling of affairs, which affects progress on projects and general operations.”

So, in an attempt to improve productivity, the minister of transportation has declared golf courses off-limits. Any employees who can't resist golf's temptations will have to get their fix the old-fashioned way: By keeping their habit a secret.

Of course, such draconian measures are unnecessary in the United States, because hardly anybody here is working anymore.

talking points “China Will Implode Eventually”

Peter Harradine has never tried to hide his disdain for “championship” and “signature” golf, and he's long advocated the construction of shorter, more interesting courses -- the kind of courses, he believes, that “the average golfer actually wants.”

Not everyone shares Harradine's philosophies, to be sure, but somebody out there is buying what he's selling. These days the Switzerland-based architect is wearing out his passport, as he has golf courses in planning or under construction in Morocco, Italy, Egypt, Russia, Austria, Serbia, Oman, Tunisia, and several other nations.

Harradine, a third-generation architect, recently took some time out to talk with KPMG's golf group. At one point in the conversation, he was asked to identify the world's development hot spots. Here's his answer:


Eastern Europe is still a strong market for us. . . . Italy is losing a lot of tourists because it does not have enough golf courses. Greece also has huge potential, but, despite their expressed interest in developing their golf market, they don’t seem to provide the right conditions for the building of courses. Their troublesome economy is not helping, either. . . .

Ironically, Switzerland is one of the only countries where the number of golfers increases every year and finance for the construction of courses is easy to obtain. Unfortunately, the building permits and procedures are so complicated that investors are scared off. . . .

Africa and South America also have enormous potential, as they have few golfers and such fantastic scenery and environment. . . .

In my opinion, China will implode eventually, and that will influence the success of golf in that particular country. You can’t have such a polarized society with extreme affluence and poverty and expect the economy to grow rapidly without problems.

I hope it doesn’t implode in my lifetime. In golf market terms, it would affect many European golf design businesses, as many of my professional colleagues would return to the traditional markets, which would greatly increase competition in an already depressed industry. It’s in everyone’s interests that the Chinese market remains a huge success. . . .

wales A Fourth for Celtic Manor?

The Ryder Cup, now a fading memory at Celtic Manor, left two blessings in its wake: A boom in business and a renewed effort to build a fourth golf course.

Earlier this year Terry Matthews, the resort’s owner, reported that hotel bookings are up by nearly 10 percent -– nothing to sneeze at, considering that the Welsh hotel industry is, as a whole, down by 20 percent. “The billion viewers-plus who watched the Ryder Cup have really put us on the map,” he told the Western Mail.

As a result, Matthews aims to cash in. Celtic Manor Hotel & Country Club plans to add more hotel rooms, a new ballroom, and another 18-hole golf course.


“People thought 30 years ago that I was crazy to build a resort here, but now we’re rated as Europe’s top golf resort and the sport venue of the year for 2011,” Matthews told the Mail. “We’ve put Newport on the sporting map, and Wales as well.”

Matthews was born in a maternity hospital that once operated on the Celtic Manor property. He bought the hospital in 1980, converted it into what’s become the resort’s Manor House, and began accumulating more land. Today he owns 1,400 acres, upon which can be found a pair of hotels (330 total rooms), a 200-year-old inn, condos, meeting space, a spa, and a slew of recreational amenities.

Celtic Manor’s main attractions, however, are its ever-evolving golf courses. The first one, Roman Road, was designed by Robert Trent Jones and opened in 1995. The next year Matthews added Coldra Woods, a par-59 practice course, and he followed it in 1999 with Wentworth Hills, a track designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.

The Coldra Woods and Wentworth Hills courses were eventually razed. Colin Montgomerie used parts of both tracks to create the resort’s Montgomerie course, which debuted in 2007, and Ross McMurray of European Golf Design used roughly half of Wentworth Hills to create the Twenty Ten Course, which was expressly created to host the 2010 Ryder Cup.

