morocco Monty Hits the Beach

For the second time, Morocco’s premier residential developer has tapped Colin Montgomerie to put his “signature” on the centerpiece of a big golf community, this one just a short walk from what’s said to be one of the nation’s finest beaches.

Prestigia Group, an affiliate of Groupe Addoha, first hired Montgomerie and his colleagues from European Golf Design to produce the recently completed 18-hole course at Marrakech Golf

City in Marrakech. Now the company is sending Montgomerie’s team to suburban Rabat, to create an 18-hole course for a 1,234-acre waterfront community called Plage des Nations.

“Our objective is to make the Plage des Nations Golf Resort an iconic venue in North Africa,” Prestigia’s managing director, Jawad Ziyat, said in a press release, “and we know Colin and EGD will help us deliver this.”

Montgomerie co-designed the golf course at Marrakech Golf City with Gary Johnson, and he’s co-designing the one at Plage des Nations with Robin Hiseman. In all, Montgomerie and architects from Berkshire, England-based EGD have collaborated at least a half-dozen times, opening tracks in Bahrain (Riffa Views), Dubai (the Montgomerie), the Netherlands (the Dutch), and Wales (the Montgomerie course at Celtic Manor). Montgomerie has also worked with Cleveland, Ohio-based IMG, EGD’s sister company, on several courses in Vietnam, China, and Malaysia.

These days Groupe Addoha and its affiliates are developing two other golf communities in Morocco, Bouskoura Golf City outside Casablanca and Argan Golf Resort in Marrakech, both of which will feature Tony Jacklin-designed courses.

At build-out, Plage des Nations will include up to 10,000 houses, a hotel, a shopping center, and a beach club. It doesn’t sound as if the Plage des Nations property is ideal for golf -- “We will be having some fun with the contouring,” Montgomerie said in publicity materials -- but he nonetheless believes that “a lively and intricate, strategic design” will sprout on the inland site.

Groupe Addoha is controlled by Anas Sefioui, one of Morocco’s richest people. Bloomberg estimates that he’s worth $2.7 billion.

The original version of this post appeared in the June 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report. The World Edition profiled Bouskoura Golf City and Argan Golf Resort in August 2011.