Tabarka

Ron Fream on Tunisian Golf An exclusive Ron Fream quote, sent to us from his home in Malaysia, on his pioneering work in Tunisia. I first visited El Kantaoui in 1973 when the area was no more than salt marsh and sand with ancient olive trees inland. My Golfplan group was directly involved in most of the courses in Tunisia until the past five years or so and I’ve visited the country over 50 times. Early on, our firm was known as Harris, Thomson, Wolveridge, Fream and Storm; comprising Commander John Harris, Peter Thomson and Michael Wolveridge (friends of John but primarily active in Asia at that time), Terry Storm (one of the original partners in Golfplan from 1972) and myself. John Harris was asked to come to Tunisia to plan the El Kantaui development but he asked me to go in his place. I was young, eager and willing to go to places before the likes of mosquito control or air conditioning were in place and Tunisia was a new challenge for me. I made site visits, directed and inspected construction, advised on maintenance, toured and evaluated other sites. Golfplan took over full control of Tunisian golf development within a few years when John died and Thomson, Wolveridge and Fream split up around 1978-79. I helped select the Citrus site (for the La Foret and Les Oliviers courses), Yasmine across the auto route from Citrus, Flamingo Monastir and Tabarka. I also visited Tozeur and Nefta, evaluating possible sites in the Sahara desert, fifteen years before the government helped with the Oasis Tozeur project. Our Golfplan team in California created design and working drawings and I viewed and evaluated sites along the North African coast from Libya to Algeria in the mid-1980s. Tabarka was one such site, and golf at the historic Phoenician port – close to the Algerian border – could and should have been marketed as a true Mediterranean copy of Cypress Point. Unfortunately, due to a lack of understanding and appreciation of the environmental and geographical location of this great golfing ground, the Tunisian government missed the opportunity to create what could have been a golfing paradise. What we have – even today – is a modestly-maintained, sand duned, pine forested cliff top beauty in repose. There’s room for four or five courses near the existing course and they would all rival Cypress or Spyglass Hill. Incredibly, the locals just don’t get it. There’s an airport nearby that’s hardly used due to lack of demand. In summer, the adjacent 2,500 hotel rooms are filled with economy class beach seekers but the resort hotels mostly close from October to May – just the time that the European golfer would enjoy the mild weather; like Scotland without the cold! Citrus has 36 holes plus a 9-hole teaching and practice course. Chris Pitman, who worked with me for many years, did some rework years after Golfplan’s original design was implemented. Some club managers also carried out some remodelling of a form on a beautiful site, not far from many hotels. Yasmine, over the autoroute from Citrus, was leased from the government to a Turkish hotel operator and that firm later leased the Flamingo course in Monastir. Both were bled dry of turf quality due to heavy play as hotel guests were given free golf as part of inexpensive package holiday deals. El Kantaoui grew slowly from 18 to 27 then 36 holes. Early on, I kept telling the owners, a joint Kuwait and Tunisian operation, to get more land. When I visited, in 1973, the masterplan called for only 18 holes. I had to fight to even get some water front property for golf. Golfplan eventually added the second 18 holes in two phases over six years during the 1990s. Tozeur is a difficult, dramatic and unique site, originally owned by the same people at Tabarka. Unfortunately, they were unable to see the marketing potential of playing a beautiful seaside and an historic desert course in one trip. Summer golf is too hot here as temperatures are normally over 40 degrees centigrade so golf is marketed for the October to May season, highlighting good food, nice people, fine local wines and amazing history. Overall, the standard of maintenance on many of the courses has never met average to good European levels. At times this has been due to heavy in season play – 300 rounds a day per 18 holes – which the courses cannot stand. Management does not know what modern maintenance standards are. The Ministry for Tourism lacks understanding of the golf market and it doesn’t help that no one in a position of authority plays the game. I have tried to suggest more golf at Citrus and Tabarka. Another nine at Monastir could fit. Remodeling and modernizing are required. I have told the Ministry people to visit Belek in Turkey where, in 15 years, that area has expanded to having more tourist golf than Tunisia; by 40% in 2009. With a such a long association with Tunisia, I would like to see more golf – by Golfplan and others – to create much needed jobs but the powers that be dither. The President has had a big house/palace built on a ridge overlooking the El Kantauoi course. Maybe if he took up golf things would change. Ron Fream

