Marrakech Golf Club, which features the first golf course designed by Niall Cameron, had its debut earlier this month.
The club, which bills itself as “the first truly private members’ course in Morocco,” will serve as the centerpiece of Assoufid, an upscale community just a short drive from downtown Marrakech. Exclusivity will be a major part of the community’s appeal, as its 555 acres are to include just 80 villas, a 98-room hotel with a spa, and a golf academy.
Assoufid will be managed by Sir Rocco Forte’s hotel group, which made a splash in golf circles in 2009, when it opened Verdura Golf & Spa Resort on the island of Sicily. Forte enlisted Cameron, a Scottish golf pro who serves as Verdura’s director of golf, to design Assoufid’s course, a 7,020-yard track that was built on property formerly dotted with olive trees.
“I had to pinch myself when I first saw the site,” Cameron said in a press release issued late last year. “The terrain for the golf course was ideal.”
Forte aims to sign 300 members to the club, and he’s reserved a spot for each of Assoufid’s property owners.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the January 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
Friday, March 30, 2012
Wednesday, March 28, 2012
australia Dynamic Duo Goes Royal
Australia’s hottest design duo has been tapped to prepare a master plan for renovations at Royal Canberra Golf Club in suburban Canberra, New South Wales.
I’m talking, of course, about golf pro Geoff Ogilvy and “minimalist” architect Michael Clayton, the co-designer (with Tom Doak) of Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania.
The partners, who operate out of Clayton’s office in Sandringham, Victoria, are currently working on makeovers of Bonnie Doon Golf Club in suburban Sydney and Sun City Country Club in suburban Perth, and Clayton (not yet officially with Ogilvy) has agreed to design a new “world-class” layout on Seven Mile Beach outside Hobart, in Tasmania.
This year Ogilvy and Clayton will turn their attention to Royal Canberra, which features a 50-year-old, 18-hole track (designed by Commander John Harris off a routing by James Scott) that’s long been ranked among Australia’s top layouts. (The club later added a third nine, designed by Peter Thomson and Michael Wolveridge.) The fundamental character of the complex isn’t expected to change significantly, but some tees and bunkers may be relocated, and all of the design elements will be refreshed.
The club doesn’t figure to begin any substantive work until after February 2013, when it hosts the Australian Women’s Open.
I’m talking, of course, about golf pro Geoff Ogilvy and “minimalist” architect Michael Clayton, the co-designer (with Tom Doak) of Barnbougle Dunes in Tasmania.
The partners, who operate out of Clayton’s office in Sandringham, Victoria, are currently working on makeovers of Bonnie Doon Golf Club in suburban Sydney and Sun City Country Club in suburban Perth, and Clayton (not yet officially with Ogilvy) has agreed to design a new “world-class” layout on Seven Mile Beach outside Hobart, in Tasmania.
This year Ogilvy and Clayton will turn their attention to Royal Canberra, which features a 50-year-old, 18-hole track (designed by Commander John Harris off a routing by James Scott) that’s long been ranked among Australia’s top layouts. (The club later added a third nine, designed by Peter Thomson and Michael Wolveridge.) The fundamental character of the complex isn’t expected to change significantly, but some tees and bunkers may be relocated, and all of the design elements will be refreshed.
The club doesn’t figure to begin any substantive work until after February 2013, when it hosts the Australian Women’s Open.
Sunday, March 25, 2012
The Week That Was, march 25, 2012
united states The Closings Accelerate
If you believe the U.S. golf business has stabilized, you might want to reconsider: The inventory of golf courses in our nation shrunk dramatically last year.
Since 2006, according to the National Golf Foundation, our industry has lost 358.5 “18-hole equivalent” courses. By my math, this works out to a net reduction of roughly 72 courses a year in each of the past five years.
In 2011, however, the number of closings hit 157.5 -- more than double the number that might have been expected. The net reduction amounts to 138.5, when the measly 19 courses that opened during 2011 are taken into account.
From the NGF’s perspective, this is welcome news.
“The slow correction that is now occurring is very much overdue and necessary, to help return the golf course business to a more healthy equilibrium between supply and demand,” says Joe Beditz, the group’s president, in a press release.
