Shameless Self-Promotion, january 2011

A new and hopefully better year has arrived, and so has the January 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report. In it, we offer a bounty of news (and perfectly acceptable amounts of comment) about forthcoming new courses in nations from A to S -– from Ajman to Slovakia.

We also provide definitive answers to the following questions. Can you answer them?

1. A high-profile golf official explains the oversupply of golf properties this way: “Instead of building affordable, accessible, short courses around large cities, [developers] flooded the market with championship-style layouts created by big-name designers.” What part of the world was he talking about?

a) United Kingdom
b) United States
c) United Arab Emirates
d) South Africa

2. The Golf Channel has described a soon-to-open course as “definitely the best golf course in Puerto Rico, very likely the top course in the Caribbean, and possibly the most interesting golf course in the world.” Who designed it?

a) Pete Dye
b) Jack Nicklaus
c) Robert Trent Jones
d) David Pfaff

3. A British hotelier aims to transform his golf-focused resort into “the Belfry of the North.” What’s his property’s name?

a) Gosford Park
b) Ramside Hall
c) Monte Hall
d) Downton Abbey

4. Which well-traveled golf architect summed up the current state of golf with this line: “Somewhere along the line, we have lost sight of the soul of the game”?

a) Greg Norman
b) Gary Player
c) Brian Curley
d) Harry Colt

5. Which state in India is looking for developers who’ll build golf courses in four of its cities?

a) Andhra Pradesh
b) Arunachal Pradesh
c) Himachal Pradesh
d) Uttar Pradesh

6. One of the golf industry’s hottest design teams has been tapped to prepare a master plan for renovations at Royal Canberra Golf Club in New South Wales. Name the team.

a) Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw
b) Robert Trent Jones, Jr. and Mario Gonzalez
c) Geoff Ogilvy and Michael Clayton
d) Peter Thomson and Karrie Webb

7. “I had to pinch myself when I first saw the site,” a golf course architect once said of some prospective golf course property. Who said it, and what was the property he was talking about?

a) Tom Doak at Barnbougle Dunes
b) Niall Cameron at Marrakech Golf Club
c) Gil Hanse at Castle Stuart
d) Robert Trent Jones, Jr. at Chambers Bay

In this month’s issue, we also offer reports on the current whereabouts of numerous globe-trotting designers, including Greg Norman, Jonathan Gaunt, Howard Swan, Jim Cervone, Cynthia Dye-McGarey, and Ranjit Nanda. And we provide an added bonus: Further proof of why you really can have too much of a good thing.

If you’d like to create your own multiple-choice quiz from January’s World Edition, give me a call at 301/680-9460 or send an e-mail to me at WorldEdition@aol.com.