Tunisia – where good golf’s a lot closer than you might think We return to Africa for our latest resort article. Situated between Algeria and Libya on the north coast of the continent, Tunisia offers golf facilities of a high standard, with layouts strung out between the capital city of Tunis in the north and the island of Djerba in the south. Golf in the country dates back to the original course at Golf de Carthagein La Soukra which was founded almost a hundred years ago but it wasn’t until the government decided to embark on a golf course construction plan in the late 1970s that the sport’s profile was raised, primarily as a means of attracting visiting tourists. Golfplan’s Ron Fream was the architect behind many of these new build projects and most of the courses featured below were designed by him. Unfortunately, the country doesn’t always market golf as well as it might which is a real shame as we know from first-hand experience just how good the product is. Most European tourists to the country come from France and Germany (Paris is a 2-hour flight away from Tunis and Munich is only 2.5 hours) but more than a quarter of a million passengers also fly annually from the UK to the capital or one of the coastal cities, with journey times from London under three hours. The good golf that's in Tunisia is really a lot closer than you might think… Residence Tunis The first resort we’re profiling is the Residence Tunis in the upmarket seaside town of Gammarth which includes a 161-bedroom (and 9 suites) hotel with spa and wellness centre incorporating indoor and outdoor pools and a sauna. The hotel’s El Dar restaurant offers an authentic taste of Tunisia while L’Olivier serves up a wider range of Mediterranean cuisine. The course is a Robert Trent Jones Jr. design from 2008 – the only new golfing layout to appear in Tunisia in the new millennium – and its links-style holes are set out as returning nines, with the outward half routed round a residential development and the inward half occupying open ground next to a salt lake that connects to the Mediterranean. Yasmine Valley An hour’s drive south of Tunis lies the seaside tourist destination of Hammamet and for golfers who choose to bin the beach in favour of the fairways there are three 18-hole layouts located on either side of the A-1 motorway. The first of these is Yasmine Valley which has the Steigenberger Marhaba Palace and TUI BLUE Oceana Suites as two of its partner hotels. The golf course is laid out around a large practice area and short Academy setup close to the clubhouse. Plans for another 9-hole circuit from Nicklaus Design have been in place for ages but those holes remain on the drawing board. For now, visiting golfers enjoy an 18-hole “thrilling roller coaster ride that twists and turns” across a surprisingly hilly property. Citrus On the other side of the main road sits the La Forêt and Les Oliviers 18-hole courses at Citrus Golf Club. Two of the accommodation providers most closely associated with the club are the 370-bedroomed 4-star SENTIDO Phenicia and 5-star The Sindbad (offering 145 rooms and 9 suites) and residents of these nearby hotels are afforded discounted green fees. Extending to 200 acres of maintained grass, the two 18-hole courses at Citrus celebrate thirty years of operation this year and they’re complemented by a 9-hole executive short course which – along with an extensive practice area – makes this the best training centre in the country. And, after practice or play, restaurant bar Tangerine is the perfect place to relax overlooking the complex. El Kantaoui Another hour-long drive on the main drag south brings us to the coastal tourist centre of Port El Kantaoui near Sousse, where El Kantoui Golf was Tunisia’s first modern golf facility back in the 1970s. John Harris, Peter Thomson, Mike Wolveridge and Ron Fream were all involved in the initial venture to build an 18-hole which hosted the Tunisian Open in 1982, the European Tour’s first ever event outside Europe. A decade later, when another eighteen holes were added, the original layout was called the Seaand the newer course named Panorama. The complex is surrounded by a number of hotels that collaborate with the golf club, including the Iberostar Diar El Andalous (379 guest rooms), the Seabel Alhambra (225 guest rooms), and the 322-bedroomed Marhaba Palace. Flamingo The Monastir peninsula is situated 25 kilometres south of Sousse, with the Flamingo Golf Courselocated on the outskirts of the town. Among the golf facility’s preferred partner hotels, there’s the 5-star Royal Thalassa (250 rooms & 7 suites) on the other side of the airport and the 4-star El Mouradi Skanes (505 rooms) situated a little bit closer to Sousse. The Flamingo layout is set out across a dominating hill which overlooks the entire Monastir estuary, with hundreds of ancient olive trees giving definition to the holes. Water comes into play at a couple of holes and a number of fairways cross or skirt natural ravines on a very natural landscape that was largely preserved during course construction. Djerba Our look at resort golf in Tunisia ends almost 400 kilometres south of Monastir on the island of Djerba, which is accessed by a short ferry crossing or via an old Roman causeway. Of course, most tourists will fly directly here to Djerba-Zarzis International airport near the main town of Houmt Souk. The 27-hole complex at Djerba Golf Clubis a mid-1990s Martin Hawtree design located close to the dozens of hotels that are strung out along the northeast coastline of the island. The nearest hotels to the course include the 4-star Djerba Golf Resort & Spa (with 275 rooms and suites) and the 5-star Yadis Djerba Golf Thalasso and Spa (with 332 rooms). Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses

