20 | advertisement
The Great White
Shark Lands A
Huge Catch In
Malaysia
Greg Norman has been hired to design a golf course for
“a futuristic” gated community outside Johor Bahru in the
southern tip of the Malay Peninsula.
Ulu Tiram will take shape on the 1,000-acre Sungai Layang
Estate that’s just north of Johor Bahru, the capital of the
state of Johor. It’s being developed by Tan Sri Abu Sahid
Mohamed, the executive chairman of a huge Malaysian
conglomerate called Maju Holdings Sdn Bhd.
At a recent press event, Abu Sahid said that developing the
estate has long been his “dream.”
“The place has the sun, space, water, pristine and plush flora –
it would be a sin not to develop it to its full potential,” he said
in comments reported by Edge Property.
“Full potential” is what Ulu Tiram is all about. At build-out, the
gated community will have villas and bungalows, a marina
with 100 boat slips, a village center, a resort-style hotel, office
space, a convention center, a private hospital and other
medical facilities, a spa, an equestrian center, an international
school and Norman’s 18-hole golf course.
Norman, who’ll also design a golf academy, has called the
property “a magnificent site” and “one of the most beautiful
sites I’ve seen.”
The community sounds pretty off-the-rack to us, but Abu
Sahid has called it “a futuristic development integrating
luxurious, contemporary living with high-technology,
community-centric facilities.” Then again, on his company’s
Web site, he describes himself as “a man of vision,” so maybe
he’s seeing something that we can’t see.
Ulu Tiram Golf Club will feature Norman’s first in Malaysia,
and it’ll face stiff competition. People have been playing golf
in Johor since the 1920s, and today the state has more than
two dozen golf properties, including tracks by Pete Dye and
Robert Trent Jones, Jr. Perhaps its best known attraction is
Legends Golf & Country Resort, which features courses by
Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Arnold Palmer.
Nonetheless, Norman has predicted that his course will stand
among Johor’s best.
“We will guarantee that the project will be the shining light
coming out of Malaysia,” he said at the press event.
Maju Holdings expects to break ground on the course in mid
to late 2010, and it could open in early 2012.
www.gmgd.com.au
www.golfindustrycentral.com.au