The resort’s fourth course isn’t a new idea, as it’s been on the drawing board since the late 1990s. Matthews, who doesn’t golf, has provided no specifics about the kind of course he plans to build, but he told the Mail that his objective at Celtic Manor is to offer three championship-length tracks.

“Whoever said I’d take a back seat after the Ryder Cup is nuts,” he said in his conversation with the paper. “People are surprised when they see that the golf is continuing, but of course we are carrying on. Once I commit to something, I don’t back down.”

Some information in this post originally appeared in the July 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

The Week That Was, october 16, 2011

russia Finally, A Little Life

Earlier this month, in a post about the soon-to-open PGA National Golf Course in suburban Moscow, I griped about the disappointment that Russia has been for those of us who once believed that the nation would become a major player in golf development.

So, as part of my self-assigned obligation to give credit where it's due, I must note that a new golf course is under construction in suburban St. Petersburg. The course will be the featured attraction at Gorky Golf Club, which Golf Course Architecture says will be “the first 18-hole course in the region of Russia’s second city.”

Gorky's course has been designed by a Finn, Lassi Pekka Tilander. The Espoo-based architect, a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, has designed a handful of 18-hole courses in Finland, one in Poland, and two in Estonia, including a 27-hole complex at Estonian Golf & Country Club in suburban Tallinn.

The construction is being done by a Russian firm, Geokam Golf Construction, which, in a happy coincidence, helped to build PGA National. The job was Geokam's first in golf.

Gorky will be the centerpiece of a community that features as many as 250 houses and a hotel. If the next couple of winters in Russia aren't too long and too cold, the course could open in 2013.

If you're wondering if Gorky might be the start of something big for Russian golf, I'm certainly not counting on it. At least not yet.

china Player Takes a Partner

In an attempt to drum up more work in China, and to boost the value of its multi-dimensional “brand,” Gary Player Design has hitched up with a Beijing-based marketing firm.

Player's new partner is Axis Leisure Management, a firm run by Justin Downes. The description of Axis offered by a press release announcing the deal is a pile of dull boilerplate that I won't bore you with. Suffice to say that the company doesn't specialize in golf, let alone golf design, and appears to be primarily interested in selling the golf-related goods and services that Player's firm provides.

To be sure, Axis has plenty of extras to choose from. The press release states that the firm aims to “support the development and service of [Player's] brand portfolio, including Gary Player Apparel, Gary Player Wine, Black Knight Enterprises, and the Player Foundation.”

Conspicuously missing from this list is any mention of Player's stud farm in South Africa, which presumably has all the business it can handle.

Player may be hoping to set his cash registers a-ringing, but he's no stranger to China's golfers. To date, he's completed at least a half-dozen courses in the People's Republic, among them Hidden Tiger Golf Club in Anhui Province, Zhaoqing Resort & Golf Club in Guangdong Province, Nanjing Zhongshan International Golf Club in Jiangsu Province, and Sand River Golf Club in Shenzhen.

As far as forthcoming courses are concerned, Player's website lists three projects in planning, including Jiangyin Yushanwan International Country Club in Jiangsu Province and Longping Jiuhua Sports & Leisure Park in Hunan Province.

Of course, none of these courses can break ground until China's central government lifts its ban on golf construction. But neither Player nor Axis has a voice on that matter.

“Our objective," Downes said in the press release, “is to develop new opportunities for Gary Player Design and Player Real Estate and to offer our expertise in building luxury leisure and hospitality brands to the valued past, present, and future clients of The Player Group.”

It's hard to believe that there are people in the world who actually talk like that.

united states Lucky Us

“Everything in life,” Donald Trump once said, “is luck.”

Well, maybe not everything. But Americans sure do like to talk and think about luck, even if it's just dumb luck or beginner's luck or Andrew Luck or those tasty Lucky Charms. And sometimes we try to find luck in strange places.

