Friday, January 26, 2007

Manager Neil Hobday says local golfers will not be forgotten

N.E. PUBLIC WILL BE
ABLE TO PLAY
DONALD TRUMP LINKS
AT CHEAPER RATE

ANOTHER EXCLUSIVE By COLIN FARQUHARSON

Where will the Donald Trump International Links, when it comes into play in 2009, slot into the golfing spectrum?
Will it have the members-and-guests-only exclusivity of say Loch Lomond Golf Club?
Or will it take a leaf out of the Kingsbarns book with an availability to anyone who is prepared to pay a visitor’s green fee of well over £100 a round?
That’s the question I put to Neil Hobday, the project manager of the multi-million pounds project on the Menie House Estate at Balmedie, 12 miles north of Aberdeen.
“You’ve hit the two business models absolutely on the head that we are going to be combining. We are going to combine private with public.
We have the space. We will have two courses with facilities. We will have a five-star hotel and a clubhouse. We have a mansion house (Menie House), pictured above, which is going to be the private members’ clubhouse,” said Neil.
“So, we can the Loch Lomond-style membership and they will have all those privileges and playing rights, staying in the luxury of a five-star mansion.
“Then there is Kingsbarns Links model, which is at the high-end of the pay-and-play market. So, yes, the public will be able to play over our courses.”
GOLF TOURISTS
And, like Kingsbarns, Hobday anticipates that the Donald Trump Internationals Links will attract a lot of golf tourists from North America, from Scandinavia, from Japan and so on.
But, whereas Kingsbarns has to advise potential visitors to book accommodation in St Andrews or elsewhere in Fife, the Donald Trump complex on the Menie Estate will have its own five-star hotel, less than the distance of a par-3 hole away from the first tee/starter’s office.
The next important question I put to Neil, on behalf of the thousands of golfers who live in the North-east, was: “Will local golfers be able to play the courses fairly regularly at a reduced green fee?”
Hobday did not have to think twice about his answer.
“Mr Trump is very clear about this. The answer is an emphatic ‘Yes.’
There will be a ‘local’ rate. He understands that the North-east is a huge golfing region and that people from here will want to play the courses – and so they shall, paying whatever the local green fee is going to be,” said Neil..
“We’re in the North-east golfers’ backyard. We’re their neighbours so we really do want to welcome them. That would be the big difference between us and Loch Lomond. But we also want golfers from anywhere in Scotland to come here and I’m sure they will once the word gets around that the Donald Trump International Links is a world-class links.
Neil Hobday had already explained to me that the five-star hotel on site would derive a lot of business from golf tourists. But wasn’t a multi-storey hotel with the best part of 500 bedrooms just a little bit over the top?
MAJOR DEVELOPMENT
“Colin, you’ve got to try to understand the size of this project. This is going to be a major development. Never mind on a Scottish scale, this will be the most significant mixed-use resort anywhere in Europe!” he said.
On the 1,400acre estate, planning permission is being sought for:
+Two championship links courses designed by Tom Fazio II.
+A golf driving range and short-game practice area.
+A state of the art golf academy.
+A luxurious clubhouse with sea views.
+A 450-room five-star resort hotel with conference and banquet facilities.
+A full service spa.
+A turf grass research centre.
+Tennis courts and recreational facilities.
+36 Luxury golf lodges, some with four bedrooms, the others with eight bedrooms.
+950 Holiday homes with sea views.
In a complex of these dimensions, the hotel will be the hub and Neil Hobday stresses that it will certainly not be a private, golfers-only hotel.
“The hotel will be there for the North-east public and business community to use. You know, there’s no big, five-star resort in the North-east of Scotland. Let’s keep the money in this part of the country that big businesses, big oil companies in Aberdeen spend on taking guests and clients to other resorts in Scotland. They can spend it right here.
SPECIAL FUNCTIONS
“People will be able to have their weddings, 21st birthday parties, special functions, etc at this hotel … they can have their conferences here … exhibitions … big fashion shows … pop concerts. The list is endless. They can all happen here, even though as I’ve said golf will be the bottom line here.
“There will be a golf academy, where people can come to learn the game. We’ll have some sort of golf scholarship programme. People will come here to learn not only how to play the game, but also to be a golf pro, to teach the game, and also to be a caddie or a greenkeeper.
“Moving away from the golf side, I can see young people coming here to learn how to be a chef, and other professions that need specialist training.”
But does the future of the Donald Trump Internationals Links project stand or fall by getting planning permission for every nut and bolt of the developers’ plan?
“Absolutely not. I think we are realistic enough to have applied for what we think we would like to have on the property but we will scale everything according to what we get out of the planning,” said Hobday.
“The response we’ve had from the North-east business community, the public and our neighbours has been so encouraging that we have very good vibes about this project.
Mr Trump is a very shrewd individual. He does not go into things unless he feels there’s a strong sense of certainty that they are going to work out.
We feel comfortable and confident that we will be building the best links golf course in the world on this property.”

ANY COMMENTS? E-mail them to colin@scottishgolfview.com

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