russia The Swing of Things

Let’s say you’re the mayor of the most important city in your country, and you believe golf is a vital economic-development tool. So you ask the city’s corporate elites to build some golf courses, but they can’t do it because their businesses have been ravaged by the recession. Who would you turn to?

If you’re Yuri Luzhkov, you’d turn to your wife.

She is Yelena Baturina, and she’s said to be Russia’s richest woman. As recently as 2008, according to Forbes, she was worth $4.2 billion. The magazine says she’s only worth about a billion today, but jeez, we’re still talking real money.


Baturina plans to spend some of her fortune building a golf course on former farm land in the western suburbs of Moscow. A company she controls owns property near Ulitsa Nizhniye Mnyovniki, and a Russian newspaper says that Jack Nicklaus has been “invited” to build a “world-class” layout on it. Nicklaus hasn’t commented on the reports, but considering the state of the design business these days, it’s hard to imagine him turning down the invitation.

The as-yet-unnamed course won’t be Baturina’s first. She owns Grand Tirolia Golf & Ski Resort in Kitzbuhel, Austria, which features a golf course (Eichenheim Golf Course) designed by Kyle Phillips. The track is said to be among the top golf properties in Austria.

And it may not be her last, either. Another company Baturina controls, Kudla Group, reportedly owns 3,700 acres in Morocco, and it’s got plans to build golf resorts in the towns of Aouchtam and Tetouan. Each of the resorts would have houses, a hotel, a marina, a shopping area, and a nine-hole golf course.

Baturina, the mayor’s second wife, made her money in the construction business. Her firm, Inteco, made out like a bandit when Luzhkov, who was elected in 1992, set out to rebuild Moscow’s aging infrastructure and its decrepit commercial landscape. At one point, Inteco (in Russia, Inteko) was said to be getting 20 percent of the city’s construction projects, a fact so troubling to its competitors that Luzhkov was accused of -– cover your ears, boy and girls -– municipal corruption.

As is so often said, it helps to have friends in high places.

With Inteco’s profits, Baturina amassed substantial land holdings in the Belgorod region of western Russia. She bought hotels in Sochi, the tourist town on the Black Sea that will host the next Winter Olympics. Through Inteco, she began to sponsor golf events, including the Russian Open.

But things haven’t gone well lately for the mayor and his wife. A few months ago, Luzhkov was booted out of office for criticizing the national government. Inteco has reportedly had trouble paying its debts, and last year it couldn’t afford to put its name on the Russian Open, which had to be canceled.

Nevertheless, we’re talking about people who are worth a mint. So, like the gold-plated Russian in the DirecTV commercials, Baturina “jump into it” when she got the opportunity to build a golf course within a short drive of the city. Various reports say she’s purchased 87 acres, but that’s not nearly enough to design an 18-hole course. I suspect that she owns some adjacent property,

In 2006, as you may remember, Luzhkov said he’d open 10 regulation-length golf courses in and around Moscow by 2011 -– sadly, a promise he didn’t keep. Today there are four 18-hole courses in metropolitan Moscow, including one, at Tseleevo Golf & Polo Club, designed by Nicklaus.

The Week That Was, December 26, 2010

anguilla Staubach Makes a Play for Norman's Course

A group led by Roger Staubach, the one-time Dallas Cowboys quarterback, is closing in on the purchase of a troubled, half-built Caribbean resort that features a Greg Norman-designed golf course.

Cypress Equities expects to buy the 280-acre Temenos resort, on Anguilla, and turn over its management to Montage Hotels & Resorts. The resort has been dying a slow death since 2008, when its owners decided to quit throwing money at it.

Temonos' 7,063-yard golf course, the only course on Anguilla, opened in 2007 and was closed for at least part of 2009. It's currently being operated by the nearby Cap Juluca resort.

One of the island's government officials once called Temenos -- it's a Greek word that means sanctuary -- “the most important project Anguilla ever had.” The resort was begun by Robert Sillerman, a billionaire who made most of his money in the radio and television business. He also hit the jackpot when he invested in a blockbuster Broadway show (Mel Brooks' The Producers), and in 2005 he bought the company that produced “American Idol” and “So You Think You Can Dance.” Simon Fuller, the creator of those shows, bought a pricey, as-yet-unbuilt vacation house in Temenos, as did Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code and other novels.

