GETTING a golf course development off the ground should become easier with the creation of the International Golf Course Architects, Designers and Builders Association.
The association will help developers who want to include a golf course component in their plans make contact with those with the necessary expertise.
Members of the association include Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer, Robert Trent Jones Jr and Gary Player.
Perth-based Golf World Group CEO and association founder Stephen Allen said many developers did not know how to contact golf course designers.
“They often don’t even know how much designers charge,” he said.
“This association is international because multinational public companies usually don’t develop golf course projects in just one country.”
The association will begin its life on 1 May – initially in web form.
“Developers can go to the site and get information on all the members,” Mr Allen said.
“If they want a personal introduction to a members, we can arrange that. However, we will never recommend an architect.”
The association will offer developers options ranging from signature golf courses to standard designs.
A signature golf course would be one designed by the likes of Gary Player or Jack Nicklaus.
All members of the association will have been in the business for at least five years and have been solely responsible for at least six eighteen-hole international golf courses.
They will also need to have been exhibitors at the Golf World Group’s Chinese golf exhibition.
The association is a spin-off of Golf World Group’s annual China GILTS International Conference and Expo.
“This helps us to cement an ongoing relationship with our exhibitors during the year,” Mr Allen said.
