The New York Times' web site has posted an interesting article about the global demand for designer golf courses. The upshot of the article is that the US, UK and other golf rich nations are essentially tapped out as far as new courses go, and that the growth is in places like China, South Korea and eastern Europe. Designers like Jack Nicklaus, whom the article calls a "grandfather of the design business" (What does that make Pete Dye, who helped train Jack, and Robert Trent Jones?), are receiving design fees of up to $2.5 million from some developers.
We have to wonder about a couple things: How much better will their courses in, say, South Korea, be than their US designs, and how much of the costs of building the courses will be reflected in housing prices? At the risk of sounding like an arrogant American, our European readers should first look to golf course communities in the U.S. when contemplating purchase of a second- or retirement home.
The U.S. offers every type of housing at all price points with adjacent golf courses that bear the names of Nicklaus, Norman, Palmer, Player, Dye and Jones on their scorecards. And may we be so bold as to argue that restaurant and cultural choices in, say, Charleston, South Carolina, USA, might be as plentiful as in Kiev?
We are not currency experts, but with such favorable exchange rates for most European currencies compared with the dollar, our European readers would do best to look westward first. Keep in mind that flights from many European cities are non-stop to Raleigh/Durham, Charlotte and other eastern U.S. cities with excellent golf communities nearby. GolfCommunityReviews.com is developing a network of real estate agents in the U.S. who know the golf course communities in their areas, and we will be happy to put you in touch with any of them as a courtesy for being a registered user of our site (always free). And where we don't have a contact, we will do the research and find the person must qualified to provide an overview of the golf course communities in your area of interest. And that goes, of course, for our American readers.
For access to the Times article, please click here.
Many excellent golf course communities are within an hour of an international airport, like Chapel Ridge in the major university town of Chapel Hill, NC. Chapel Ridge's golf course is a sleek Fred Couples design.