$500 M for the World’s biggest Water Hazard!

If Jules Verne were a golfer, he would have imagined this course. Floating architecture specialists Dutch Docklands Company, in collaboration with golf course developer Troon golf and Waterstudio are in process of developing the world’s first floating golf course. Located in the Maldives Islands, The Royal Indian Ocean Club, will be an 27-hole golf course built on 3 separate floating island platforms, connected by underwater tunnels.

The floating islands will also be linked to an underwater clubhouse, as well as a series of hotels by more underwater tunnels. It has a number of innovative designs to deal with pesticides and construction in order to minimize its impact on the surrounding ecosystem of Maldives, whose highest point is only two meters above sea level.

We told the president of the Maldives we can transform you from climate refugees to climate innovators

– Paul van de Camp, CEO of Dutch Docklands

The state-of-the-art golf courses are expected to bring new wealth, investment and tourism to the country (tourism already being the top contributor to the country’s GDP). The artificial floating islands will incorporate technologies such as water cooling, water desalination, and the use of floating solar blanket fields. The budget of the project is $500 million and is expected to be completed in 2015.

A True Golfer: Sean Connery

One of cinema’s best golf scenes undoubtedly includes Sean Connery in Goldfinger. I surmise the success of the scene came from the authenticity behind it. In his memoirs, Sean Connery talks about how his love for the game developed while preparing for one of Bond’s greatest adventures:

I never had a hankering to play golf, despite growing up in Scotland just down the road from Bruntsfield Links, which is one of the oldest golf courses in the world. It wasn’t until I was taught enough golf to look as though I could outwit the accomplished golfer Gert Frobe in Goldfinger that I got the bug. I began to take lessons on a course near Pinewood film studios and was immediately hooked on the game. Soon it would nearly take over my life.

I began to see golf as a metaphor for living, for in golf you are basically on your own, competing against yourself and always trying to do better. If you cheat, you will be the loser, because you are cheating yourself. When Ian Fleming portrayed Auric Goldfinger as a smooth cheater, James Bond had no regrets when he switched his golf balls, since to be cheated is the just reward of the cheater. Continue reading “A True Golfer: Sean Connery”