Africa’s first big off-shore banking haven is set to be built in Cameroon, and it’ll be accompanied by the nation’s third 18-hole golf course.
Emerald Coast Financial & Tourism Free Zone will take shape on 777 acres, including more than a mile’s worth of beachfront, just outside the coastal town of Limbe. It’ll have its own immigration and customs control center, its own port, and its own airport receiving center for VIPs, not to mention an “ultra-secure underground vault,” to be built into the side of a nearby mountain, “for the safe-keeping of hard assets such as bullion and other valuables.”
No doubt, some very high-rollers will be among the foursomes on its golf course.
Cameroon’s government has issued a license to build Emerald Coast to GCN Canada, Inc., a group based in a suburb of Ottawa, and Bonanza Estates S.A., an entity based in Limbe.
Robert Sabga, a former high commissioner for the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago and the principal of GCN Canada, said in a press release that Emerald Coast will combine “the benefits of a financial tax haven with the attraction of an ultra-exclusive, resort-style, duty-free zone.” He called it “the only such destination of its kind in the world.”
An Egyptian company, Hiram Estates Investments, has agreed to put up $850 million in financing for the first phase of the project, which will include a duty-free shopping mall, an entertainment center with a casino, a business and financial center, a marina that can accommodate mega-yachts, a boardwalk, and a hotel with 250 conventional rooms and 200 “luxury” condos.
The financing for the subsequent phases of Emerald Coast hasn’t yet been secured, but the zone has been planned to include upscale villas and apartments, time-share condos, several resort-style hotels, an arts and entertainment center, a convention center, a medical center, restaurants operated by “international chefs,” and a “world-class” golf course.
“The Emerald Coast project is going to fundamentally alter the way the rest of the world looks at Africa,” Sabga said in a press release. “It is going to change the continent of Africa as never before.”
As best I can determine, Cameroon currently has just two 18-hole golf courses, Likomba Golf Club in Tiko and Mont Febe Hotel Golf Course in Yaoundé, the nation’s capital. There’s also a golf course in Kribi, but I can’t tell if it has nine or 18 holes.
Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Sunday, June 26, 2011
The Week That Was june 26, 2011
croatia Dubrovnik: The Hill with It
The company that hoped to build a Greg Norman-designed golf course on a 1,300-foot hill overlooking Dubrovnik has, for all practical purposes, gone belly up.
A European news service reports that Golf Development Company, Ltd. has dismissed its employees and “decided to temporarily suspend all operations” at its office in Zagreb. The company blamed its demise on “political bickering.”
Political bickering in Croatia. Imagine that.
Golf Park Dubrovnik was supposed to be built on 800 acres atop Srd Hill, which the city has been trying to develop since the early 1990s, during the nation's war of independence. The community had been planned to include a hotel, a spa, meeting space, and other attractions. In addition to an 18-hole private golf course, Norman was to design a six- to nine-hole public course and a Norman-branded practice center.
Golf Development Company is led by Aaron Frankel, a well-connected Israeli arms dealer who's has been trying to build a golf course on the property for several years.
Ivan Kusalic, one of Frankel's partners, once called Golf Park Dubrovnik a “project of national interest.” Last week, he called the closing of his company's office “a cold business decision.”
ireland It's a Long Way to Tipperary Venue
A controversial sports complex, featuring a casino and a golf course, may soon transform a rural Irish village.
Irish planning officials have given a lukewarm approval to Tipperary Venue, which will take shape on 800 acres in Two-Mile-Borris, a small enclave along the M-8 highway in Tipperary County, 75 miles southwest of Dublin. Work on the complex's infrastructure could begin by the end of the year.
Tipperary Venue has been master-planned to include a casino, a hotel, a pair of horse-racing tracks (one of them will be capable of hosting events as big as the Breeders Cup), a greyhound-racing track, a heliport, a shopping area, a replica of the White House in Washington, DC, and an 18-hole “signature” golf course.
The venue is the brainchild of Richard Quirke, the owner of Dr. Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium, a long-established (since 1992) arcade in Dublin. The emporium is no hole in the wall. It’s huge, and so popular that some of the world’s biggest video game makers use it to beta-test their forthcoming titles.
