The Pipeline, november 14, 2014

     Taking their cues from Barnbougle Dunes, some abalone farmers in South Australia have set out to create a pair of destination-worthy, links-style golf courses on a stretch of remote oceanfront property roughly 175 miles south of Adelaide. Damian and Justin Scanlon want to build their Nora Creina Golf Resort on part of a 600-acre parcel just south of a coastal town called Robe. “It has to be one of the greatest courses of the world,” Justin Scanlon told the Sunday Mail. He added: “This has to be somewhere where people from the States, someone from Japan or China, says, ‘It’s one of the courses I have to go and play.’ ” The brothers’ first layout will be co-designed by Neil Crafter and Paul Mogford, who are hip to working in out-of-the-way places with the potential for great golf. These days, they’re also working on two projects in Tasmania, one on the southern part of the island and one near St. Helens. If Nora Creina’s first course is successful, the Scanlons will build a second.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the September 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

       Rees Jones, who made his reputation with challenging, target-style courses that tested the skills of the world’s most accomplished golfers, is changing with the times. His forthcoming links-style course in Iowa,

 a drawing card for a casino in the northwestern corner of the state, was laid out on rolling, treeless terrain, and it takes the pressure off amateurs by offering a variety of routes to every hole. “Since the game of golf is supposedly waning a little bit, we are designing courses with less bunkering, more chipping areas, and smaller bunkers,” the New Jersey-based architect told Keloland TV. “I think the Falls is a perfect example of what golf of the future is going to be.” The Falls has opened nine holes for preview play. Its full 18 debuts in the spring of next year.

     With deep-pocketed Russian investors, a Croatian hotelier has set out to build a pair of resorts, each with a 36-hole golf complex, on adjoining islands in the Adriatic Sea. Jadranka Hotels believes that the resorts -- one on Lošinj, the other on Cres -- will lure vacationers from Russia, Great Britain, and Scandinavia who might have otherwise traveled to spots on Croatia’s Istrian peninsula, or to somewhere else in the Mediterranean. The money for these ventures is coming from Jadranka’s new majority owners, Moscow-based brothers Alexei and Dmitry Ananijev, who are said to be worth $2.3 billion. They control Promsvyazbank, one of Russia's largest private banks, as well as office space and other assets in the capital city. Croatia isn’t currently a golf destination, although its tourism officials are eager to make it one. If Jadranka actually builds its courses, the size of the nation’s golf portfolio will effectively double.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Ain Al Emarat, one of several comatose golf ventures the Middle East, is on the cusp of its second life. Al Qudra Real Estate has set out to revive the gone-but-not-quite-forgotten community, which will take shape in the desert outside Al Ain, Abu Dhabi. The community’s featured attraction will be a Thomson Perrett & Lobb-designed golf course that was supposed to open in 2010. In 2007, when TPL won the commission, it described the site as “magical, pure links land” with “the potential to become a truly great golf course.” Ain Al Emarat has been master-planned to have enough housing for 120,000 residents along with a business district, a 40,000-seat sports stadium, a leisure and recreation center, and other attractions. Al Qudra believes the course “will thrill the residents of the UAE and its international golfing visitors.”

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     More than a decade after it opened, an upscale country club in Indian Wells, California has set out to complete its Jack Nicklaus “signature” golf complex. Since 2003, Toscana Country Club has operated with an 18-hole South course a 10-hole North course. But now, responding to pressure from the club’s members, Sunrise Company has expressed faith in the future of golf in the Coachella Valley. The Desert Sun says that the eight holes under construction are “the first holes to be built in the golf-rich desert in three years.” Toscana expects to grass the new holes next summer and to take the wraps off the completed North course by the end of 2015.

     A Taiwanese construction company is looking to build an eco-resort, complete with a pair of 18-hole golf courses, in Vietnam’s Quang Ninh Province. In recent months, representatives from Happiness Cement Corporation (Taiwan) have toured several sites and reportedly have their eyes on 1,290 acres in Quảng Yen, a commune located just northeast of Hai Phong. Besides the golf courses, the to-be-named resort is expected to feature a hotel, entertainment venues, sports centers, and parks. The parties hope to begin welcoming vacationers by the end of the decade, or maybe in the early 2020s.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the June 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

    Sometime next year, a tribal casino in Nebraska will debut an 18-hole, Paul Albanese-designed golf course. Tatanka Golf Club, which has been described as “Nebraska’s Sandhills with trees,” will serve as an amenity for the Santee Sioux Nation’s Ohiya Casino Resort in Niobrara. The course takes its name from a Lakota word for buffalo, and Albanese has routed some holes to within 20 feet of buffalo pens. “We felt it was important to have them within the course to be true to the culture of the area,” the Michigan-based architect explained in a press release. Albanese learned his trade from Jerry Matthews, Ray Hearn, and Pete Dye, and he established a firm with Chris Lutzke in 2004. So far he has just one solo design to his credit (Sweetgrass Golf Course in Harris, Michigan), but Tatanka offers him a marvelous chance to enhance his reputation.

     Before the end of the year, tourism officials in Manipur, India hope to identify a private-sector partner willing to build an 18-hole golf course outside Imphal, the state’s capital. The 7,200-yard track, to be accompanied by a lodge with four rooms for overnight guests, will take shape on roughly 170 acres of state-owned property in the village of Nongmaiching. The nation’s ministry of tourism is expected to finance 25 percent of its construction costs. Manipur, one of India’s least-developed states, describes itself as “a paradise on Earth” and “the Switzerland of the East.” It aims to become “the great tourist discovery of the 21st century.”

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the May 2014 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Most Chinese golfers prefer their courses to be lush and green, but Lee Schmidt and Brian Curley hope they’ll eventually develop a taste for more ancient versions of the game. The Scottsdale, Arizona-based duo has wrapped up construction on an 18-hole, links-style course on the edge of the Gobi Desert that they believe has “the potential to be one of the greatest courses ever built.” The daily-fee track, currently being called Dalu Dunes, is located in the town of Dalu, roughly 60 miles north of Hohhot, the capital of the Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region. “We hope this design will not only change the misconceptions of the game in China regarding overly manicured and watered courses,” Curley said in a press release, “but also inspire developers to seek out great, natural sites like those found here.” Dalu Dunes is being built by an affiliate of Inner Mongolia Yitai Group, a coal-focused energy company that ranks among China’s 250 largest corporations. The property will eventually sprout a hotel and other golf facilities, including an 18-hole par-3 course. The regulation-length track is expected to have its official opening in 2015.