Of course, the owners of the courses that have gone belly up may not see things quite so dispassionately. One man’s “market correction” is another man’s retirement savings gone kablooey.
And while this gradual shrinking of the market may translate into greater profits for existing courses, it sure doesn’t lay a solid foundation for the industry’s long-term health. The NGF’s research indicates that most of the recently shuttered courses are public tracks with low greens fees -- in other words, cheap-to-play courses where juniors, beginners, and average-income hackers typically gather. How can we create a thriving business when we diminish the supply of venues that introduce golf to future generations?
All in all, the NGF’s numbers-crunchers say, over the past five years the United States has lost 2.4 percent of its total supply of courses, and they predict that further reductions are on the horizon. But the way the NGF sees it, these are signs of good things to come.
“The outlook for golf remains slightly positive,” Beditz concludes, “with a stabilization of demand likely in the near term and slow growth likely in the longer term.”
I want to draw your attention to Beditz’s ominous hedging. In order to make a one-sentence comment about golf’s “slightly positive” future, he had to use the word likely twice. Inspires confidence, doesn’t it?
What the NGF is saying is that we can all look forward to a few more down years followed by decades of lean years. I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait.
And in Other News . . .
. . . maldives For those ardent travelers who can’t wait for the opening of the much-discussed “floating” golf course in the Maldives, an alternative has emerged: A nine-hole, par-3 track is scheduled to debut this week at the Shangri-La Villingili Resort & Spa on the southern part of Villingili Island. The course is the island nation’s second, joining a six-hole track at Kuredu Island Resort on Lhaviyani Atoll. Although the course at Villingili certainly isn’t destination-worthy -- a report from Golf Today suggests that it was designed by someone at Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts -- people are clearly finding reasons to visit the Maldives. A record number of tourists -- 931,000 -- made their way to the place last year, and over the past decade its tourism arrivals are said to have nearly doubled.
. . . australia After more than a decade of trying, the 400-odd members of Maleny Golf Club have secured permission to build an easy-to-play, nine-hole golf course. The track will be part of a community that’s taking shape on a municipally owned, 300-acre parcel in Maleny, Queensland. (If you’re wondering, it’s 12 miles west of Maroochydore, 80 miles north of Brisbane.) The club, which currently operates a driving range on the property, has tapped Graham Papworth of Hastings, Australia-based GNP Golf Design to design the golf course, which could someday grow to 18 holes.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
. . . china I can’t decide if China these days reminds me more of limbo or the second act of Waiting for Godot. While the central government hasn’t yet lifted its moratorium on golf construction or issued those long-awaited regulations on development, projects in the People’s Republic are nonetheless being approved, construction is taking place, and new courses are opening. It’s counter-intuitive, I know. Here’s how Brian Curley explained the situation in the current issue of Asian Golf Business: “Things are much slower as far as construction goes, but we are still producing plans and signing new deals. This has us optimistic about the future, but there’s still an unknown time frame associated with the slowdown.” The Scottsdale, Arizona-based architect knows there’s no upside in predicting the future, but he gamely ventured a guess. “We expect a slow first half of 2012,” he told the magazine. “From there, it could be crazy busy or a continued slow pace. You never know.” No, you don’t. And that’s why China has become a giant blur for the world of golf.
. . . wild card click You can never have too much of a good thing.
If you believe the U.S. golf business has stabilized, you might want to reconsider: The inventory of golf courses in our nation shrunk dramatically last year.
Since 2006, according to the National Golf Foundation, our industry has lost 358.5 “18-hole equivalent” courses. By my math, this works out to a net reduction of roughly 72 courses a year in each of the past five years.
In 2011, however, the number of closings hit 157.5 -- more than double the number that might have been expected. The net reduction amounts to 138.5, when the measly 19 courses that opened during 2011 are taken into account.
From the NGF’s perspective, this is welcome news.
“The slow correction that is now occurring is very much overdue and necessary, to help return the golf course business to a more healthy equilibrium between supply and demand,” says Joe Beditz, the group’s president, in a press release.
Of course, the owners of the courses that have gone belly up may not see things quite so dispassionately. One man’s “market correction” is another man’s retirement savings gone kablooey.
