The Pipeline, september 2012

china Last month, Ross Perrett took a two-week swing through Thailand and China, checking on the progress of at least seven projects in various stages of construction. The Melbourne, Australia-based architect is especially busy in China, despite the nation’s increasingly phony-looking moratorium, where he has courses under construction or about to open in five cities: Hong Kong, Nanning, Xian, Shanghai, and Dalian. And there may be more where that came from, because Perrett also met with prospects in Beijing and Singapore. “We have a good book of active projects and a strong pipeline of future work,” he noted in a news post at his firm’s website, “so there is still plenty of work to do.”

england David McLay Kidd is used to doing things his way, so I was surprised to learn that he’ll be co-designing his forthcoming golf course in suburban London with Tom Watson. These days the partners are

drawing up plans for an 18-hole track that Longshot, Ltd. aims to build at Cherkley Court in Surrey, and Kidd reports that things are proceeding without friction. “My passion is for golf that’s played through nature and its idiosyncrasies,” he explains, “and Tom approaches and understands those idiosyncrasies better than most.”

The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

kazakhstan Sometime next year, Kazakhstan’s oil barons will finally begin moving into pricey second homes around a Colin Montgomerie “signature” golf course at Ak-bulak Golf & Country Club. The course, which has been under construction for four years, will be outrageously long -- it’s expected to stretch to 8,000 yards or more -- and it’s going to perplex even accomplished players. “It’s the most deceptive site I’ve ever been on,” says Brit Stenson of IMG, the course’s “ghost” architect. “There are shots that appear to be downhill but are really uphill, and vice versa. People are going to have the wrong club in their hands on half of the holes.”

The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

malaysia The full 18 at 99 East Golf Club was supposed to debut this spring, but Asian Golf Travel Nation reports that construction of the course’s second nine won’t begin until the middle of 2013. The club is the centerpiece of a resort community (it’s in Jalan Bukit Malut, on Pulau Langkawi) that will eventually be surrounded by villas and bungalows, boutique hotels, restaurants, and a residence for Malaysia’s head of state. The course’s designer, Ross Watson, has previously designed three courses in suburban Kuala Lumpur (including one of Malaysia’a premier courses, at Kota Permai Golf & Country Club) and another in suburban Johor Baharu (Horizon Hills Golf Club).

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

united states Construction has wrapped up on Tom Doak’s course at Dismal River Club in Mullen, Nebraska. The question on many minds today is how the recently seeded track will compare with the club’s Jack Nicklaus “signature” course, a layout that Bradley S. Klein believes is “close to a top-100” layout and “certainly a top-200 Modern course.” A verdict will likely be rendered sometime next year. “I am sure there will be plenty of opportunity to hit balls around next summer and fall,” Doak wrote in a post at Golf Club Atlas, “but my guess on when the course is really in top condition for opening would be pretty conservative ... because you can’t push fescue too hard, and because the weather in the Sand Hills is so capricious.”