The Pipeline, june 28, 2013

     The Odd Couple, Part Two: It’s safe to conclude that Gil Hanse’s work at Doral has won Donald Trump’s approval. The improbable partners are teaming up again, this time on the new golf course at the Akoya community in Dubai. This is another in what will almost certainly be a series of high-profile commissions for Hanse, and yet a question lingers: Why did Trump and his Middle Eastern clients keep Hanse’s identity under wraps for so long? Be that as it may, the 7,205-yard centerpiece of Trump International Golf Club Dubai won’t be the world’s greatest golf course -- that one, as we’ve been told repeatedly, lays atop the dunes at Trump’s resort in Scotland -- but it will be, in Trump’s words, “the greatest golf course in the region.” (Trump just took a shot at you, Kyle Phillips!) Not so long ago, a series of collaborations between Trump and Hanse didn’t seem likely. Has one of them changed? And if so, which one?

     What happens to a golf dream deferred? It shrinks to fit leaner times. A case in point is the long-planned golf community at Rocking K Ranch in suburban Tucson, Arizona. Once upon a time, Donald Diamond’s 5,600-acre development fantasy was to include 10,000 houses, three resort-style hotels, and four golf courses. Today, Rocking K has been downsized to less than 3,000 houses, one hotel, and one golf course. Bigger may be better, but let’s be thankful for small favors: Diamond thinks it can start construction within two years.

     Golf is no longer a dirty word in Fresno County, California. County officials are thinking about opening up a stretch of farm land north of Fresno for tourism- and recreation-related development, including hotels, restaurants, and a golf course. “I think it’s appropriate to look at the area and determine what you can do with it, rather than just let it sit,” the head of a building group told the Fresno Bee. Actual construction is still years away, of course, and the county is currently waiting for private interests to fund a study of the area’s development potential. But it’s been a while since such proposals were floated, let alone got a serious listen.

     Any day now, an Australian development group led by Bernie McMahon and Graeme Grant plans to break ground on yet another destination-worthy coastal links in Tasmania, this one on the windswept western coast of King Island. The partners believe the land that will become home to Ocean Dunes Golf Club rivals that of Barnbougle Dunes, and their course, they promise, will find its way onto lists of the world’s best. “It is like Scottish and Irish links land, with a bit of Pebble Beach thrown in,” Grant said in a recent interview with Turfmate. “It’s unique, and if we are successful, I think a lot of other people will follow us down there.” Ocean Dunes is just one of two courses slated to emerge on King Island (the other is a Mike DeVries-designed track at King Island Links), which lies midway between the main island of Tasmania and the southern coast of Victoria. So here’s the key question: Does King Island, a place even more remote than the main island of Tasmania, have what it takes to become a viable golf destination?

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the April 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     The only nation on earth with nuclear bombs but not a single golf course may soon begin to equalize the ratio. North Korea, a desperately impoverished nation, has floated an idea to build three “tourism zones” that will be specially designed to attract Western money. These vacation spots will take shape in villages near Mount Chilbo and Mount Kumgang and in the city of Wonsan. They’ll include hotels, entertainment venues, golf courses, and other attractions. “A variety of tourism courses will open, as the country is eager to promote its tourism industry,” one of the venture’s promoters told the Yonhap news service. One problem: Tourists bristle when they’re told where they can go, what they can do, and when they can do it. What’s the point of traveling all the way to North Korea just to become imprisoned in a resort when you get there?

     An improving housing market has given some developers in New York enough confidence to think about reviving an abandoned golf project. In Franklin County, up near Lake Placid, Loon Golf, Inc. may try to reopen Loon Lake Golf Course, which has been closed since 2003, and build a resort community on 2,800 surrounding acres. Although Loon Golf claims to be “just testing the waters,” according to North Country Public Radio, it can’t be denied that a conceptual development plan has been submitted to local planning officials. A representative for the developers insists that “we have no immediate plans to do anything,” but it should be remembered that a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step.

     A year or so from now, the investment group that owns Westham Golf Club hopes to resume construction on the property’s Nicklaus Design golf course. Westham’s first nine opened in 2010, as the centerpiece of Magnolia Green, a master-planned community in suburban Richmond, Virginia that became a victim of the Great Recession. iStar Financial, which assumed ownership of the community via a foreclosure, evidently believes it needs an 18-hole course to effectively market the remaining lots. Tom Clark, the Virginia-based half of Ault Clark & Associates, is collaborating with Nicklaus’ in-house designers and will oversee the construction.

     An abandoned quarry in New Bern, North Carolina could soon become the home of a grow-the-game venture featuring a junior-friendly golf course. The First Tee of Eastern North Carolina is seeking the city’s permission to build a nine-hole track and a practice center, and it may enlist other assistance from the city as well. “I think it is a win-win situation,” New Bern’s city manager told the New Bern Sun Journal. If the plans are approved, the First Tee group will embark on a fundraising campaign.

     By this time next year, disconsolate gamblers in Larchwood, Iowa, on the South Dakota state line, may be taking out their frustrations on a browner than usual, Rees Jones-designed golf course. The 18-hole track, an amenity for Grand Falls Casino Resort, will play firm and fast, Jones told the Sioux Falls Argus Leader, partly due to the drying winds that blow across the Great Plains and partly due to turf that won’t get even a drop more water than it needs. “It’s going to be a prairie golf course,” Jones explained. “It’s going to change every day.” Is this the sound of an old-school architect embracing minimalist ideals?