And while this gradual shrinking of the market may translate into greater profits for existing courses, it sure doesn’t lay a solid foundation for the industry’s long-term health. The NGF’s research indicates that most of the recently shuttered courses are public tracks with low greens fees -- in other words, cheap-to-play courses where juniors, beginners, and average-income hackers typically gather. How can we create a thriving business when we diminish the supply of venues that introduce golf to future generations?
All in all, the NGF’s numbers-crunchers say, over the past five years the United States has lost 2.4 percent of its total supply of courses, and they predict that further reductions are on the horizon. But the way the NGF sees it, these are signs of good things to come.
“The outlook for golf remains slightly positive,” Beditz concludes, “with a stabilization of demand likely in the near term and slow growth likely in the longer term.”
I want to draw your attention to Beditz’s ominous hedging. In order to make a one-sentence comment about golf’s “slightly positive” future, he had to use the word likely twice. Inspires confidence, doesn’t it?
What the NGF is saying is that we can all look forward to a few more down years followed by decades of lean years. I don’t know about you, but I can hardly wait.
And in Other News . . .
. . . maldives For those ardent travelers who can’t wait for the opening of the much-discussed “floating” golf course in the Maldives, an alternative has emerged: A nine-hole, par-3 track is scheduled to debut this week at the Shangri-La Villingili Resort & Spa on the southern part of Villingili Island. The course is the island nation’s second, joining a six-hole track at Kuredu Island Resort on Lhaviyani Atoll. Although the course at Villingili certainly isn’t destination-worthy -- a report from Golf Today suggests that it was designed by someone at Shangri-La Hotels & Resorts -- people are clearly finding reasons to visit the Maldives. A record number of tourists -- 931,000 -- made their way to the place last year, and over the past decade its tourism arrivals are said to have nearly doubled.
. . . australia After more than a decade of trying, the 400-odd members of Maleny Golf Club have secured permission to build an easy-to-play, nine-hole golf course. The track will be part of a community that’s taking shape on a municipally owned, 300-acre parcel in Maleny, Queensland. (If you’re wondering, it’s 12 miles west of Maroochydore, 80 miles north of Brisbane.) The club, which currently operates a driving range on the property, has tapped Graham Papworth of Hastings, Australia-based GNP Golf Design to design the golf course, which could someday grow to 18 holes.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the February 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
. . . china I can’t decide if China these days reminds me more of limbo or the second act of Waiting for Godot. While the central government hasn’t yet lifted its moratorium on golf construction or issued those long-awaited regulations on development, projects in the People’s Republic are nonetheless being approved, construction is taking place, and new courses are opening. It’s counter-intuitive, I know. Here’s how Brian Curley explained the situation in the current issue of Asian Golf Business: “Things are much slower as far as construction goes, but we are still producing plans and signing new deals. This has us optimistic about the future, but there’s still an unknown time frame associated with the slowdown.” The Scottsdale, Arizona-based architect knows there’s no upside in predicting the future, but he gamely ventured a guess. “We expect a slow first half of 2012,” he told the magazine. “From there, it could be crazy busy or a continued slow pace. You never know.” No, you don’t. And that’s why China has become a giant blur for the world of golf.
. . . wild card click You can never have too much of a good thing.
Friday, March 23, 2012
worth reading The Grandest Illusion
I never thought about the lawn-care industry as having a start date, but apparently it has one: the second week of April 1967. That weekend, for the first time, the Masters was broadcast live and in color, sparking America’s mad quest for the impeccable front lawn.
No doubt, Augusta National in April is lovely, and it has inspired all too many golf writers to wax overly poetic about its flawlessness. But what CBS and ESPN don’t really care to admit is that the tournament venue is in many respects merely an illusion, one that’s greener, more sumptuous, and more picture-perfect than any golf course could ever be for 52 weeks a year. Its magnificence epitomizes both golf’s glory and its ruin.
Paul Tukey, who favors “natural” agronomic practices, recently put Augusta National in perspective. Here’s part of an essay he recently published in eNews Park Forest:
For the professionals who care for grass, either on golf courses or in home yards, the “Augusta Syndrome” is a love-hate relationship between financial opportunity and unrealistic expectations of their patrons and customers. For the manufacturers like Scotts Miracle Gro, Bayer, and others, America’s obsession with Masters green has been a pure gold excuse to print their own money.