A case in point: Men's Health has published a list of the 100 luckiest cities in the United States. This is no mere seat-of-the-pants appraisal. There's a method to the madness. The way the magazine sees it, the cities that rank highest on the lucky scale are those whose residents win the most lotteries and sweepstakes, make the most holes-in-one, hardly ever get hit by lightning, rarely get crushed to death by falling objects, and lose the least money at the track.

San Diego, California sits at the top of the list, but our nation's “lucky” cities are literally all over the map. The top 20, for instance, consists of cities in 14 states, from sea to shining sea. The group is led by California (four cities), but three other states (Texas, Nevada, and, believe it or not, Nebraska) each have two cities in the top 20.

You may be wondering where Las Vegas ranks. Answer: Number 7. Talk about your lucky dogs.

If you're looking for “unlucky” cities, go to Florida. The state has just five cities on the list, and the highest-ranking one, Jacksonville, checks in at number 69. Even worse, three of Florida's cities -- Miami, St. Petersburg, and Tampa -- are ranked in the 90s. All those retirees down there just can't seem to catch a break.

At the very bottom is Charleston, the only city in West Virgina that made the list. Take heart, though, good people of Charleston. The nation is full of other cities, both big and small, that are even less lucky than you.

Finally, if you're feeling bummed out because you live in an unlucky place, Men's Health offers a tidbit that could help you change your personal luck. According to a reputable scientific journal, the magazine says, people who carry good-luck charms perform better on certain memory tests than people who don't. Translated, that means people who simply believe they have luck on their side have an edge on the rest of the competition.

Think about that the next time you need to change your luck.

Shameless Self-Promotion, october 2011

Remember the old TV program “Eight Is Enough”? Well, when it comes to golf in China today, eight isn't nearly enough. Any Chinese developer itching to make a statement these days needs to build at least 10 courses.

Yes, Mission Hills' bigger-is-better concept is spreading. It started in Shenzhen, then went to Hainan Island. And now it's headed to Yunnan Province, at a spread called Sky Oasis Golf Club. The club will be the centerpiece of a 10,000-acre community roughly an hour's drive from Kunming, and it's been master-planned to have 10 golf courses.

“It's all a matter of status and perception,” says the head of the company that's designing the community's third and fourth courses. “They all know the Mission Hills story.”

A report on Sky Oasis is among the featured stories in October's World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

This month, we also provide an answer to a question that isn't asked nearly enough -- Can a country music festival and a golf community make beautiful music together? -- and we reveal the identity of the golf course architect who, upon winning a commission in Northern Ireland, told his client, If I can't get your course into the top 50 of the world, you should shoot me.

Speaking of “must-play” courses, elsewhere in the current issue you'll find a report on the next prospective “world-class” track that's planned in Tasmania, along with notices about other new courses in Australia, Estonia, the Philippines, and Grand Cayman Island.

We also give some ink to Jack Nicklaus, who's been tapped to design both a “signature” course in Brazil and a Nicklaus Legacy course in Argentina, and to Tony Jacklin, who's writing his “signature” on a forthcoming layout in Cuba.

If you're wondering, we do indeed know that China, once the world's hottest golf market, is now all but frozen stiff. But that didn't stop us from writing about the 36-hole complex that Caesars Entertainment wants to build on Hainan Island, or about Retief Goosen's 27-hole complex in Sichuan Province.

Finally, we offer a little tough love to India, which KPMG's Golf Advisory Practice believes could build as many as 100 new courses over the next decade. It isn't that we think India doesn't need more golf courses. We just think Indian developers are going to build the wrong kind of courses.

To get your copy of October's World Edition, give me a call at 301/680-9460 or send an e-mail to me at WorldEdition@aol.com.

china Partners in Crime

Moratoriums be damned: A Singapore-based construction company has secured government approval to build an upscale “eco-tourism” resort in central China.

The resort’s name, at least for now, is a long, dull mouthful: CCM Group International Eco-Tourism Holiday & Leisure Resort.

CCM Group plans to build it on 1,750 acres in Dianjiang County, outside the city of Chongqing (former transliteration: Chungking). The first phase of the project will consist of an 18-hole golf course and a clubhouse. Later, CCM Group plans to add hotels, meeting space, a polo club, and a theme park.

