Donald Trump’s Design Approved

November 12th, 2008 — Golf Ball Driver, Golf News, donald trump, golf courses 

The Scottish government has decided to approve the plans designed by Donald Trump to take a wild stretch of the Aberdeenshire coastline in the north east part of Scotland, and transform it into a 2.4 billion dollar golf resort. Trump, a billionaire businessman that is world renowned and resides in New York, stated that he was “deeply honoured” by the Scottish government's decision, which was brought after a local planning inquiry. While the details are still being worked out, the resort will have a thousand homes and holiday apartments, and a 450 bedroom hotel along with two golf courses, which Trump is known for designing and developing.

The plans are to have the first golf swing hit in the spring of 2011, which is not long at all from now. The decision to back the project was welcomed by Scotland's First Minister Alex Salmond, while the decision was made by Finance Secretary John Swinney. Salmond has insisted to his constituents that the project will create as many as 6000 jobs, 1400 of which will be permanent after the development has been completed, which is a boon for the tough economic climate that has been plaguing the world. The resort is also expected to bring to Aberdeenshire estimated 64 million pounds sterling every year.

However, the decision is wrought with quite a lot of controversy, as the land in question is an untouched piece of the natural habitat that belongs to Scotland. The decision was condemned by environmentalists, who state that the project is making a mockery of the Scottish National Party's green agenda. The project was also opposed by the former chairman of the planning committee, who had blocked the application the first time that it went around. The former chairman indicated that it is speculative that Trump would be the only person who could get permission for the development of such a vanity project, and that the project is poorly planned and holds no consideration for the environment. In essence, the decision can be considered as wanton vandalism.

The site of the course development is considered to be a site of special scientific interest. It is believed that there are ways to build the course without building upon the SSSI. The SSSI includes protected sand dunes, and there are dunes upon which Trump intends to build the greatest golf course he has developed so far. The billionaire has invited the actor Sean Connery to make the first golf swing, and promised to give him the membership number 007. The SSSI is also know as the Sands of Forvie, and the Forvie National Nature Reserve, with the fifth largest sand dune system in the entire UK, and it is also the home to the largest breeding colony of eider duck. It is marked a special protection area for wildlife conservation and this could be upset by the development in coming years.

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Fifty Places to Play Golf Before You Die: Golf Experts Share the World’s Greatest Destinations by Chris Santella

August 8th, 2008 — Book Review, golf courses 

Whether you are a die hard golfer, or just someone that likes to dream big, this is an incredible book. Inevitably, when you're dealing with a book that lists the "50 Best", you're going to have a lot of controversy. Instead of getting bent out of shape that perhaps your favorite courses weren't included, this is a book to be read for fun, not for critiquing. When you're done, take some inspiration from the book and make your own list of 50 courses that you must visit before you die - now that is a lot of fun.

The author is well known for his previous title on Fifty Places to Fly Fish Before You Die, and he is also a fanatical golfer. We liked the approach of asking several people, such as Donald Trump, where they would love to play golf. The result is a great list, but one that not a lot of golfers will be able to attain. For example, there are a few courses on the list that are simply too expensive for the average golfer, or shut to the public.

However, if you're just reading for fun, the book takes you on a fantastical journey literally around the world. You'll be seeing courses in the most exotic locations and the accompanying photographs are worth the cost of the book alone. This can serve not only as a dream book, but as a wonderful conversation piece among friends. Our main complaint was that pictures were not included for every single course in the book. That would have bumped the book up a lot further in our estimation, and it seems almost silly not to include at least one picture for every course.

That aside, this is a terrific book that belongs on every single golfer's coffee table, if for nothing else than the inspiration it can bring. The next time it's a rainy day and you can't get on the links, open this book and prepare to travel around the world in style. The overall style of the writing is well suited to a book of this type and it's all too easy to get swept away and wonder where the hours went.

As we mentioned previously, this type of book usually generates quite a bit of controversy, simply because everyone has a set idea of what the best courses are. However, this works in the book's favor and while there are those that might criticize it, this is an inspirational read that really made us love the game even more.

The one thing that would have made the book better is perhaps steering clear of being "safe" with some of the more well known courses. We would have liked to have seen more out of the way courses that are real diamonds in the rough so to speak. But, then again, this isn't our top 50 list.

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