SPECIAL REPORT: LAND DEVELOPMENT T
he popularity of golf ensures that rarely a month goes by without an airport unveiling plans to open a course – Amsterdam Schiphol is the latest to join the list. Schiphol Real Estate has signed a contract with Amsterdam
International Golf Club for the construction and operation of an 18-hole course with clubhouse in the Nieuwe Meer area just north of the Dutch airport. Investments in and operation of the 75-hectare golf course will be
the responsibility of Amsterdam International Golf Club, although Schiphol Real Estate will retain ownership the site. “The area is a premium location for the new golf course and will
help contribute to our aim of transforming Schiphol into Europe’s preferred airport, offering both business and recreational facilities and services,” enthuses Schiphol Real Estate director, André van den Berg. While Marcel Welling, director of Amsterdam International Golf Club,
adds: “The golf course will be absolutely world-class and conform to the highest international standards. “The clubhouse will also meet the most stringent quality criteria
and offer a range of deluxe services, such as meeting facilities, a gym, bar and restaurant.” The fact that it sounds impressive should come as no surprise to
anyone, as there are already a host of top airport golf courses out there. Deep in the desert of Abu Dhabi lies a golf course where the greens are known as ‘browns’.
course at Hong Kong International Airport (HKIA) was the result of €8 million development project financed and operated by Airport Management Services. Located east of the existing passenger terminal, and set within a
landscape of undulating greens, an artificial lake and extensive sand bunkers, it is Hong Kong’s first nine-hole golf course featuring an ‘island green’. Former airport authority chief executive, Dr David Pang, describes it as
“another magnificent amenity to serve the growing population of passengers, visitors and the airport community.” Adding: “This is a further illustration that HKIA is more than an
infrastructure. It is a place where people encounter a unique and memorable total airport experience.” Course facilities include equipment rental, luggage storage, a pro shop and even on-course lighting – making it the only course in Hong Kong to cater for golfing ‘night owls’. It has been designed to integrate with other areas of the airport
development, including SkyPlaza, AsiaWorld-Expo, and the SkyPier, and together with other tourist attractions on Lantau Island such as Hong Kong Disneyland and the Big Buddha, increases the number of entertainment options available both to visitors and the local community. If proof were needed of the popularity of airport golf courses, Big
Walnut Creek can provide it, claiming that more than 55,000 rounds are played on the Ohio course every year. It’s even linked to a website called
It provides an aesthetically pleasing landscape, and gives their employees easy access to a ready-made recreational and social environment.
It also throws up one of the more unusual hazards to be found on
any course in the world – myriads of burrows dug by desert lizards which can swallow up an unwary ball in a trice, making even the most sweetly struck shot either out of bounds, unplayable, or plain lost. This is the reality of playing a round at the Al Ghazal Golf Club,
opened 11 years ago at Abu Dhabi Airport – just one of hundreds of airport golf courses scattered across the world. Thousands of miles west, you can stand on the fifth tee of a mature
golf course bordering Ohio’s Big Walnut Creek, and actually see the passengers looking out of the windows as they come in to land at Port Columbus International Airport. For golf-playing plane-spotters, this, surely, is seventh heaven. It may seem paradoxical that while golfers are a notoriously
tetchy bunch who will glare daggers at the unfortunate spectator who does so much as cough as they are addressing a tricky 10-footer on the 18th, they can put up with the roar of a couple of Merlin engines directly overhead. Lining up a birdie putt as a B747 ‘buzzes’ you seconds before
touchdown might even faze Tiger Woods, but there are plenty of players who are more than happy to put their concentration to the ultimate test. Today, golf courses are frequently an integral part of the airport city concept, and substantial sums are being spent. The Skycity Nine Eagles
The Weather Channel, giving players access to a mine of information before teeing off, such as current wind speeds, humidity index and prevalent temperatures. (Aircraft take-off and landing times are not included in this data – something for the future perhaps). The spread of airport golf courses is difficult to fathom, and no real pattern
emerges as to whether airport planners, finding that the earmarked site contains more land than they need, are utilising the extra space to generate some extra cash by designing a golf course, or whether the golf courses, invariably located some miles outside the nearest built-up area, were in existence well before airports had the cheek to start springing up next door. Indeed they were playing golf at Prestwick, Glasgow, before the Wright
brothers were even born. The first Open Championships were held at Prestwick golf course in 1860. Since then, of course, golf has become one of the few truly
international sports, and today airport golf courses can be found the world over, from Canada to China. Many are the brainchild of the world’s leading players, past and present. The sea-facing course at Shenzhen Huangtian International Airport, for
example, was designed by Ian Woosnam and the planned new course at New Songdo City next to Incheon is being designed by the legendary Jack Nicklaus. So why are airports interested in golf courses? It’s not because a good wide fairway can be used as an emergency landing strip, although one
AIRPORT WORLD/FEBRUARY-MARCH 2011 45
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