CCM Group, a publicly traded firm, is a holding company whose subsidiaries are mostly involved in commercial and residential projects. It’s led by Joseph Liew (a.k.a. Sen Keong Liew), who’s earned engineering degrees from two English-speaking colleges in Australia.

The company plans to build its resort in four phases over the next three to five years. Golf construction may currently be outlawed in the People’s Republic, but the company has found a willing co-conspirator in Dianjiang County, which has agreed to install the resort’s infrastructure.

The Week That Was, october 9, 2011

hungary Everybody's Got a Hungary Heart

The world-wide economic collapse has claimed another victim, and this time it's an entire nation's golf development industry.

I'm talking about golf development in Hungary, which is, according to a Hungarian business newspaper, currently showing no signs of life. “The economic crisis,” Napi Gazdasag reports, “has brought Hungary's developing golf industry to a halt.”

The newspaper drew its conclusion on this evidence: Construction on golf courses in Csákberény (26 holes) and Bicske (12 holes) has been stopped in midstream, and a planned third course near Lake Balaton hasn't gotten off the drawing boards.

The course in Csákberény, at Csákberény Golf Resort, was designed by a Swedish architect, Magnus Syrén of Syrén–Blomgren Golf Design. I believe the course in Bicske was to be the centerpiece of Budapest Gate Country Club, which is supposedly being developed by an Irish group collaborating with Hungarian partners. The course had been designed by Christy O'Connor, Jr.

The course near Lake Balaton, in Sávoly, was to be an amenity at Balatonring, which was being developed by a Spanish developer, Sedesa. Balatonring has been master-planned to include a Grand Prix race track, a hotel with a wellness center, and a motorcycle school.

To be sure, golf development in Hungary isn't a major economic indicator, and it's dangerous to make grand conclusions off limited evidence. Still, Napi Gazdasag's report is another unwanted piece of bad news for golf and a reflection of the tough times also being endured by other European nations.

While I'm at it, I should note a couple other bits of Hungarian golf news.

First, the Budapest Business Journal reports that the nation currently has seven 18-hole courses, three nine-hole courses, and three six-hole golf courses. Another source says the tally is nine 18-hole courses, one nine-hole course, and three six-hole courses.

Second, one of those courses -- the 18-hole track at Polus Palace Golf Club in Göd -- is for sale. The course is affiliated with a high-end luxury hotel (called Polus Palace) that couldn't attract overnight guests and has consequently gone belly up.

A Hungarian website, CPP-Luxury.com, says that occupancy rates at most of Hungary's luxury hotels fell by 30 percent during the first six months of this year. This is especially discouraging news for the nation's hoteliers, as it comes on top of a dismal 2010, when their business was down by 20 percent from 2009.

thailand Have Clubs, Will Travel

Better news has arrived from Thailand, which is experiencing a surge in golf tourism that could generate as much as $2 billion in revenues next year.

Golfers make up just a small fraction of Thailand's tourist traffic -- just 3 percent of the overall number -- but they spend freely and their numbers are clearly on the rise. More than 500,000 golf travelers were expected to visit Thailand this year, according to the Tourism Authority of Thailand, and the nation could attract as many as 600,000 foreign golf vacationers in 2012.

The golf traffic is significant, because each of those golf-focused vacationers is believed to spend about $3,300 during his or her time in Thailand -- three times the amount that other vacationers spend.

“It could be our best season ever,” a tour operator told Global Travel Industry News. “The political situation is calm, there have been no natural disasters to deter tourism, and Thailand's cultural capability to attract tourists remains streets ahead of other markets.”

What's more, Thailand's golf tourism business is expected to keep growing. If Thailand attracts 30 million foreign inbound tourists by 2015, as the nation's government believes it will, and if the percentage of golfers holds at 3 percent, then the nation will attract 900,000 golfers and ring up $4.5 billion in revenues from them.