“The Masters golf tournament is a nightmare for us every year,” said Mike Bailey, the superintendent of the Whitlock Country Club in Hudson, Quebec, the first town in North America that ever banned lawn and garden pesticides on all property -- except golf courses and farms. “We’re sitting up here in Canada in April, when the grass hasn’t even broken dormancy most years, and yet our members show up the week after the Masters and expect our course to look like a golf course 2,000 miles to the south.” . . .
Ron Dodson, the president of Audubon International that has certified golf courses for their environmental stewardship, famously denounced Augusta National Country Club as a “television studio on which a golf tournament is played in the spring.” The club reportedly dyes ponds blue or black to hide algae bloom, spray-paints grass to make it look more green in years when the newly planted ryegrass isn’t flourishing, and even refrigerates or warms the azaleas so that they’ll be in perfect bloom for the second weekend in April. Rumors have it that this year Hollywood set designers have been brought in to Augusta to hide damage caused by the lawn chemical weed killer Imprelis that was found last year to kill trees as a side effect.
The pressure to make Augusta National look perfect for a week each year is immense -- and certainly still at the core of our nation’s obsession with lawn-care aesthetics. You want to take a look at what the world’s most famous golf course really looks like when the cameras are off? It’s easy. Go to GoogleMaps.com and type in “Augusta National Country Club.” Click on the satellite button and then begin to zoom in. What you’ll find is grass that probably looks a lot like your grass. You’ll see bare patches and faded greens. You’ll find empty rubber-lined holes in the earth where those made-for-TV ponds were filled when the cameras were on. It’s a rather scorched-earth appearance that most people wouldn’t imagine when they think of the Masters. . . .
The real issue is expectations and marketing. Golf can be played amongst a few weeds and brown patches, but customers who have been overtly and subliminally motivated by ad dollars don’t want to hear it. . . .
And yet, in three weeks the Masters tournament will recharge those expectations among consumers. In a couple of weeks, Opening Day of the baseball season will showcase all those “Scotts is Used Here” banners in Major League ballparks. Baseball fans will charge into the landscape supply centers and buy a bagged product that offers the intrinsic promise of Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium at home lawns across North America.
It’s a multibillion-dollar industry based on a big pile of bunk.
So this year when you watch the Masters, understand one thing: It’s no more realistic for your lawn to look like Augusta National Country Club does for a week in April than it is for your golf game to be on par with Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, or Tiger Woods.
No doubt, Augusta National in April is lovely, and it has inspired all too many golf writers to wax overly poetic about its flawlessness. But what CBS and ESPN don’t really care to admit is that the tournament venue is in many respects merely an illusion, one that’s greener, more sumptuous, and more picture-perfect than any golf course could ever be for 52 weeks a year. Its magnificence epitomizes both golf’s glory and its ruin.
Paul Tukey, who favors “natural” agronomic practices, recently put Augusta National in perspective. Here’s part of an essay he recently published in eNews Park Forest:
For the professionals who care for grass, either on golf courses or in home yards, the “Augusta Syndrome” is a love-hate relationship between financial opportunity and unrealistic expectations of their patrons and customers. For the manufacturers like Scotts Miracle Gro, Bayer, and others, America’s obsession with Masters green has been a pure gold excuse to print their own money.
“The Masters golf tournament is a nightmare for us every year,” said Mike Bailey, the superintendent of the Whitlock Country Club in Hudson, Quebec, the first town in North America that ever banned lawn and garden pesticides on all property -- except golf courses and farms. “We’re sitting up here in Canada in April, when the grass hasn’t even broken dormancy most years, and yet our members show up the week after the Masters and expect our course to look like a golf course 2,000 miles to the south.” . . .