In late 2009, shortly after Temenos slipped into receivership, Sillerman admitted to the Wall Street Journal that resort development “was not my area of expertise by any stretch of the imagination” and confessed that his development plans “exhibited an element of hubris.”

Cypress Equities has 30 days to seal the deal for Temenos. Sillerman and his partner, Flag Luxury Properties LLC, reportedly invested more than $180 million in the resort, and they believe it'll cost as much as $120 million more to complete it.

Staubach had once planned to build a resort in the Caribbean from scratch -- Royal Island in the Bahamas, which was to feature the world's first Jack Nicklaus Golf Club -- but he's obviously decided it's cheaper to buy one than to build one.

india Goa Goes for Golf

Back in the 1960s, hippies beat a trail to Goa, making it one of India’s favorite vacation spots. Today, nearly 10 percent of the 5 million tourists who visit India each year pass through the state, whose tourism officials believe they could attract more vacationers if they had more golf courses.

As a result, Goa’s government is seeking a private-sector partner to help it build an 18-hole course in Pernem, a town in the northern part of the state, 20 miles north of Panaji. The state's tourism minister told the Economic Times that three groups have expressed an interest in building the course.

Goa is especially hoping to lure golf-crazy Japanese tourists, who can be found in large numbers at the Taj Mahal, the Ajanta Caves, the temples of Varanasi, and some of the other popular tourist attractions in other Indian states.

“We want to get them to Goa, too,” said Goa's tourism minister. “For that, the state needs to put up facilities required for them.”

It should be noted that Goa's government has been down this road before. Years ago, it was foiled in an attempt to build a golf course on a site overlooking Arambol beach and the Arabian Sea. The plan was opposed by a variety of community groups, and it died a quick death.

As a result, Goa currently has just one 18-hole course, a K. D. Bagga-designed layout at the Intercontinental resort in Canacona.

Incidentally, the state’s monsoon season stretches from July through the end of September. Wear your galoshes.

malaysia A 'Mockery' of a Golf Course Is Sold

LAND & General Berhad, a development firm based in Kuala Lumpur, has agreed to buy a golf resort in Seremban, the capital of the Malaysian state of Negeri Sembilan.

Tuanku Jaafar Golf & Country Resort features a 27-hole golf complex that was designed by an Australian, Rodger Davis, and opened in the early 1990s. It spreads over 400 acres and includes about 50 developable residential lots and an industrial site.

Land & General paid just over $8 million for the property, assuming that my currency converted is working properly.

The golf complex has apparently seen better days. An online critic has called it a “mockery of a course” that “you will probably play once and not come back” to. Though it hardly seems to matter, he added that its previous operators provided the “worst ever golf course service in Malaysia.”

Tuanku Jaafar is Land & General's second golf property, as the company co-owns an 18-hole, Craig Perry-designed track at the Hidden Valley golf community in suburban Melbourne, Australia.

scotland At Kingsbarns, It Was a Very Good Year

2010 may have been a downer at most of the world's golf courses, but not at Kingsbarns Golf Links.

The number of rounds played at the Kyle Phillips-designed track in St. Andrews, Scotland surpassed 27,000, an increase of 30 percent over the number played in 2009. There was enough demand to extend the course's season by two weeks.

So much for flat being the new up.

What's more, even better times could be ahead for Kingsbarns. In a press release, the course's general manager reports that bookings for 2011 are running 10 percent ahead of the marks recorded at this time last year.

If you're among those who plan to make a reservation for 2011, a round will cost you $293.

sweden More on the Renovation at Ullna

An American living in Sweden read my recent post on the renovation of Ullna Golf Club (December 8) and provided a few more details on the work.

His name is Gene Oberto, and when he isn't producing articles for Golf Digest or writing books (he's written The Swedish Golf Experience), he hosts a website called Swedish Golf Online. The site writes about Swedish golf in English and was created, Oberto says, because “the golf world knows about Swedish golfers but very little about the golf world they came from.”