Quirke's proposal worries many local residents, who fear its size, the traffic it'll generate (its parking lot will hold 6,000 vehicles), and the impact it'll have on the area’s architectural heritage. But elected officials believe that it'll create jobs, which are at a premium in Ireland these days. “This is as good as getting three factories for us,” one of them told the Irish Examiner.
A planned 15,000-seat theater didn't survive the approval process, and Quirke won't be able to build the casino until Ireland approves gaming.
You may be wondering why Tipperary Venue will have what's being called an “Irish White House.” The building will honor James Hoban, the Irishman who designed the president's residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
scotland Donald Trump, Out of Pocket?
It sounds as if Donald Trump's golf project in Scotland may be feeling the proverbial financial pinch.
As I'm sure you know, the U.S. television celebrity and erstwhile presidential candidate aims to build two 18-hole golf courses, including “the world's greatest golf course,” on the 1,250-acre Menie Estate along Scotland's northeastern coast. Course number one, a 7,407-yard track designed by Martin Hawtree, is on track to open next summer. But during a recent site visit, Trump suggested that the rest of the Trump International Golf Club Scotland -- 500 houses, a hotel, 950 apartments -- may not be built anytime soon.
“The timing will depend on the markets,” Trump told reporters who assembled to record his pronouncements. As if the press corps needed reminding, Trump pointed out that “the world has crashed” since he began planning the project.
The Daily Mail cites a report from the Guardian in which Trump comments on his construction schedule, saying, “Where's the market? You look at what's going on with Europe, you look at what's going on today -– I look at the Wall Street Journal every day, things about Greece going to collapse.
“I'm looking at all of these horrible stories going out, so you would have really to tell me the market. When I originally bought this site, the market was perceived as being very good. The world has taken lots of turns and twists.... Everything we do is dependent on market conditions.”
And as for the course's clubhouse, well, there appears to be some uncertainty with it as well.
“Very rarely is the clubhouse built at the same time as the course,” Trump explained. “If you build it too soon, you might say, `Oops, we built it in the wrong place.' What we will do is build a temporary clubhouse, then build a permanent one. You want to wait until the course is taken care of and almost complete.”
In other words, we can expect construction to begin next year, probably in the spring. Or am I being optimistic?
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: Trump took a few swings on the golf course and declared it was “more magnificent” than even he thought it would be.
Why doesn't that surprise me?
The company that hoped to build a Greg Norman-designed golf course on a 1,300-foot hill overlooking Dubrovnik has, for all practical purposes, gone belly up.
A European news service reports that Golf Development Company, Ltd. has dismissed its employees and “decided to temporarily suspend all operations” at its office in Zagreb. The company blamed its demise on “political bickering.”
Political bickering in Croatia. Imagine that.
Golf Park Dubrovnik was supposed to be built on 800 acres atop Srd Hill, which the city has been trying to develop since the early 1990s, during the nation's war of independence. The community had been planned to include a hotel, a spa, meeting space, and other attractions. In addition to an 18-hole private golf course, Norman was to design a six- to nine-hole public course and a Norman-branded practice center.
Golf Development Company is led by Aaron Frankel, a well-connected Israeli arms dealer who's has been trying to build a golf course on the property for several years.
Ivan Kusalic, one of Frankel's partners, once called Golf Park Dubrovnik a “project of national interest.” Last week, he called the closing of his company's office “a cold business decision.”
ireland It's a Long Way to Tipperary Venue
A controversial sports complex, featuring a casino and a golf course, may soon transform a rural Irish village.
Irish planning officials have given a lukewarm approval to Tipperary Venue, which will take shape on 800 acres in Two-Mile-Borris, a small enclave along the M-8 highway in Tipperary County, 75 miles southwest of Dublin. Work on the complex's infrastructure could begin by the end of the year.
Tipperary Venue has been master-planned to include a casino, a hotel, a pair of horse-racing tracks (one of them will be capable of hosting events as big as the Breeders Cup), a greyhound-racing track, a heliport, a shopping area, a replica of the White House in Washington, DC, and an 18-hole “signature” golf course.
