Environmental sustainability is becoming more important than ever, and that has never been more apparent in the golf industry. Most winners in this year’s Development of the Year competition went to enormous lengths to not only preserve the natural beauty of their landscapes but to enhance and give back to the environment.
The Coronet Course in New Zealand took top honors in the Resort/Daily Fee category, and architects Greg Turner and Scott Macpherson highlighted the surrounding beauty at every turn.
“The dramatic land for the new Coronet course features streams, wetlands and rocky outcrops, and these have been massaged into the layout for golfers to enjoy as they play across the 230-foot terrain changes from the valley floor to the upper lands and back down,” the architects said. “Fairways ride the contours, and all greens are designed to the highest quality to offer fun and challenges for golfers of all abilities, all year round.”
Winners were judged according to how well the vision of the project was executed, the course aesthetics, economic and environmental sustainability, course routing, and land usage. The judges were Darryl Bartlett, senior project manager at NMP Golf Construction Corp.; Casey Paulson, project president at Driftwood Golf and Ranch Club; Kevin Norby of Norby Golf Course Design; Mike Nuzzo of Nuzzo Course Design; and Tripp Davis, president of Tripp Davis and Associates.
(Excerpted from the May/June 2023 issue of Golf Inc.)
Resort/Daily Fee
FIRST PLACE
Coronet Course at Millbrook Resort
Arrowtown, Central Otago, New Zealand
Owner/Developer: Millbrook Country Club Ltd.
Architects: Greg Turner and Scott Macpherson
Contractor: Signal Management Group
Cost: $18.6 million
The vision for Millbrook was to have a world-class golf and lifestyle resort co-existing with a country club. The resort is based around the remnants of an old wheat farm that was established during the Otago Gold Rush of the 1860s. The new development celebrates that history and enhances it through the integration of a working farm with the resort.
Millbrook wanted to add a second course to its original track, the Remarkables Course, to bolster its offerings. The Coronet Course sits on 150 acres ranging from small hills at 1,700 feet above sea level down to a valley sitting at 1,345 feet.
The developers undertook a restoration of key areas within Mill Farm to protect the existing habitat and native species. Extensive wetlands…
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