The Week That Was, october 30, 2011

vietnam The Sound and the Fury

Vietnam has established exactly what a nation of 5,000 golfers needs: An equity golf club.

Excuse the sarcasm. I've long had queasy feelings about golf development in Vietnam, and now I'm starting to get nauseous.

Here's the news:

The developer of Saigon Golf Club, a group called Saigon Development & Investment Corporation -- a name that in and of itself gives me some discomfort -- has begun to sell ownership interests into its plush club, which will feature a golf course designed by Greg Norman. SDIC is hoping to sell a total of 600 shares, at a price that hasn't yet been made public.

According to Thanh Nien News, a press release issued by SDIC notes that “shareholders can choose to apply for membership or treat their shares purely as an investment.”

Get 'em while they're hot! Use the profits to send your kids to college!

Saigon Golf Club will be part of a 335-acre community in suburban Ho Chi Minh City, the metropolis once known as Saigon. At build-out, the community is expected to consist of a few hundred villas and condos, a hotel, a “city spa” managed by Six Senses Resorts & Spas, a health and fitness center, restaurants, and other attractions. A year or so ago, at the golf course's ceremonial ground-breaking, SDIC pledged to create Vietnam’s “most exclusive residential, golf, and country club community.”

A side note: Roughly one-quarter of the community's villas will be Greg Norman “signature” units. These “Reflection by Norman” villas are to be located on a private island, and their design will be based on “Norman-inspired” principles.

As for the club's 18-hole, championship-length course, it's scheduled to open in late 2012 or early 2013. But here's a let-the-buyer-beware moment for prospective shareholders: SDIC has said that the track will be “typical of [Norman's] trademark aggressive layouts.”

I presume that any members who get discouraged by the course's difficulty will take solace in the fact that they've bought into what SDIC has called “the best in golfing facilities as well as a luxurious atmosphere of private club living.”

One other thing: the story in Thanh Nien News says the layout has been “recognized as one of the world’s best seven golf courses under construction."

By whom? I'd very much like to see such a list.

Some information in this post was originally published in the January 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

abu dhabi What Happens to a Dream Deferred?

Remember the visually arresting, post-modernist clubhouse that was supposed to support the golf courses at the Saadiyat Island community in Abu Dhabi?

Well, it hasn't yet been built. The dozers aren't scheduled to arrive until the golf club attracts enough members to make the expenditure worthwhile.

And what about the community's second course, the one to be designed by Robert Trent Jones, Jr.?

No, it hasn't been built either. Heck, hardly anybody even talks about it anymore. Like Frank Gehry's artful clubhouse, an expression of the psychic delights sparked by oil-fueled boom times, it's become yet another victim of the global economic crash.


In fact, none of the grandest attractions promised for sprawling Saadiyat Island -- the Guggenheim museum, the Louvre museum, the campus of New York University -- have yet seen the light of day.

Not to worry, though. Everything that's been promised -- the houses, the hotels, the office space, the marinas -- will come in due time. Just ask the community's developer, Tourism Development & Investment Company.

“The timing has changed substantially, but we have not taken anything out,” TDIC's chief financial officer recently told the National. “The master plan stays.”

But for how long? In a desert, the sands of time are mere dust in the wind.

Today Saadiyat Island, which has been planned to spread over nearly 6,700 acres, is pretty much an empty place. It has a golf course, a Gary Player “signature” track that opened last year, and a beach club that opened last month. A pair of resort-style hotels, a St. Regis and a Park Hyatt, are expected to open next month.

And there's a visitors' center, complete with a scale model of Saadiyat Island's glorious ambitions. It's where the dream dies hard.

So what comes next?

TDIC, the development arm of Abu Dhabi’s tourism authority, says that Saadiyat Island's next big crowd-attractor will be the Louvre Abu Dhabi. When? In 2014, probably. Tentatively. Nothing chiseled in stone.

“If the world comes back strong and the demand starts to grow and tourism starts to build into the region at the rate that it has over the last three years -- if that continues, 2020 could absolutely be possible to build out a large majority of Saadiyat,” says the CFO. “If it slows down at all, 2020 extends.”

The message: These days, promises are meaningless. Circumstances are beyond anybody's control. Even the best-laid plans are peppered with contingencies and best-case scenarios and fallback positions. We live in a time of uncertainty. A world of “if.”

Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2008 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

peru A Taste of Pizá

A Mexican golf architect and the Peruvian Golf Association are hoping to raise enough money to build a nine-hole, beginner-friendly golf course in suburban Lima.

José Agustin Pizá, the principal of Pizá Golf Architecture, hopes to build the course and an accompanying practice center in Cruz de Hueso, on a 56-acre parcel owned by the association.

“This story has gone national in Peru, and I know there are some businesses that are interested in donating to help make it happen,” Pizá recently told Golf Course Architecture. “The involvement of the national government, through the sports federation, is huge. That is very rare in Latin America.”