The venue is the brainchild of Richard Quirke, the owner of Dr. Quirkey’s Good Time Emporium, a long-established (since 1992) arcade in Dublin. The emporium is no hole in the wall. It’s huge, and so popular that some of the world’s biggest video game makers use it to beta-test their forthcoming titles.
Quirke's proposal worries many local residents, who fear its size, the traffic it'll generate (its parking lot will hold 6,000 vehicles), and the impact it'll have on the area’s architectural heritage. But elected officials believe that it'll create jobs, which are at a premium in Ireland these days. “This is as good as getting three factories for us,” one of them told the Irish Examiner.
A planned 15,000-seat theater didn't survive the approval process, and Quirke won't be able to build the casino until Ireland approves gaming.
You may be wondering why Tipperary Venue will have what's being called an “Irish White House.” The building will honor James Hoban, the Irishman who designed the president's residence at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.
scotland Donald Trump, Out of Pocket?
It sounds as if Donald Trump's golf project in Scotland may be feeling the proverbial financial pinch.
As I'm sure you know, the U.S. television celebrity and erstwhile presidential candidate aims to build two 18-hole golf courses, including “the world's greatest golf course,” on the 1,250-acre Menie Estate along Scotland's northeastern coast. Course number one, a 7,407-yard track designed by Martin Hawtree, is on track to open next summer. But during a recent site visit, Trump suggested that the rest of the Trump International Golf Club Scotland -- 500 houses, a hotel, 950 apartments -- may not be built anytime soon.
“The timing will depend on the markets,” Trump told reporters who assembled to record his pronouncements. As if the press corps needed reminding, Trump pointed out that “the world has crashed” since he began planning the project.
The Daily Mail cites a report from the Guardian in which Trump comments on his construction schedule, saying, “Where's the market? You look at what's going on with Europe, you look at what's going on today -– I look at the Wall Street Journal every day, things about Greece going to collapse.
“I'm looking at all of these horrible stories going out, so you would have really to tell me the market. When I originally bought this site, the market was perceived as being very good. The world has taken lots of turns and twists.... Everything we do is dependent on market conditions.”
And as for the course's clubhouse, well, there appears to be some uncertainty with it as well.
“Very rarely is the clubhouse built at the same time as the course,” Trump explained. “If you build it too soon, you might say, `Oops, we built it in the wrong place.' What we will do is build a temporary clubhouse, then build a permanent one. You want to wait until the course is taken care of and almost complete.”
In other words, we can expect construction to begin next year, probably in the spring. Or am I being optimistic?
Oh, yeah, I almost forgot: Trump took a few swings on the golf course and declared it was “more magnificent” than even he thought it would be.
Why doesn't that surprise me?
Friday, June 24, 2011
libya Letter #4 from Ron Fream
I was in Tunis in April 2004, hoping to connect to a flight to Libya. I’d been visiting Tunisia regularly since 1973, providing consultation and design assistance to the office of national tourism, to help the nation create a golf industry.
A Tunisian developer had asked me to accompany him to Tripoli. He was looking to build a hotel in Libya, in light of the pending opening of the country to foreign investment. I was looking to design Libya’s first all-grass golf course.
It took three days for the Libyans to process my visa. I picked it up on the morning of the 22nd, just hours before we were scheduled to depart for Tunis. I hadn’t yet heard that the U.S. government had opened Libya to Americans.
Upon our arrival at the airport, after a 50-minute flight, the Tunisians in our party passed quickly through immigration. I was held back as my passport was shown to various Libyan immigration agents, many of whom were seeing a U.S. passport for the first time. They had questions about my profession, as my passport, just four years old, contained nearly 100 pages of entry stamps.
Once cleared, we were met by representatives of the Libyan Golf Federation and the Libyan tour operator who was to serve as the local partner in our development group.
