The Pipeline, january 18, 2013

     A recently retired London-based hedge-fund manager has hired Bob Harrison to design a links course on a small island in the Inner Hebrides. Greg Coffey aims to build the course on a coastal slice of his 11,668-acre Ardfin Estate, which lies along the southeastern coast of Scotland’s Jura Island. Harrison isn’t well known in the United States, but he spent the better part of two decades serving as the “ghost” architect in Greg Norman’s Australian practice and is largely responsible for its best work. Last year, he called Jura “my favorite place on earth” and said the site he’s been given is “the most beautiful I have ever seen.” It’s easy to understand why Harrison is so excited, as Coffey's commission offers him a chance to become internationally known, in a league with minimalists such as Tom Doak or Coore & Crenshaw. Only one problem: The track will serve as Coffey’s personal course, which means that it won’t get the sizzle that accrues from being named to best-of lists.
     Some information in this post originally appeared in the August and September 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Local officials in Tasmania have endorsed Greg Ramsay’s proposal to build a destination-worthy golf course on 365 acres of government-owned property on the South Arm peninsula, along the island’s southern coast. Ramsay, the golf guru and tourism promoter who conceived Barnbougle Dunes, hopes to break ground on the layout by the end of this year, presuming that he can secure the remaining approvals he needs. Ramsay hasn’t offered any details about what he aims to build on South Arm, but he’s working with a crew of designers who have minimalist sympathies: Mike Nuzzo, Line Mortensen, and the team of Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford. Unlike the land at Barnbougle Dunes, the land on the peninsula doesn’t appear to be made-to-order for golf, seeing as how last year Ramsay told the Hobart Mercury that his proposal offers “a wonderful opportunity for re-vegetating a degraded site back to great beauty.” Degraded site or not, if Ramsay builds it, they will come.
     Some information in this post originally appeared in the April and October 2012 issues of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     The first nine holes of a 27-hole golf complex northeast of Mianyang, in China’s Sichuan Province, could be open for play before the end of the year. The complex, which has been designed by Phil Ryan, an Australian architect, will be the featured attraction of a 940-acre resort community that’s taking shape near Chenkangtun Reservoir. A press release says the lake is “beautiful” and the site of the golf course “spectacular.” It doesn’t say when Chengdu Hongyuan Investment Company, Ltd. plans to open the other nines, but it notes that they’ll each stretch to roughly 3,700 yards.

     Colin Montgomerie will put his “signature” on the first “international-standard” golf course in Goa, the Indian state made famous by wandering hippies in the 1960s. The track will be the featured attraction of a to-be-named resort that will take shape on 301 acres outside Pernem, along Goa’s border with Maharashtra. The property, which will include a cluster of villas, a Four Seasons hotel, and a spa, is being developed by New Delhi-based Leading Hotels, Ltd. and Mumbai-based Magus Hotels. The golf course is being co-designed by Brit Stenson, who operates out of IMG’s office in Cleveland, Ohio. Mark Adams of IMG’s office in Singapore recently told me that the firm has been given “one of the best sites we have seen in Asia,” and he believes the final result will be “the best golf course in India.” Construction is expected to begin next year.
     Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     David McLay Kidd’s new golf course in Nicaragua will soon have some competition. A travel writer reports that the first nine holes of a planned 18-hole track at Montecristo Lifestyle Estates is expected to open this summer. Mike Young, an architect based in Athens, Georgia, has designed a 7,060-yard “core” track for the community, which is said to be taking shape on 2,000 acres along the nation’s Pacific coast, the Costa Azul, about 40 miles west of Managua. “The golf course,” Young says, “is going to not only introduce a new way of life to this culture but also offer numerous opportunities to people here that don’t necessarily exist today.” No word on when the second nine opens, but the entire 18-hole layout was originally supposed to open in 2008.
     Some information in this post originally appeared in the September 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Mike Keiser, the majority owner of the Bandon Dunes resort, may soon be able to offer the world’s golfers yet another reason to visit Oregon’s windswept Pacific coast. Keiser thinks he can break ground on his long-planned “municipal” golf complex in 2014, seeing as how he’s getting closer to wrapping up the land swap that he’s been negotiating for years. “This will be all about the local players, especially juniors,” Keiser told a local newspaper. Of course, there’s one other nagging detail that may gum up the construction schedule: Gil Hanse, the complex’s designer, is going to be preoccupied in Brazil for the next 12 to 18 months.

     Only Slightly Off Topic

     No doubt, you’ve already heard that 2012 was the hottest year ever in the contiguous United States. But lately, unusually severe weather-related events have been taking place all over the planet. When it comes to weather, says the New York Times, “extreme has become the new commonplace.” The Times has catalogued some of the strangeness: In Australia, where every decade since the 1950s has been hotter than the one that preceded it, bush fires are raging. In England, 2012 has gone down as the wettest year since record-keeping began more than 100 years ago. In Siberia, where temperatures have dipped as low as 50 degrees below zero, transportation officials had to cancel bus service between cities out of fear that breakdowns could lead to deaths from exposure to extreme cold. In Brazil, where a “punishingly hot” summer has evaporated reservoirs, energy analysts worry that they may need to ration electricity for the first time since 2002. “Each year we have extreme weather, but it’s unusual to have so many extreme events around the world at once,” an official of the World Meteorological Organization told the newspaper. Such weather extremes can’t be ignored. It’s only a matter of time before we begin to measure their impact on the golf business.