As it happens, Oberto recently filed a report on Ullna's proposed renovation. Here's what he had to say:

It has been almost a year since the rumors began that a planned renovation of Ullna Golf Course in Åkersberga, outside Stockholm, would be done by Jack Nicklaus' design firm, with Jack designing the plan himself. Even on the Nicklaus Design's website, the project still says TBD. But it was only last June 15 that the shareholders of Ullna Golf AB gave the green light to the project.

“We received very strong support from the members (of Ullna Golf) to implement the renovation project starting July 1, 2011,” says Lars H. Hemmingsson, the president of Ullna Golf AB, to the magazine Swedish Golf.

The classic layout, next to the northern shore of Lake Ullna, will keep its current route. Some sight lines will be adjusted, and bunkers will be added, moved, or, in some cases, removed entirely.

The biggest and most important change will consist of rebuilding all fairways and green areas. A new drainage system will be built. The entire course will be covered with a layer of sand about 20 cm thick, to further help and improve drainage. Some fairways will be elevated 50 centimeters higher from today's level.

“Apart from the fact that we have a enjoyable golf course to play, the renovation will improve playing conditions, allowing Ullna to extend its season,” said Sven-Eric Bergman, chairman of the Ullna Golf AB.

The greens and fringe areas will be rebuilt according to USGA standards, and new, more environmentally friendly grass, as yet unspecified, will be utilized. The hope is to create hardier and more easily managed greens than the ones currently.

In addition to the renovation of the 18-hole course, a first-class short-game area will be built where the existing driving range is located, next to the indoor practice hall, Golfpunkten.

“In conjunction with the upgrade, we plan to build one of Scandinavia's best training areas for the short game. Of course, with the same high quality as the golf course,” said Sven-Eric Bergman.

The price tag for the project is reportedly around 50 million krona ($6.5 million). Financing is provided both by equity and loans from the club members, shareholders, and a bank.

For that substantial sum, the club has, however, one of the world's most renowned architects and, without a doubt, greatest players, to sit behind the drawing board.

It was Ullna's original creator, Sven Tumba, who lured in his friend, Jack Nicklaus, three years ago when Nicklaus Design had begun to sketch out how the “new” Ullna should look like.

The rebuilding begins July 1, 2011, and the course will be fully playable for the 2013 golf season.

tanzania The Army Retreats

Howard Swan aims to transform TPDF Lugalo Golf Club into Tanzania’s first “international-standard” golf course.

Lugalo started out with a nine-hole track, and some club members designed a new nine that opened last year. We suspect that the new holes aren’t quite up to snuff, because the club’s owner, the Tanzanian Peoples’ Defence Force -– the national army -– has asked Swan to redesign and thoroughly overhaul the track.

Swan, who’s based in Essex, England, says his goal is “to create a place where beginners can come and learn the game, but also where the public and pros can play at the highest level.”

The work is scheduled to begin in early 2011. The club also plans to build a practice center, and in the future it hopes to enlarge its clubhouse and add some overnight accommodations.

Lugalo is in Dar es Salaam, which has just one other 18-hole course, at Gymkhana Golf Club. There are nine other courses in Tanzania, all of them nine-hole tracks.

The Week That Was: December 19, 2010

netherlands Ian Woosnam, Poised for Take-Off

Sometime in the summer of 2012, an Ian Woosnam “signature” golf course is expected to open at the busiest international airport in the Netherlands.

The 18-hole, par-73 course will most likely be called Amsterdam International Golf Club, as it's being built by a group that calls itself Amsterdam International Golf Club. It's taking shape along the northern edge of Schiphol airport, on 190 acres that the group has leased from the airport's real estate arm, Schiphol Real Estate.

“The golf course will be absolutely world class and conform to the highest international standards,” promises Marcel Welling, a director of Amsterdam International Golf Club.

Welling is a board member of the Charleston, South Carolina-based National Golf Course Owners Association and the CEO of Amsterdam-based BurgGolf, which is said to be the largest golf-course operator in the Netherlands. BurgGolf reportedly owns and/or operates 10 golf properties, including courses in the cities of Purmerend, Zoetermeer, Legemeer, Wijchen, and Middelburg.