Oil wealth had brought untold millions to Libya, but I saw little evidence of it on the drive into Tripoli. People ran up to our car at every stop, trying to sell us cigarettes and chewing gum by the piece. Men sat upon curbs, holding hammers, trowels, shovels, and plumbing tools, indicating their skills, hoping to land a day job. The roads needed cleaning and repairs. The buildings were dull and bland, without gardens or lawns. Paint appeared to be in short supply.
The next day, we visited a 2,000-acre site west of Tunisia that didn’t quite meet our needs. From there, we made our way toward Bin Ghashir Golf Course, in the hot desert south of the city.
Again, we drove along littered, pot-holed roads lined with distressed-looking houses. We stopped at a concrete-block building that housed a butcher shop. Refrigeration is in short supply in Libya. People shop every day, for their immediate needs. Butcher shops in Libya hang the head of whatever animal they’re selling alongside its suspended carcass, to reveal the meat’s freshness. In Tripoli, at least, it seemed that young camel was the meat of choice. Occasionally we’d see donkey and sheep heads as well. The meat is sold by weight. You just hack off as much as you want.
Bin Ghashir was about 60 acres of rolling sand with a few scrawny eucalyptus trees scattered about. It was the second course built in Libya. Brits built the first, near Benghazi, at the end of World War Two.
The course had 18 small, raised tee boxes, nine roundish, flattish sand greens, ill-defined fairways, no grass, and no irrigation system. A piece of synthetic grass was used to create a preferred lie for shots. Its clubhouse was yet another squat, Arab-style, concrete-block box. Two rooms, no air conditioning. Outside, on a concrete slab, there was a small wood stove where fish stew and macaroni were being prepared for lunch.
The players were mostly expatriate workers from the U.K. and South Korea. On weekdays, the Koreans arrived at about five o’clock, several cars full of them. They’d scatter to various tees in a rush to play as many holes as they could before dark.
On weekends, during the milder months, 100 or more rounds would be played at Bin Ghashir. In the summer, you could only play in the morning. The course has recorded temperatures over 115 degrees.
Over dinner, it was decided that Libya’s first legitimate golf course would be built at Bin Ghashir. The land was available, the federation was agreeable, and water was said to be plentiful just 350 feet below our feet.
To offer an 18-hole experience, I proposed to design a nine-hole “boutique”-style layout with multiple teeing areas, double greens, and common fairways. The track would reach nearly 6,700 yards off the rear tees. It was the same 9/18 concept that my company, Golfplan, had used elsewhere for more than 20 years, to good reviews.
The partners planned to acquire some adjacent land at the south end of the course for golf-view condos and apartments. A new, much-improved clubhouse would serve as the community’s social center.
During May, Golfplan’s team in Santa Rosa, California worked on the design concept. A dramatic layout emerged, with plenty of visual beauty and ample challenges for better golfers. We added several lakes to help cool the property and store the irrigation water.
I returned to Tripoli in early June. On the way to my hotel, we passed the compound where Colonel Gaddafi lives. It was encircled by concrete walls at least 20 feet high, and its entrance was blocked by guards and barriers. Above the walls, I could see the upper floors of several apartment buildings that served as the home of the Colonel’s personal guards.
I was told that Gaddafi lived in a tent in the middle of the compound. He had camels tethered nearby, so he could drink fresh camel’s milk whenever he wanted to.
A couple of days later, in the company of our Libyan host and the president of the golf federation, I met Gaddafi’s eldest son, Muhammad. He was the chairman of Libyan television and telecommunications, as well as the head of the nation’s Olympic committee and the president of its national soccer team. A portrait of his father hung on the wall of his office.
Gaddafi knew of golf but had never played. He was interested in our venture because he wanted to bring tourists to his country. He appreciated the financial benefits that golf-related tourism could bring.
With Gaddafi’s approval, our plan was all but complete. We had a site, a course design, a master plan, and a financial pro forma. Of course, the deal wouldn’t be done until the Libyan and Tunisian sides made some important money decisions -- who pays for what, who gets the profits, who gets the credit. I had my fingers crossed.
I left Tripoli on a hot June afternoon. On the flight to London, over a few glasses of red wine, I again wondered where all the oil money had gone.
Cheers!
