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Golf & TOURISM IN GREECE - JUNE 2007One Golf Course, Two Countries! A complex and unique golf course, the design work has been carried out over several years, with construction underway in 2006 and being managed by Steve Marnoch of golfmarnoch working in conjunction with Dimitri van Hauwaert of Diamond Golf Architects. Maastricht International Golf has 13 holes and half the driving range in The Netherlands and 5 holes and the other half of the driving range in Belgium!! Players will begin play in The Netherlands on holes 1 - 7, into Belgium for holes 8 - 12 before returning to The Netherlands with passport duly stamped to complete the round, a claim that cannot be made by many golf courses. The "dual nationality" of the course has, as you can imagine, added to the complexity of designing and constructing this golf course which already had more than it's fair share of complex issues from: public footpaths, historically used by the Romans and The Heze Water which was a ditch between The Netherlands and Belgium which we had to reinstate despite it running up hill! to Heze Worms and other important species, a groundwater level about 30 metres below the surface and finally the size earthworks had to be created with a balance of cut and fill which had to comply with different regulations for the amounts and depths/heights of excavation and filling in both Belgium and The Netherlands. Exciting, challenging and certainly interesting. With all this accomplished and now opened, the golf course facilities are to be managed by GMG and form a part of a huge development of BPF Bouwinvest and also include a hotel and housing complex, a driving range and 9 hole compact course. With a budget in excess of one hundred million euros this was certainly a project with challenges that could still excite the most experienced of golf course architect. The Official Opening was held on Friday 11th May and was an entertaining and eventful day, with guests from across Europe joining in the celebrations. The opening of the course took place with the start of the Golf Cup Holland - Belgium, a new tournament that will be played annually as from 2008 by top teams from both countries, consisting of politicians, amateur golfers and professional golfers and added a thrilling start to the course's life. Maastricht International Golf will be open for play to the public in September 2007 and should you take the opportunity to play Steve would be delighted to hear your comments on what he believes is a truly unique golf course. |