Ron Dodson, the president of Audubon International that has certified golf courses for their environmental stewardship, famously denounced Augusta National Country Club as a “television studio on which a golf tournament is played in the spring.” The club reportedly dyes ponds blue or black to hide algae bloom, spray-paints grass to make it look more green in years when the newly planted ryegrass isn’t flourishing, and even refrigerates or warms the azaleas so that they’ll be in perfect bloom for the second weekend in April. Rumors have it that this year Hollywood set designers have been brought in to Augusta to hide damage caused by the lawn chemical weed killer Imprelis that was found last year to kill trees as a side effect.
The pressure to make Augusta National look perfect for a week each year is immense -- and certainly still at the core of our nation’s obsession with lawn-care aesthetics. You want to take a look at what the world’s most famous golf course really looks like when the cameras are off? It’s easy. Go to GoogleMaps.com and type in “Augusta National Country Club.” Click on the satellite button and then begin to zoom in. What you’ll find is grass that probably looks a lot like your grass. You’ll see bare patches and faded greens. You’ll find empty rubber-lined holes in the earth where those made-for-TV ponds were filled when the cameras were on. It’s a rather scorched-earth appearance that most people wouldn’t imagine when they think of the Masters. . . .
The real issue is expectations and marketing. Golf can be played amongst a few weeds and brown patches, but customers who have been overtly and subliminally motivated by ad dollars don’t want to hear it. . . .
And yet, in three weeks the Masters tournament will recharge those expectations among consumers. In a couple of weeks, Opening Day of the baseball season will showcase all those “Scotts is Used Here” banners in Major League ballparks. Baseball fans will charge into the landscape supply centers and buy a bagged product that offers the intrinsic promise of Fenway Park and Dodger Stadium at home lawns across North America.
It’s a multibillion-dollar industry based on a big pile of bunk.
So this year when you watch the Masters, understand one thing: It’s no more realistic for your lawn to look like Augusta National Country Club does for a week in April than it is for your golf game to be on par with Rory McIlroy, Phil Mickelson, or Tiger Woods.
Wednesday, March 21, 2012
tunisia The Wide World of Sports Cities
If you’re looking for fresh reasons to feel optimistic about international golf development, consider this: Late last year, Sports Cities International announced that it’s resurrected its down-but-not-out community in Tunisia’s capital city.
“We expect to resume the work soon,” SCI’s CEO, Victor Shenoda, told Emirates 24/7.
Tunis Sports City was a link in a chain of sports-oriented communities that SCI, a subsidiary of Sharjah, UAE-based Bukhatir Group, hoped to build in Sri Lanka, South Africa, India, Vietnam, Morocco, and, for a brief time, Pakistan. However, the company managed to open just one: Dubai Sports City, which debuted in 2004 and includes an Ernie Els-designed golf course.
In keeping with the template created in Dubai, the 650-acre Tunis Sports City has been master-planned to include a variety of housing types, a few hotels, some office space, the largest shopping area in North Africa, schools, a medical center, nine sports academies, a 10,000-seat outdoor stadium, and a 5,000-seat indoor stadium. Its 6,650-yard golf course has been designed by Peter Harradine, a Swiss architect who has an office in Dubai.
Shenoda didn’t provide any particulars about when the construction in Tunis will begin. As for the other communities, they remain kayoed by the global economic collapse, at least for the time being.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
“We expect to resume the work soon,” SCI’s CEO, Victor Shenoda, told Emirates 24/7.
Tunis Sports City was a link in a chain of sports-oriented communities that SCI, a subsidiary of Sharjah, UAE-based Bukhatir Group, hoped to build in Sri Lanka, South Africa, India, Vietnam, Morocco, and, for a brief time, Pakistan. However, the company managed to open just one: Dubai Sports City, which debuted in 2004 and includes an Ernie Els-designed golf course.
In keeping with the template created in Dubai, the 650-acre Tunis Sports City has been master-planned to include a variety of housing types, a few hotels, some office space, the largest shopping area in North Africa, schools, a medical center, nine sports academies, a 10,000-seat outdoor stadium, and a 5,000-seat indoor stadium. Its 6,650-yard golf course has been designed by Peter Harradine, a Swiss architect who has an office in Dubai.
Shenoda didn’t provide any particulars about when the construction in Tunis will begin. As for the other communities, they remain kayoed by the global economic collapse, at least for the time being.
Some information in this post originally appeared in the December 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.
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