Ron Fream
Ron Fream is the founder of Golfplan, a Santa Rosa, California-based design firm. He's designed about 75 new courses, including one for the Sultan of Brunei, and currently has projects in Mongolia, Uganda, and other countries. He lives in Malaysia.
A Tunisian developer had asked me to accompany him to Tripoli. He was looking to build a hotel in Libya, in light of the pending opening of the country to foreign investment. I was looking to design Libya’s first all-grass golf course.
It took three days for the Libyans to process my visa. I picked it up on the morning of the 22nd, just hours before we were scheduled to depart for Tunis. I hadn’t yet heard that the U.S. government had opened Libya to Americans.
Upon our arrival at the airport, after a 50-minute flight, the Tunisians in our party passed quickly through immigration. I was held back as my passport was shown to various Libyan immigration agents, many of whom were seeing a U.S. passport for the first time. They had questions about my profession, as my passport, just four years old, contained nearly 100 pages of entry stamps.
Once cleared, we were met by representatives of the Libyan Golf Federation and the Libyan tour operator who was to serve as the local partner in our development group.
Oil wealth had brought untold millions to Libya, but I saw little evidence of it on the drive into Tripoli. People ran up to our car at every stop, trying to sell us cigarettes and chewing gum by the piece. Men sat upon curbs, holding hammers, trowels, shovels, and plumbing tools, indicating their skills, hoping to land a day job. The roads needed cleaning and repairs. The buildings were dull and bland, without gardens or lawns. Paint appeared to be in short supply.
The next day, we visited a 2,000-acre site west of Tunisia that didn’t quite meet our needs. From there, we made our way toward Bin Ghashir Golf Course, in the hot desert south of the city.
Again, we drove along littered, pot-holed roads lined with distressed-looking houses. We stopped at a concrete-block building that housed a butcher shop. Refrigeration is in short supply in Libya. People shop every day, for their immediate needs. Butcher shops in Libya hang the head of whatever animal they’re selling alongside its suspended carcass, to reveal the meat’s freshness. In Tripoli, at least, it seemed that young camel was the meat of choice. Occasionally we’d see donkey and sheep heads as well. The meat is sold by weight. You just hack off as much as you want.
Bin Ghashir was about 60 acres of rolling sand with a few scrawny eucalyptus trees scattered about. It was the second course built in Libya. Brits built the first, near Benghazi, at the end of World War Two.
The course had 18 small, raised tee boxes, nine roundish, flattish sand greens, ill-defined fairways, no grass, and no irrigation system. A piece of synthetic grass was used to create a preferred lie for shots. Its clubhouse was yet another squat, Arab-style, concrete-block box. Two rooms, no air conditioning. Outside, on a concrete slab, there was a small wood stove where fish stew and macaroni were being prepared for lunch.
The players were mostly expatriate workers from the U.K. and South Korea. On weekdays, the Koreans arrived at about five o’clock, several cars full of them. They’d scatter to various tees in a rush to play as many holes as they could before dark.
On weekends, during the milder months, 100 or more rounds would be played at Bin Ghashir. In the summer, you could only play in the morning. The course has recorded temperatures over 115 degrees.
Over dinner, it was decided that Libya’s first legitimate golf course would be built at Bin Ghashir. The land was available, the federation was agreeable, and water was said to be plentiful just 350 feet below our feet.
To offer an 18-hole experience, I proposed to design a nine-hole “boutique”-style layout with multiple teeing areas, double greens, and common fairways. The track would reach nearly 6,700 yards off the rear tees. It was the same 9/18 concept that my company, Golfplan, had used elsewhere for more than 20 years, to good reviews.
The partners planned to acquire some adjacent land at the south end of the course for golf-view condos and apartments. A new, much-improved clubhouse would serve as the community’s social center.
During May, Golfplan’s team in Santa Rosa, California worked on the design concept. A dramatic layout emerged, with plenty of visual beauty and ample challenges for better golfers. We added several lakes to help cool the property and store the irrigation water.