A press release says that Woosnam's design partner is a company called Mastergolf. I believe the reference is to Mastergolf International, an Antwerp, Belgium-based firm led by Bruno Steensels. Mastergolf International also works with Darren Clarke, Lee Westwood, Rory McIlroy, and other European golf pros who desire to do “signature” golf designs.

The developers expect to seed Amsterdam International in the spring of 2011.

canada ClubLink Acquires #41

In a sale that has been rumored for months, ClubLink has acquired Glendale Golf & Country Club in Hamilton, Ontario.

The King City, Ontario-based company, Canada's largest owner and operator of golf properties, paid $3.2 million for Glendale. The club, which was founded in 1919, is among the first private venues to open in the Hamilton area. Besides an 18-hole golf course, it features six sheets of curling ice.

“Glendale has a long and proud history, and we look forward to continuing that reputation,” said ClubLink's president, Rai Sahi. “The Hamilton area is an active and growing golf market, and Glendale will complement the magnificent Heron Point Golf Links, our existing club in the area, very nicely.”

With the acquisition of Glendale, ClubLink owns 23 golf properties in metropolitan Toronto, among them Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, King Valley Golf Club in King City, and RattleSnake Point Golf Club in Milton. Overall, ClubLink's portfolio consists of 41 golf properties in Ontario, Quebec, and Florida.

“The members of Glendale Golf & Country Club are eagerly anticipating the many benefits of being part of ClubLink, particularly the opportunity for reciprocal play at so many other fine courses,” said Glendale's president.

australia A New Wave at Pelican Waters

Early next year, Greg Norman's first “signature” golf course in Queensland goes under the knife, in an effort to make it kinder and gentler.

I'm talking about the 18-hole golf course at Pelican Waters Golf Club, which opened in 2000. One critic has described the 6,954-yard track as “tough, and perhaps at times unforgiving,” and warned golfers who wish to play it from the back tees that “it may well eat your lunch.”

Not surprisingly, such notices have scared off many potential customers, and the club's management is now taking steps to make the course more user-friendly. The club has committed $250,000 to removing nearly two dozen of the course's 90 bunkers.

The work is scheduled to begin in February and is expected to take about three months to complete.

Norman recently approved the changes, saying that they “will make this course a tremendous experience and a challenge for all levels of golfers.”

Pelican Waters is located on Queensland's Sunshine Coast, an hour's drive north of Brisbane.

scotland Donald Trump, Blowin' in the Wind

A simple twist of fate, as Bob Dylan called it, has put Donald Trump in the center of yet another Scottish controversy.

Many times in recent years, as he pressed ahead with plans to build a large-scale resort community on environmentally sensitive sand dunes in Aberdeenshire, Trump was accused of destroying Scotland's natural heritage. Now the tables have turned, and Trump is accusing a proposed wind farm in the North Sea of -- you guessed it -- destroying Scotland's natural heritage.


“These turbines, if ever built, will in one fell swoop destroy Scotland's magnificent natural heritage,” complained Trump, who plans to build close to 1,500 houses, a 450-room hotel, and a pair of 18-hole golf courses on the Menie Estate.

To be sure, Trump is no defender of anyone's natural heritage, except perhaps his own. His real objection to the wind farm, which he calls “noisy and unsightly,” is that it'll ruin the views that he aims to offer prospective home buyers at Trump International Golf Club Scotland.

“Every component of our project is based upon sea views,” he said. “We cannot allow the construction of what is tantamount to 65-story structures off our coastline.”

Not surprisingly, a lot of people in Scotland have taken to calling Trump a hypocrite.

“If Mr Trump is so concerned about the natural beauty of Scotland's coast, he should stop destroying it himself,” argued Martin Ford, the Aberdeenshire councilmember who led the fight against Trump's community. “Unlike his own construction project, the proposed turbines will not harm any designated nature conservation site. They will not 'destroy Scotland's magnificent natural heritage,' though Mr. Trump has done exactly that at Menie.”

Trump has vowed to “vehemently oppose” the development application for the wind farm when it goes before planning officials next year. It'll be interesting to see how much support his campaign gets.