Pizá, a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects, isn't taking a fee for the design work. In Mexico, he's responsible for two courses: a nine-hole, par-3 layout at Puerto Escondido Golf Course on Baja California Sur, and a nine-hole addition at Club Campestre in Tampico, in the state of Tamaulipas.

He's also served as an on-site project manager for Gary Player Design, during the construction of Player's course at the CostaBaja resort in La Paz.

Pizá hopes to start the work in Cruz de Hueso next year. Depending on how the fundraising campaign goes, the facility may open three holes at a time over several years.

Golf Course Architecture reports that the track will be “the first publicly accessible golf course in Peru,” a claim that may not be true. Of the 14 courses that WorldGolf.com lists in Peru, 10 are said to offer public play.

talking points India: The Next Big Thing?

Treading on a very slippery slope, KPMG continues to offer advice to would-be developers.

In a recently published “country snapshot,” the accounting firm’s Golf Advisory Practice opined, with some hedging, that India “may need to build up to 100 new courses to satisfy the demand over the next decade.”

The crux of KPMG’s argument rides on the belief that India’s existing stock of golf properties -– 196 “registered” courses and as many as 35 “unregistered” courses -– is inadequate, considering the demand that will inevitably be driven by the nation’s rapidly growing, ever-wealthier middle class.

“Assuming that in the next 10 years, the proportion of active golfers doubles, to 300,000,” KPMG argues, “then India would have to build between 90-100 new courses to accommodate the increased demand.”

Mind you, this is only 10 golf courses per year. Still, the U.S. golf industry has learned that logic founded on such assumptions is best served with a stiff drink.

Here's the sad part: KPMG understands how to best grow the game in India. “The sport,” it says, “needs to be supported by an increase in accessible courses that focus on affordability to a wider audience.” But KPMG also knows how the bread is likely to be buttered, as it predicts that most of the nation's new courses will unfortunately be built as part of U.S.-style suburban residential communities.

“Future course development seems inevitable and may need to come hand-in-hand with real estate opportunity,” KPMG sadly concludes.

And we all know where that eventually leads: To a golf business whose foundation rests mostly on money, not on a passion for the sport. To development decisions that are put into the hands of people who, because they have dollar signs in their eyes, can't see past the bottom line.

A case in point: A month or so ago, the Asian Golf Course Owners Association announced a plan to create a $150 million investment fund (it hopes the fund might eventually swell to $1 billion) that will be used to underwrite the construction of roughly 150 golf properties in India over the next five years. Prominent among the venues to be built: “golf real estate” and “resort golf courses.”

“We look at golf as a sport only,” the brains behind this harebrained scheme said in a press statement, “but if you dig deeper, you would realize that golf is a green gold mine waiting to be discovered.”

Such thinking isn't a plan for growing the game. It's a plan for exploiting an opportunity.

There's gold, and there's fool's gold. Sometimes the difference isn't immediately apparent.

Much of the information in this post originally appeared in the October 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

slovakia “The Best” Is Yet To Come

Jonathan Davison’s first solo-designed golf course will be built in Slovakia, as part of a resort community that’s now wrapping up construction on a Nicklaus Design layout.

Penati Golf Resort is taking shape in Senica, a town roughly 60 miles north of Bratislava, the nation’s capital. The 300-acre community was originally to be known as Gold Golf & Country Club, but a new investor has taken over and tapped Davison to help turn it into what’s been called “the best golf resort in Central Europe.”

Davison is keeping details about the project under his hat until he writes a press release, but a couple of months ago he told me that the site is “stunning” and that “it resembles the heathlands around Surrey -– pines, sand, and heather in places.” He called it “just perfect for golf.”

In contrast to Nicklaus’s course, a 7,228-yard resort-style layout, Davison reports that his course will be “more rustic, natural, and have a more traditional feel.”

The Nicklaus course has largely been seeded. Construction on Davison's course is expected to begin in early 2012.

Golf Course Architecture recently reported that Davison’s course will be shaped by Mick McShane, who's been described as “da Vince with a dozer.” McShane made his reputation with two courses in St. Andrews, Scotland: the Castle Course (designed by David McLay Kidd) and Kingsbarns Golf Links (Mark Parsinen and Kyle Phillips).

Davison was formerly an associate at a British firm, Ford Golf Group. While there, he helped to design Sobienie Royal Golf & Country Club in suburban Warsaw, Poland. His new firm is called Create Golf.

Some information in this post originally appeared in the August 2011 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

The Week That Was, october 23, 2011

brazil Let the Games Begin

The search for the designer of the venue that will host the golf competition in the 2016 Olympics has officially begun.

The interested parties -- a group that reportedly includes Arnold Palmer, Gary Player, Robert Trent Jones, Jr., and the co-ed teams of Jack Nicklaus & Annika Sorenstam and Greg Norman & Lorena Ochoa -- will be filing their applications next week. The dog-and-pony shows are scheduled to take place in November and December, and the winner will be announced on December 23, just in time to ruin the holidays for some of the world's most famous designers.