I returned to Tripoli in early June. On the way to my hotel, we passed the compound where Colonel Gaddafi lives. It was encircled by concrete walls at least 20 feet high, and its entrance was blocked by guards and barriers. Above the walls, I could see the upper floors of several apartment buildings that served as the home of the Colonel’s personal guards.
I was told that Gaddafi lived in a tent in the middle of the compound. He had camels tethered nearby, so he could drink fresh camel’s milk whenever he wanted to.
A couple of days later, in the company of our Libyan host and the president of the golf federation, I met Gaddafi’s eldest son, Muhammad. He was the chairman of Libyan television and telecommunications, as well as the head of the nation’s Olympic committee and the president of its national soccer team. A portrait of his father hung on the wall of his office.
Gaddafi knew of golf but had never played. He was interested in our venture because he wanted to bring tourists to his country. He appreciated the financial benefits that golf-related tourism could bring.
With Gaddafi’s approval, our plan was all but complete. We had a site, a course design, a master plan, and a financial pro forma. Of course, the deal wouldn’t be done until the Libyan and Tunisian sides made some important money decisions -- who pays for what, who gets the profits, who gets the credit. I had my fingers crossed.
I left Tripoli on a hot June afternoon. On the flight to London, over a few glasses of red wine, I again wondered where all the oil money had gone.
Cheers!
Ron Fream
Ron Fream is the founder of Golfplan, a Santa Rosa, California-based design firm. He's designed about 75 new courses, including one for the Sultan of Brunei, and currently has projects in Mongolia, Uganda, and other countries. He lives in Malaysia.
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
croatia Will the ‘Dream’ Come True?
If you thought the Croatian Dream was just another wild fantasy that would never come true, think again: The project’s developers say they're going to break ground on their first 18-hole course this year, and they hope to build four more before they’re through.
Split-based Profectus Grupa has called its massive mini-city “a true example of an ‘American Dream’ being achieved here in Croatia.” It'll be realized on 12,500 acres in Doli, along the Adriatic coast, and could eventually include numerous houses, a dozen or more hotels, a casino, two marinas, a business park, a film studio, exhibition space for trade shows, an airport, a university campus, a hospital, a theme park, and lots of other attractions.
The first golf course, part of a community called Three Sisters, is being designed by Steve Forrest of Hills & Forrest International Golf Course Architects. Vicenco Blagaic, Profectus Grupa’s CEO, has said that he expects it to be “one of the finest new courses in continental Europe.”
Forrest, who’s based in Toledo, Ohio, has described the track as “a resort-style course that will interest and naturally accommodate the full range of players.”
The track will take shape along what’s been described an “elevated, rocky coastline” that lacks soil. The developers will need to truck in dirt and sand before construction can begin.
Split-based Profectus Grupa has called its massive mini-city “a true example of an ‘American Dream’ being achieved here in Croatia.” It'll be realized on 12,500 acres in Doli, along the Adriatic coast, and could eventually include numerous houses, a dozen or more hotels, a casino, two marinas, a business park, a film studio, exhibition space for trade shows, an airport, a university campus, a hospital, a theme park, and lots of other attractions.
The first golf course, part of a community called Three Sisters, is being designed by Steve Forrest of Hills & Forrest International Golf Course Architects. Vicenco Blagaic, Profectus Grupa’s CEO, has said that he expects it to be “one of the finest new courses in continental Europe.”
Forrest, who’s based in Toledo, Ohio, has described the track as “a resort-style course that will interest and naturally accommodate the full range of players.”
The track will take shape along what’s been described an “elevated, rocky coastline” that lacks soil. The developers will need to truck in dirt and sand before construction can begin.
Sunday, June 19, 2011
The Week That Was june 19, 2011
vietnam Faldo's Return to Vietnam
The people responsible for the biggest and best golf resort in Phuket, Thailand have broken ground on a facsimile in central Vietnam.
Banyan Tree Holdings, Ltd., the Singapore-based hotel developer, is building Laguna Lang Co on a waterfront site in Thua Thien Hue Province, about 50 miles east of Hue. The resort is taking shape on 700 acres in the Chan May-Lang Co Economic Zone, which has a seaport and what’s been described as one of Vietnam’s most beautiful beaches, Lang Co Beach.