A final note: Thailand, which reportedly has 260 golf courses, is said to be Asia's most popular destination for foreign golfers. The world leader is Spain, which attracts nearly 1 million golf tourists annually.

india Player Starts Small

Gary Player's first golf course in India may be shrinking.

A little more than a year ago, the South Carolina-based architect was hired to design an 18-hole course for DLF City, a big planned community in suburban New Delhi. Player's course was to be the second 18-hole track at the city, which is already home to an Arnold Palmer-designed track (at DLF Golf & Country Club) that's hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic and other professional events.

Now the Indian Express is reporting that New Delhi-based DLF, Ltd. has downsized its ambitions and is only planning to build a nine-hole course. The course is expected to open in 2013.

All is not completely lost, however, because the newspaper notes that “there is scope for expanding the course to 18 holes,” although DLF isn't saying when.

Along with Player's course, DLF had originally planned to build some houses, a hotel, a sports complex, and a golf practice center.

Some information in this post originally appeared in the June 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

talking points Carolina on My Mind

Last year's inaugural Symposium on Affordable Golf attracted 75 participants. Can this year's session draw 150?

That's the number Richard Mandell is shooting for, as his grass-roots effort to bring some sense to the golf business continues. The Pinehurst, North Carolina-based architect aims to make the symposium an annual get-together for those who want to have a frank, honest discussion about where the industry has been and where it's going.

“The more people who can attend with fresh ideas, the better we will all be able to transform the game we love into an affordable entity for all,” says Mandell.

So mark your calendars: This year's symposium will be held exactly a month from today, on Monday, November 7. The venue: The Elks Club Lodge in Southern Pines, North Carolina. The cost: Nothing.

Attendees will also have an opportunity to play a round of affordable golf on Tuesday, November 8 at Southern Pines Golf Club. The price: $35.

The headliners at the day-long program include Barney Adams, the founder of Adams Golf; Rob Waldron, the business development manager of Billy Casper Golf; and Mark Woodward, the former executive director of the Golf Course Superintendents Association of America.

The other speakers and discussion leaders are golfers, golf course owners, developers, managers, and superintendents, along with golf course designers.

If you're interested, you can register and learn more at SymposiumOnAffordableGolf.com.

australia Sand Bagged

Is it possible to build a golf course on sandy coastal property in Tasmania without making comparisons to Barnbougle Dunes?

That’s the question Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford, the principals of Crafter + Mogford Golf Strategies, will face as they design a new nine for Bicheno Golf Club, on the island’s east coast. Five of the new holes are likely to resemble those from the existing links at Barnbougle Dunes, as they’ll be located on similarly sandy oceanfront property. The waterfront holes will be connected to the club’s 60-year-old nine-hole track with some heathland-style holes.

The addition is being funded by the community-owned club, which is located in the town of Bicheno, and by Peter Johnstone, who aims to build 60 houses on property adjacent to the original nine.

Crafter and Mogford base their design philosophy on principles outlined by Alister MacKenzie. Either alone or together, they’ve designed Fleurieu Golf Club in Mount Compass, South Australia; Hornbill Golf & Jungle Club on the island of Borneo, in East Malaysia; Astana Golf Course in Kuantan, Pahang, Malaysia; and Guangzhou South China Golf Club in Zhen Longtown, Guangdong Province, China.

The Adelaide-based firm also has offices in Melbourne and Perth, along with an international presence in India and Phoenix, Arizona. The office in Phoenix is managed by Jane Crafter, Neil’s sister, a former LPGA pro who now serves as a commentator for the Golf Channel.

As far as those inevitable comparisons to Barnbougle Dunes go, my question is this: Will they be a blessing or a curse?

The Week That Was, october 2, 2011

russia Zero, Nothing, Nada

So much talk, so little action.

That's how I started a post about golf in Russia back in July 2010, and nothing has happened since to change my opinion.

