£100million redevelopment for Hazlehead gets
green light from
city councillors

FROM TODAY'S FRONT PAGE OF THE PRESS AND JOURNAL

By CALLUM ROSS

With additional words by Colin Farquharson

Councillors in Aberdeen are poised to give the go-ahead to plans for a £100million redevelopment of a historic city municipal golf course, it emerged last night.

Proposals to transform Hazlehead golf course into a world-class facility have been recommended for approval by city councillors.

The plans from the MacKenzie Club, a consortum of business people headed by local man Brian Hendry (pictured above by Cal Carson Golf Agency) and established for the project, would see it lease the course from the council and redevelop the Nos 1 and 2 and nine-hole courses.

A new clubhouse would also be built, alongwith a five-star hotel, timeshare accommodation and a Professional Golf Associaton academy to promote the game.

Yesterday's decision by the council's Hazlehead advisory and monitoring board to recommend councillors give the plans their final approval in February marks another step forward in the North-east's drive to become a global golf tourism hub.

The move follows the recent approval of Donald Trump's £1billion two-course complex at Balmedie, the £115 development at Blairs College led by Paul Lawrie, and comes amid proposals for another multi-million-ound golf course development, designed by Jack Nicklaus, at Ury Estate, near Stonehaven.

Advisory board chairman Kevin Stewart said: "The board believes there is a good deal on the table that is right for the course, right for local golfers, right for the city council and right for Aberdeen.

"The MacKenize Club made a very positive presentation to us today and we are now making a firm recommendation that the city council enters a partnership with them and concludes negotiations on the lease arrangements.

"Hazlehead is one of the jewels in Aberdeen's crown but it has suffered from under-investment for many years.

"We believe the MacKenzie Club is the vehicle through which we can make a vast improvement and turn the course into one in which the city can take great pride," the deputy city council leader added.

The course, next to Hazlehead Park, was created by renowned golf course architect Alister MacKenzie who also designed the home of the US Masters at Augusta National as well, a bit closer to home, Duff House Royal at Banff.

MacKenzie's feat in transforming a heavily-wooded, badly-drained marshland into the finest Scottish municipal course of its day - it opened in 1927 - was the work of a master craftsman but there was much controversy at the time over the cost involved. It was reckoned that each hole cost £1,000 to build, which probably relates to £100,000 per hole, if not more, in modern financial terms.

The columns of the Press and Journal were full at the times of the doom-mongers' predictions that "The construction of Hazlehead golf course will ruin the city's finances."

Councillor Martin Greig, Liberal Democrat member for Hazlehead, Ashley and Queen's Cross, moved at yesterday's meeting that members should not recommend the MacKenzie Club tender and that the course should be transferred to the council's new sports trust instead. He did not receive a seconder.

Mr Greig said: "The local community council and other residents are very much opposed to building work in Hazlehead Park, including roads construction. There is a real public concern about this much-loved and treasured open space in the city."

So why is Brian Hendry and his consortium prepared to plough so much money into what is, after all, a rundown municipal golf course, the condition of which has been in steady decline over the past 20 to 30 years?

The answer is that it is an Alister MacKenzie creation. That may not mean much on this side of the Atlantic but over in the States, there are a lot of well-heeled golf lovers who will pay a lot of money to visit, play over and invest in a MacKenzie course.

Count Brian Hendry among the lovers of Mackenzie courses. America is where his backers are.

Brian's master plan has been a long time getting to this stage. He held a Press Conference at least two, maybe three years ago to reveal his plans.