“Sir Nick and the Faldo Design team have achieved a wonderfully strategic layout with an abundance of variety,” a Banyan Tree spokesman said, “and we are confident that we will create one of the leading golf courses in Asia.”
Banyan Tree is perhaps best known for having built Laguna Phuket in Thailand, an enormously popular resort with six hotels and a golf course designed by Max Wexler and David Abell. Laguna Phuket is serving as a model for Laguna Lang Co, which will have a slew of villas and apartments, seven hotels (a total of 2,000 rooms), a convention center, a spa, a shopping area, and an 18-hole golf course that’s been designed by Nick Faldo.
The project was originally announced in 2009, smack dab in the middle of the darkest days of the Great Recession. At the time, Banyan Tree said it was betting that the hard times would end by the time the resort was scheduled to open, in 2012. “We think that’s the time the world economy will be going strong, and we will be riding the wave,” the company's chairman said at the time.
The jury is still out on that prediction.
Nonetheless, Faldo's course is expected to open just when Banyan Tree said it would, in the summer of 2012.
When asked to whisper sweet nothings about the course, Faldo paid the usual compliments to his employers -- he said he'd received “a gift” when he was hired to work on such a “unique setting” along “a stunning coastline” -- and he even managed to blow a kiss to the local socialist government: “The commitment of Mr. Nguyen Van Cao and the Hue's People's Committee will ensure that Laguna Lang Co is a true tourism draw for a very special region.”
Laguna Lang Co will be Faldo's second course in Vietnam. These days the Windsor, England-based designer is also working on new courses in Brazil, India, Cambodia, and China.
mariana islands Neo Gold Wings, Back on Track
Two years after its well-attended ground-breaking and a year after its apparent demise, the Neo Gold Wings Paradise Casino & Hotel is showing signs of life.
Neo Gold Wings is to spread over 750 acres on Tinian, one of the three largest islands of what's officially called the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Assuming it's built, it'll feature a casino, a hotel, roughly 800 cottages, a theme park, and a 36-hole golf complex.
The resort was kicked off with great fanfare in July 2009, but a year later local officials terminated the developers' land lease for failure to pay the rent. The tab didn't amount to all that much -- just $173,000 -- but it was enough to put the venture in jeopardy.
A couple of weeks ago, however, the Neo Gold Wings development group initiated talks designed to rectify matters. The retooled group, which now includes investors from Korea, China, and the United States, promised to pay their past-due bills and sign a new land lease.
Once those matters are settled, they said, they'd break ground on the project within a year.
Tinian, which has a population of less than 5,000, is committed to growing its nascent tourism industry with gaming. The 39-square-mile island currently has one casino, and it wants to build three more.
Maybe that's why it sounds as if local officials are glad to have the Neo Gold Wings crew back. “As long as the investment is legitimate and the investor is showing sincerity, I don't see [a] reason to give them a hard time,” one of them said.
canada Gary Player Records a First
Speaking of golf ventures that have found new life, last week Gary Player’s first golf course in Canada made its official debut.
The 7,000-yard track, a Black Knight design (meaning it’s not a “signature” layout), serves as a drawing card for the 900-acre Wildstone resort community in Cranbrook, British Columbia. When he got the design commission, Player said the property was “the most beautiful site I’ve ever had the privilege to design a golf course on.”
Wildstone was begun by Havaday Developments, which went broke in 2009. Last year, an LLC linked to Calgary, Alberta-based Coast to Coast Development bought the property and resumed construction on the golf course.
“It has been a long road, and there were times we didn't think this day would come,” Scott Ferrell, the president of Player's design firm, said at the unveiling.
Havaday planned to build two 18-hole tracks at Wildstone, but Coast to Coast is content to stick with one.
united states Strange Bedfellows, Indeed
Once a month, please, gentlemen.
The people responsible for the biggest and best golf resort in Phuket, Thailand have broken ground on a facsimile in central Vietnam.
