The Pipeline, november 23, 2012

australia Greg Ramsay, the busiest developer in Tasmania, appears to be using a committee of architects to design his 18-hole course on the South Arm peninsula. The group consists of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford, an Adelaide-based team; Line Mortensen of North Berwick, Scotland; and Mike Nuzzo of Houston, Texas. None of these architects have large bodies of work, but they share with Ramsay a commitment to “classic” design and sustainable construction. Crafter and Mogford have produced courses in Australia, Malaysia, and China and are working with Ramsay on a nine-hole addition for Bicheno Golf Club, on Tasmania’s eastern coast. Mortensen, one of the few women in the design business, is probably best known for two courses in Denmark. Nuzzo has designed just one course, a personal venue for a wealthy Texan, but Adam Lawrence of Golf Course Architecture has called it “probably the best first course by a modern architect that I have seen.” Ramsay hasn’t yet secured approvals for Arm End Golf Course, but he hopes to break ground on it by the end of next year.

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

scotland Martin Hawtree is about to further polish his reputation as one of the world’s foremost linksmen. Just a week after it was disclosed that he would design the second course at Trump International Golf Links Scotland, the British architect has been tapped to make what’s been described as “alterations” to the revered Old Course at St. Andrews. The intent, according to Peter Dawson of the Royal & Ancient, is “to stiffen [the course’s] defenses in some places to ensure it remains as challenging as ever to the professionals.” The work will be completed before the summer of 2015, when the course hosts the Open Championship for the 29th time.

canada Cabot Links, the acclaimed new beachfront course in Inverness, Nova Scotia, will soon get what may be an even better partner. Work on the forthcoming Cabot Cliffs track, to be co-designed by the superstar duo of Bill Coore and Ben Crenshaw, will begin this spring. The course will take shape on inland property a little more than a mile from the resort’s original layout, a site described by co-developer Ben Cowan-Dewar as “spectacular and really, truly a beautiful spot.” The course could have its soft opening in the fall of 2014.

canada A forest fire in September forced 1,500 people in British Columbia’s Okanagan Valley to evacuate their houses, but it won’t delay the planned summer 2013 opening of Greg Norman’s golf course in Peachland. Norman is remaking a 32-year-old, Alfred Tate-designed course that’s been closed since 2006, when a fire destroyed its clubhouse. The new track, which is expected to stretch to about 7,200 yards, will be the centerpiece of a community that will eventually feature 2,300 houses. “Our vision,” the course’s general manager told the Edmonton Journal, “is to build a sustainable resort of great golf and great homes.”

Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the September 2009 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

china Moratorium? What moratorium? While in Asia to play in the Singapore Open, Phil Mickelson told reporters that the courses to which he’s affixed his “signature” -- one in Kunming, the other in Singapore -- are expected to open within the next 12 months. Mickelson made a vague reference to “some hold-ups from the government” regarding the track in Kunming, but it’s become abundantly clear that Chinese authorities have only been able to slow golf construction, not stop it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way.

china More from the land of phony moratoriums: Shanxi Yiliang Longxi Sports & Culture Company has hired IMG, the Cleveland, Ohio-based sports colossus, to manage the development of Luxuriance International Golf Club in Shanxi Province, China. The club’s 27-hole golf complex is expected to open sometime next year. As best I can determine, the complex has been designed by Yu Gang of Beijing-based New Nature Golf. Yu is said to be the first Chinese architect to produce a golf course in China: Hot Spring Golf Course outside Conghua City, in Guangdong Province.

portugal David McLay Kidd’s oceanfront golf course in Portugal has been under construction since February and will likely open in 2014. The 18-hole, 7,600-yard track will be course number one for Herdade da Comporta, a giant-size resort community taking shape near the village of Comporta, about an hour’s drive south of Lisbon. “It’s a fantastic site for golf,” reports the Bend, Oregon-based designer. Espirito Santo Group, a conglomerate that controls Portugal’s second-largest bank, has commissioned Tom Fazio to design course number two, but a groundbreaking hasn’t yet been set.

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