Russia is one of the richest nations on the planet (I believe Moscow is still home to more billionaires as any other city), it provides office space to virtually every major international corporation on the planet, and the Olympics, with thousands of tourists in their wake, are headed to Sochi. Nonetheless, I don't believe the nation's golf business has managed to build even 20 golf courses since way back in the 1970s, when Armand Hammer told Leonid Brezhnev that he needed to commit to golf if he wanted to woo Western money.

Just a few years ago, the Russian Golf Association hatched a grand plan to build 500 golf facilities by 2018, and do you know what came of it? Nada. Today, whenever anybody in golf talks about Russia, he talks about the same thing people were talking about at the turn of the century: development potential.


So excuse me if I ho-hum the news that PGA National Golf Course will soon open in the Zavidovo Lakes area north of Moscow, or that a publication described as the city's “leading real estate magazine” has already named it “Best New Design in Russia 2011.” For my money, it's too little, too late.

Here's what's passing for golf news in Russia these days:

The ridiculously long (7,400-yard) course, designed by Dave Sampson of European Golf Design, is scheduled to open next fall. It's the centerpiece of the 3,282-acre Zavidovo resort community, which is taking shape along the southern shore of the Ivankovskoe Reservoir, about 80 miles north of Moscow. If all goes as planned, the community will eventually include 5,000 houses, a town center, hotels, office and meeting space, a spa, two marinas, a water sports center, and a short, nine-hole layout that will be part of a PGA National Golf Academy.

Sounds like nothing more than a real estate play to me, but I'm just another ugly American.

Oh yeah, one other thing: Maria Verchenova, Russia's first (and, I believe, still only) LPGA pro, will be, according to a press release, “attached” to the club. I think she knows her role, even if the press release isn't willing to spell it out.

“I always like to bring something extra-special to the golf course,” Verchenova once said, “so if I’m wearing sexier, more stylish stuff -- like a shorter skirt or a nice, tennis-style dress -- and people notice, then great.”

Some information in this post originally appeared in the December 2008 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

netherlands Holland Daze

Golf Course Architecture has published some new information about Frank Pont's golf course in southern Holland, which is under construction and could open at least nine of its 27 holes sometime next year.

De Swinkelsche is taking shape on a 240-acre farm owned by Harry and Hendrik Swinkels in the town of Someren. Earlier this year, Pont told me that it would be “one of the Netherlands’ best new courses built in the last 30 years.” Based on what he told GCA, reaching that goal will require him to combine both minimalist and maximalist design approaches.

Allow me to explain.

The Swinkels' farm is mostly flat and featureless. But a glimpse of its more interesting past can be found in the forest that stands adjacent to it. The forest is full of contours and undulations that lend themselves poorly to farming but well to golf.

Pont plans to build five holes in the forest, disturbing as little of the topography as possible, as a minimalist would. The other 13 holes, however, will be laid out on the farm, which needs to be utterly and completely transformed, Tom Fazio-style, into an expanse that resembles the forest. As Pont explained it, “That means everything -- from the run of the little creek to the positions of hills, humps and hillocks, ponds and wetlands -- will be created. The key will be to create a credible, wild, and natural landscape from scratch.”

Sounds like fun.

Pont earned an MBA at the University of Chicago and, after a stint as an investment banker in England, studied golf design in Edinburgh and did an apprenticeship with David McLay Kidd. He's enlisted Conor Walsh, Kidd's favorite shaper (they worked together on Kidd's celebrated Scottish courses, Machrihanish Dunes and the Castle course at St. Andrews) to do the dirty work at De Swinkelsche.

“It has the potential to be an amazing course,” Walsh said.

Pont has also invited a Canadian architect, Jeff Mingay, to provide some design ideas. “I’ve always wanted to sort of do the equivalent of a jam session in building a golf course,” he told GCA.

When all is said and done, De Swinkelsche will offer a regulation-length 18-hole track, a nine-hole “practice” course, and an aqua range.

Some information in this post originally appeared in the January 2011 issue of World Edition of the Golf Course Report.