Banyan Tree Holdings, Ltd., the Singapore-based hotel developer, is building Laguna Lang Co on a waterfront site in Thua Thien Hue Province, about 50 miles east of Hue. The resort is taking shape on 700 acres in the Chan May-Lang Co Economic Zone, which has a seaport and what’s been described as one of Vietnam’s most beautiful beaches, Lang Co Beach.
“Sir Nick and the Faldo Design team have achieved a wonderfully strategic layout with an abundance of variety,” a Banyan Tree spokesman said, “and we are confident that we will create one of the leading golf courses in Asia.”
Banyan Tree is perhaps best known for having built Laguna Phuket in Thailand, an enormously popular resort with six hotels and a golf course designed by Max Wexler and David Abell. Laguna Phuket is serving as a model for Laguna Lang Co, which will have a slew of villas and apartments, seven hotels (a total of 2,000 rooms), a convention center, a spa, a shopping area, and an 18-hole golf course that’s been designed by Nick Faldo.
The project was originally announced in 2009, smack dab in the middle of the darkest days of the Great Recession. At the time, Banyan Tree said it was betting that the hard times would end by the time the resort was scheduled to open, in 2012. “We think that’s the time the world economy will be going strong, and we will be riding the wave,” the company's chairman said at the time.
The jury is still out on that prediction.
Nonetheless, Faldo's course is expected to open just when Banyan Tree said it would, in the summer of 2012.
When asked to whisper sweet nothings about the course, Faldo paid the usual compliments to his employers -- he said he'd received “a gift” when he was hired to work on such a “unique setting” along “a stunning coastline” -- and he even managed to blow a kiss to the local socialist government: “The commitment of Mr. Nguyen Van Cao and the Hue's People's Committee will ensure that Laguna Lang Co is a true tourism draw for a very special region.”
Laguna Lang Co will be Faldo's second course in Vietnam. These days the Windsor, England-based designer is also working on new courses in Brazil, India, Cambodia, and China.
mariana islands Neo Gold Wings, Back on Track
Two years after its well-attended ground-breaking and a year after its apparent demise, the Neo Gold Wings Paradise Casino & Hotel is showing signs of life.
Neo Gold Wings is to spread over 750 acres on Tinian, one of the three largest islands of what's officially called the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands. Assuming it's built, it'll feature a casino, a hotel, roughly 800 cottages, a theme park, and a 36-hole golf complex.
The resort was kicked off with great fanfare in July 2009, but a year later local officials terminated the developers' land lease for failure to pay the rent. The tab didn't amount to all that much -- just $173,000 -- but it was enough to put the venture in jeopardy.
A couple of weeks ago, however, the Neo Gold Wings development group initiated talks designed to rectify matters. The retooled group, which now includes investors from Korea, China, and the United States, promised to pay their past-due bills and sign a new land lease.
Once those matters are settled, they said, they'd break ground on the project within a year.
Tinian, which has a population of less than 5,000, is committed to growing its nascent tourism industry with gaming. The 39-square-mile island currently has one casino, and it wants to build three more.
Maybe that's why it sounds as if local officials are glad to have the Neo Gold Wings crew back. “As long as the investment is legitimate and the investor is showing sincerity, I don't see [a] reason to give them a hard time,” one of them said.
canada Gary Player Records a First
Speaking of golf ventures that have found new life, last week Gary Player’s first golf course in Canada made its official debut.
The 7,000-yard track, a Black Knight design (meaning it’s not a “signature” layout), serves as a drawing card for the 900-acre Wildstone resort community in Cranbrook, British Columbia. When he got the design commission, Player said the property was “the most beautiful site I’ve ever had the privilege to design a golf course on.”
Wildstone was begun by Havaday Developments, which went broke in 2009. Last year, an LLC linked to Calgary, Alberta-based Coast to Coast Development bought the property and resumed construction on the golf course.
“It has been a long road, and there were times we didn't think this day would come,” Scott Ferrell, the president of Player's design firm, said at the unveiling.
Havaday planned to build two 18-hole tracks at Wildstone, but Coast to Coast is content to stick with one.
united states Strange Bedfellows, Indeed
Once a month, please, gentlemen.
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