The Pipeline, june 3, 2016

     Earlier this year Gary Player made his first visit to Vietnam, a nation he believes will be “a major player in the emerging golf market of Asia.” It appears to have been a trip worth taking, because shortly thereafter Player announced that he’s been “engaged on multiple projects” by Vingroup, one of the nation’s premier golf developers. Player provided no details, but in a press release he describes his recently established relationship with Vingroup as “an ideal scenario” that will enable him “to design championship courses in a golf-hungry region.” Curiously, the press release doesn’t mention the course that Player agreed to design for Vingroup last fall. The 18-hole track, Player’s first in the nation, will be one of three at Cầu Đường, a 680-acre community that’s taking shape along the Red River just east of Hà Nội. Although it won’t be a “signature” course, the priciest of the design options that Player’s firm offers, the links-style layout is expected to be the first to open at Cầu Đường, probably in 2018. (The construction schedule for the community’s other courses, which will be created by Faldo Design and IMG Golf, hasn’t been announced.) Vingroup hasn’t indicated that it’s signed any other contracts with Player’s firm, but these days it’s chock full of opportunities for golf architects. Over the past year or so, the company has initiated multiple-course complexes at communities on Phú Quốc Island, off the nation’s southwestern coast; on Yu Yen Island, outside the city of Hải Phòng; and in Quy Nhơn, a city along the nation’s central coast. It also wants to build 18-hole venues at Sài Gòn SunBay, outside Hồ Chí Minh City, and on Con Au, an island in the Hau River outside Cần Thơ. If all these courses end up seeing the light of day, Vingroup would own one-quarter of the 96 tracks that Vietnam expects to open by 2020.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the April 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.  

    Kangaroo Island, South Australia. The people responsible for Cape Wickham Links have secured permission to break ground on their next destination-worthy golf course. Programmed Turnpoint intends to build the to-be named, 18-hole layout near Sapphiretown on Kangaroo Island, off the southern coast of South Australia. It may ultimately be impossible for the new track to measure up to Cape Wickham Links, which is already ranked #24 on Golf Digest’s list of the world’s top 100 golf courses, but Programmed Turnpoint believes that its 550-acre site has the key natural attributes that make for build-it-and-they-will-come golf. “Playing golf while overlooking the sea, the drama of the sand dunes -- it really will be something to behold,” the firm’s general manager, Justin Trott, told a local newspaper. Like Cape Wickham Links, which is located on remote King Island in Tasmania, Programmed Turnpoint’s forthcoming track won’t be easy to reach. Kangaroo Island is said to have excellent tourism potential, but it’s more than an hour’s drive and a ferry ride from Adelaide. So, when state officials began soliciting proposals for a resort on the island, they insisted that the developer commit to creating a layout that would lure golf travelers from all over the world. Programmed Turnpoint won the commission in 2014. At the time, the state expected the golf course to be designed by Greg Norman. Last year, however, Programmed Turnpoint began taking proposals from other well-regarded, internationally known architects. It hasn’t yet identified its choice for the commission or announced a time line for construction.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.  

     Kartli Province, Georgia. Sometime next year, a Spanish residential developer expects to open the first 18-hole golf course in Georgia. The track will be the centerpiece of Primera Golf & Residence, a 250-acre mountainside community outside Mtskheta, roughly 15 miles northwest of Tbilisi. In addition to the golf course, the community will have several hundred houses, a spa, a rifle and archery range, and other attractions. Georgia Today says it’ll offer views of the capital city “so ravishing that only birds and angels need not envy them.” Primera, which has been in the works since 2012, is being co-developed by Pedro Luis Pastor, the founder of Grupo Pastor, and Zurab Pololikashvili, Georgia’s ambassador to Spain. Their goal, the newspaper says, is “nothing short of redefining the good life for affluent Georgians” with a community that offers an escape from “the tribulations of Tbilisi.” Construction has reportedly begun on Primera’s golf course, a layout designed by Lassi Pekki Tilander of Espoo, Finland. Tilander told Golf Course Architecture that his course “has kept the young golf culture of the country in mind,” for it’s been designed without forced carries or fairway bunkers, and it’ll have a set of forward tees that allow for 5,030-yard rounds. Until Tilander’s course opens, Georgians have just one golf option: A nine-hole track at the Ambasadori Hotel in Katchreti.

     North Island, New Zealand. Just a chip shot from one of New Zealand’s most talked-about new golf venues, the members of a Māori tribe have asked local authorities to let them build a course of their own. The Ngāti Manuhiri people are seeking permission to develop a community -- its working name is Mangawhai South Forest -- on 1,860 acres along Pakiri Beach, on the sparsely populated eastern coast of the North Island. The tribe (Ngāti Manuhiri te Hapu), which is working with a private-sector group, hasn’t announced any specific plans for the community, but its initial submission to government officials calls for houses, tourism-related facilities, and recreational amenities, including a golf course. The Mangawhai South Forest property, outside the town of Leigh, is just south of Te Arai Beach, where late last year a U.S. group opened Tom Doak’s destination-worthy course at Tara Iti Golf Club. The area, roughly 80 miles north of Auckland, is said to be “a popular tourist destination known for its natural beauty.”  

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2016 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.  

     Andhra Pradesh, India. A golf course is one of the wished-for attractions in a development proposal for the “spiritual capital” of Andhra Pradesh. The Hindu reports that the secretary of India’s ministry of tourism has “drawn big plans” for a convention center, a yoga center, and other attractions that will bring even more tourists to Tirupati, the home of the world-famous Tirumala Venkateswara Temple. Tirupati already draws more than 50,000 religious pilgrims every day, and tourism officials aim to make it “a truly international tourist hub” by broadening its appeal. They haven’t laid out any definitive plans or time lines, but they’re clearly hoping to capitalize on the city’s established tourism infrastructure. What’s more, their plans are getting tacit support from publications like Lonely Planet, which writes that while the city’s temples may be “thronged with tens of thousands of blissed-out devotees” on each and every day of the year, “a trip to the Holy Hill can be fulfilling even if you’re not a pilgrim.” If the past serves as a useful prologue, the ministry of tourism is probably inclined to do business with private-sector developers.

     Lincolnshire, England. Late last year, when he became the consulting architect to Pennard Golf Club in Wales, Tom Doak indicated that he was close to inking similar contracts with other golf venues in the United Kingdom. Now we know one of them: Woodhall Spa Golf Club in Lincolnshire, England. The Traverse City, Michigan-based designer has agreed to create a master plan for future upgrades of Woodhall Spa’s Hotchkin course, an 18-hole, Harry Vardon-designed layout that opened in 1905 and received refinements from Harry Colt less than 10 years later. The track checks in at #9 on Golf Digest’s ranking of courses in England, and Doak considers it to be “one of the world’s great heathland courses.” Doak hasn’t outlined any specific plans for the Hotchkin course, but he’s said that his main goal is “protecting the legacy and restoring reputation.” He believes that the Hotchkin track has “a character all of its own,” and character, in his mind, is “a rare thing in golf course architecture.”