Nota bene: Nobody is going to get rich off this commission, which has shaped up to be the quintessential high-profile, low-pay gig. The design fee is a measly $300,000.

The bid process is straightforward except for this twist: The firm that wins the contract will be required to maintain an office in sunny Rio de Janeiro, the city that hosts the games. I presume this clause was inserted to help fill some of the vacant office space in Brazil's former capital.

The Olympic organizers have called the search a “contest,” but it feels more like a charade to me. If the committee members haven't already settled on a designer (or a design team), then they've surely whittled down the group of usual suspects to a short list. I don't believe the planet's biggest sporting competition is going to entrust the design of an important venue to an unknown, or to a virtual unknown. There's too much money and privilege at stake.

In other words, under-the-radar architects need not apply.

japan Rees Jones: The Global Conquest Begins

Slowly but surely, the Open Doctor is going global.

Rees Jones recently spent some time in Japan, celebrating his makeover of the West course at Ibaraki Golf Club in suburban Osaka. The course has been under the knife throughout 2011, as part of the club's itch to secure a high-profile professional tournament.

A press release issued by Jones' firm states that the newly doctored layout “undoubtedly will rank among Japan's top championship-caliber venues.”


Jones has given the course, which was designed by Seiichi Inoue and opened in 1960, what he describes as “a full-blown renovation.” He's made numerous changes to the track's design elements and, in the words of the press release, “reworked the entire strategic framework of the layout to keep it current with equipment advances.”

Translated, that phrase means Jones stretched the 7,056-yard layout to 7,407 yards and relocated the hazards appropriately. Even in Japan, chicks still dig the long ball.

“Like top tournament courses touched up by Rees Jones in the U.S.,” the club's captain said in the press release, “the redesigned West Course now demands precise, strategic golf shots by professional competitors.”

One other thing: Like many of Japan's courses, Ibarki was built with twin greens, one covered with warm-weather grass and the other one covered with cool-weather grass. Jones eliminated the duality and fashioned a single, all-season green on each hole.

The renovation was overseen by Bryce Swanson, one of Jones' top associates.

Jones' reputation as “the Open Doctor,” which makes cachet-hungry foreign clubs salivate, earned him the commission. “We highly value the fact that Rees Jones is recognized as the Open Doctor for his redesign of so many famous courses that have hosted major championships,” Ibaraki's captain said.

The renovation at Ibaraki was Jones' first commission in Japan and one of only a relative handful of jobs that he's done in foreign nations. To be sure, though, it won't be his last. Given the power of his prescriptions, the Open Doctor will no doubt be on call to heal ailing and aspiring courses all over the international tournament circuit.

Some information in this post originally appeared in the November 2010 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

vietnam The Fix Is In

Too many government employees in Vietnam are playing too much golf. And one of the nation's ministers has decided to do something about it.

According to the BBC, the minister of transportation believes that “too much time spent on the course had affected [his employees'] performance at work.” A statement on the department's website reportedly suggests that a growing obsession with golf -- the game the Chinese call “green opium” -- has led to “the slow handling of affairs, which affects progress on projects and general operations.”

So, in an attempt to improve productivity, the minister of transportation has declared golf courses off-limits. Any employees who can't resist golf's temptations will have to get their fix the old-fashioned way: By keeping their habit a secret.

Of course, such draconian measures are unnecessary in the United States, because hardly anybody here is working anymore.

talking points “China Will Implode Eventually”

Peter Harradine has never tried to hide his disdain for “championship” and “signature” golf, and he's long advocated the construction of shorter, more interesting courses -- the kind of courses, he believes, that “the average golfer actually wants.”

Not everyone shares Harradine's philosophies, to be sure, but somebody out there is buying what he's selling. These days the Switzerland-based architect is wearing out his passport, as he has golf courses in planning or under construction in Morocco, Italy, Egypt, Russia, Austria, Serbia, Oman, Tunisia, and several other nations.

Harradine, a third-generation architect, recently took some time out to talk with KPMG's golf group. At one point in the conversation, he was asked to identify the world's development hot spots. Here's his answer:


Eastern Europe is still a strong market for us. . . . Italy is losing a lot of tourists because it does not have enough golf courses. Greece also has huge potential, but, despite their expressed interest in developing their golf market, they don’t seem to provide the right conditions for the building of courses. Their troublesome economy is not helping, either. . . .

Ironically, Switzerland is one of the only countries where the number of golfers increases every year and finance for the construction of courses is easy to obtain. Unfortunately, the building permits and procedures are so complicated that investors are scared off. . . .

Africa and South America also have enormous potential, as they have few golfers and such fantastic scenery and environment. . . .

In my opinion, China will implode eventually, and that will influence the success of golf in that particular country. You can’t have such a polarized society with extreme affluence and poverty and expect the economy to grow rapidly without problems.

I hope it doesn’t implode in my lifetime. In golf market terms, it would affect many European golf design businesses, as many of my professional colleagues would return to the traditional markets, which would greatly increase competition in an already depressed industry. It’s in everyone’s interests that the Chinese market remains a huge success. . . .