Greg Norman Knows About Golf and Golf Homes

Relating to golf, Greg Norman is a well-recognized title. Born in Mount Isa, Australia, the retired skilled golfer, 67, is the chief government of Greg Norman Golf Course Design, a agency that has designed greater than 100 programs in 34 nations.

Mr. Norman, who now resides in Palm Seaside Gardens, Fla., can be behind residences in additional than 17 golf communities globally, together with Rancho San Lucas in Cabo San Lucas, Mexico, Pelican Waters in Queensland, Australia, and Reflection by Greg Norman in Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, Vietnam.

Golf has gained great recognition within the wake of the pandemic, based on Mr. Norman, and the curiosity in proudly owning a golf property has elevated in the identical vein. “Golf takes you outdoor for hours and is an mechanically socially distanced sport,” he stated. “After years of declining traction, it’s now being rediscovered in new locations and has seen well-established markets filled with exercise once more.”

Beneath are edited excerpts from a current interview with Mr. Norman the place he shared his perspective on rising golf locales and what makes a perfect golf dwelling in the present day.

In your opinion, what are probably the most up-and-coming locations in the present day for golf houses?

Saudi Arabia is certainly scorching. The dominion is making a large funding in tourism, and golf tourism is a giant a part of this bigger initiative. There are 25 golf programs slated to be constructed within the nation by 2030. I’m engaged on a 27-hole design in Diriyah Gate, a deliberate mini-city of kinds that’s simply outdoors of Riyadh. It would have purchasing, leisure, housing and way more.

Costa Rica can be rising and has nice golf programs on its Pacific Coast. Some are a part of developments with residences, and others aren’t. Both manner, there are plenty of golf dwelling choices. You will have residences in buildings with a lot of facilities, townhouses and villas on the seaside. The perk of proudly owning a house right here is that you simply get to get pleasure from nice browsing and fishing and that actual property is cheap once you evaluate it to different locations with high-quality golf.

I can also’t miss the shoreline north of Cabo San Lucas, which stretches for a whole lot of miles. Cabo itself is saturated with golf programs and properties, however the area has a lot of open house with new properties arising.

Are you able to discuss concerning the attraction of golf in Vietnam, the place you’ve designed seven programs, are engaged on 10 extra and have residential initiatives?

Just like Saudi Arabia, the nation is investing closely in golf tourism by constructing new programs and developments which have residences and golf. There are alternatives throughout Vietnam, and every has its personal attraction.

Close to Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, NovaWorld Phan Thiet has two 18-hole championship programs that we designed inside an nearly 2,500-acre resort alongside the coast. The property jogs my memory plenty of my dwelling nation, Australia, with its broad undulations and rugged vegetation. The sandbelt of Australia was the inspiration for the design of our programs there they usually match very naturally with the terrain.

The Bluffs Ho Tram, situated southeast of Ho Chi Minh Metropolis, is an 18-hole course with 60-meter sand dunes and views of the ocean.

We simply began design work on our first course outdoors of Hanoi. It has a big quantity of topography and dense vegetation, so they’re clearing the property now. I’ve designed a number of programs in excessive terrain, such because the mountains of Korea and Japan, so I’m wanting ahead to drawing from that have to create one thing totally different than the coastal area programs we’ve designed in Vietnam.

What are the advantages of shopping for a golf dwelling in Vietnam?

For starters, it’s an extremely lovely nation that’s various — from its tropical rainforests to the beautiful shoreline to the historic cities. Then there are unbelievably pleasant locals and scrumptious, contemporary meals. It’s additionally very secure and has a lot of actions together with snorkeling, swimming, mountaineering within the rainforest and boating.

The cities have superb sightseeing, and from a price perspective, I’d put it within the high three locations on the planet. Your cash goes a good distance in Vietnam. Yow will discover an ideal three-bedroom property with facilities like a pool in a luxurious improvement or on the seaside for lower than $500,000.

Inform me concerning the golf scene in Dubai, the place you’ve designed a number of programs, and are additionally behind the residences Fireplace by Greg Norman. What makes Dubai so interesting?

One of many nice issues about Dubai is that it’s very centrally situated from a worldwide standpoint and the federal government has completed an ideal job staying forward of the curve with air journey into the nation and infrastructure. Dubai has additionally completed an ideal job of showcasing its tradition, which has performed a giant half within the progress of tourism within the nation.

What makes a golf dwelling vacation spot a powerful one?

It will depend on what you’re searching for, however you need a spot that’s straightforward to achieve. You received’t use the property if it takes all day to get there. You additionally ideally wish to purchase in a location that you may get pleasure from a lot of the yr and has non-golf diversions. You possibly can solely play the sport a lot.

Aspen is an instance or Massive Sky, Montana. You possibly can ski in the course of the winter, golf most months and in addition get pleasure from recreation like mountaineering and mountain biking. Bodrum, Turkey, is one other instance as a result of there’s nice golf, delicate climate year-round and delightful seashores. Plus, it has good accessibility with a lot of flights every day from Istanbul and nonstop flights from different cities in Europe.

In golf markets which might be saturated corresponding to South Florida, is it nonetheless attainable to search out an inexpensive dwelling?

Sure, however you will need to look outdoors of areas which might be tremendous widespread and the place stock is restricted. West Palm Seaside and Naples are costly, and it’s laborious to discover a dwelling in any respect, not to mention an inexpensive dwelling. The state of affairs adjustments in the event you look north to Martin County. My high tip is to look to secondary markets.

Sustainability in golf course design and golf properties are priorities for you. Are you able to share sustainable options of each that patrons ought to search for throughout their search?

With golf programs, search for electrical golf carts, utilizing recycled water to irrigate the programs, and avoiding using chemical substances to take care of grass as a lot as attainable. Sustainable programs additionally don’t depend on plastics of their eating places and use native meals purveyors every time they will.

Sustainable golf houses ought to depend on photo voltaic vitality and be constructed with inexperienced supplies like pine. And they need to have heating and cooling programs which might be vitality environment friendly.

Many sustainable options aren’t overly obvious once you’re properties and programs so the one approach to know is to do your due diligence.