Nigeria’s New Golf Course

Frank Jermusek

Garden City Golf in Port Harcourt

Construction Underway in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

With Nigeria’s burgeoning oil industry, Port Harcourt is becoming a destination for industry, travel and, now, golfers, according to a recent report from Golf Course

Industry. Nigeria’s economy is growing and, with more expendable resources, citizens and expatriates are seeking to invest more in housing and leisure activities like golf.

For that reason, the Garden City Golf Estate Course has begun construction, shooting for a grand

opening in late 2015. Designed by Thomson Perrett & Lobb in London, the course is interesting because

of its acknowledgment and highlighting of the natural landscape. In developing the course, the

designers sought to preserve elements of the natural landscape like foliage and bodies of water

and allow them to dictate the strategy for each hole.

The Layout

A Word from the Developers

“The drivable Par 4 Sixteenth is a good example,” said Tim Lobb in an interview with GCI, “we changed the teeing positions because

of trees revealed during clearing.”!He added, “I thick the sixteenth [hole] may be my favorite hole; it is built around a lake, with

fairway on both sides, offering safe or aggressive routes to the green.”

The LandIn the same vein, the location of the course

necessitates a large drainage channel running through the middle of the course, which will be

incorporated into course strategy as an obstacle. The greens will be around six hundred square meters each, giving players a lot of space and contours to play with, but will still be enjoyable for any golfer.

The Grounds

Another interesting feature of this course is that it’s one of the first courses wholly planted with

Pure Dynasty seeded paspalum blend from Atlas Turf, a U.S.-based international distributor of

warm and cool season turfgrasses.

The Estate

The golf course will be the second built in Port Harcourt and part of a larger gated residential community developed by Lagos-based ARM

Properties. These properties are likely to be filled by expatriates and locals alike.

For more…

Check out http://FrankJermusek.com for more Golf Course news