Top 100 Golf Courses revises its North African rankings It’s been a while since we updated our rankings for Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia so we’re rectifying that situation now in this news release for North Africa. According to the R&A’s Golf Around the World 2019 report, there are a total of 111 courses located in these three countries but we think those figures (supplied by the US-based National Golf Foundation) are somewhat inflated for some reason and the true number in play is closer to 80. And as our charts for these three countries profile 40 of these courses we think we have around half the operating golf layouts covered in that part of the world. Over time, golfing opportunities for local players seem to be on the increase as national federations now run ambitious programs to encourage greater participation from young people and that can only be a good thing – it shouldn’t all be about relying on incoming golfers from Europe and beyond to sustain the sport. Egypt Looking at our new Egyptian listings, the top three positions remain as they were, which means the Greg Norman signature design at The Allegria retains its status as the No. 1 course in the country. Opened for business a decade ago as the centrepiece of a large residential development by leading real estate company SODIC, this course was Greg Norman’s first (and so far only) North African design. Managed by Troon Golf, this golf facility continues to set the standard for others to emulate. The Allegria The only new entry in our chart at No. 4 is the Thomson, Perrett and Lobb-designed course at NEWGIZA Golf Club, which debuted just last year. Located close to the Giza pyramid complex, a UNESCO World Heritage site, this 18-hole layout is also part of a massive residential project on the outskirts of Cairo. Dramatic elevation changes, sandy waste areas and several water hazards all come into play on what was once an old quarry outside the capital. NEWGIZA Golf Club Pater Harradine has told us about a new course he’s designed which is now ready to open, initially with nine holes, in the new Uptown Cairo development between the capital and New Cairo City. Thirteen holes have actually been grassed but completion of the other five holes is temporarily delayed due to the current coronavirus predicament. We’ve also heard from John Sandford who informs us about a new 18-hole layout he’s currently working on that’s due to open in 2021 at Hacienda Bay, near El Alamein on the Mediterranean coast. Like the Uptown Cairo course, we’ll be keeping a close eye on this layout after it’s fully unveiled. Rank/ To view the complete detailed list of the Top 10 Golf Courses of Egypt click the link. Morocco Golf development has slowed down considerably in Morocco in the last couple of years and that isn’t much of a surprise as, truth be told, there were probably too many golf facilities trying to entice not enough golfers, particularly around Casablanca and Marrakech. That’s not to say things have dried up completely, but the fewer number of courses that appear now are of a generally higher quality than many of the residential-based tracks of late. There’s no change at the top of our Moroccan standings, where the course at Golf du Palais Royal d’Agadir remains at No.1. Interestingly, although design credit for this remarkable layout is given to Robert Trent Jones, author James R. Hansen in his book A Difficult Par revealed it was RTJ’s associate Cabell Robinson who actually did the work. Or so we were told… until email correspondence in January with French-based architect Jeremy Pern revealed his involvement in the project: “Cabell called me at the end of June 1985 asking me if I could go to Morocco next week to build the course in Agadir. I found myself on site 10 days later, with plans that had been roughed out a few years earlier. Since then the sea had reclaimed a significant and important hunk of the site so we had to start afresh. Cabell dropped in a few times during the construction and so we more or less built it as we went along.” Golf du Palais Royal d’Agadir The first of two new entries comes into the chart at No. 3 and it’s the Jack Nicklaus Signature course at Michlifen Golf & Country Club in Ifrane, with the fairways set out at an altitude of five and a half thousand feet above sea level in the magnificent Middle Atlas Mountain region. Such is the kinder climate at this elevation, cool-season grasses were chosen for the layout, with creeping bentgrass used for tees and greens and Kentucky bluegrass for the sand-capped fairways and rough. Recent reviewer comments include: “it’s easy to see from the non-maintained areas next to the fairways that this wasn’t an easy site to build a golf course on as there are a large clusters of small rocks everywhere… you’ll be hard pressed to find a more memorable set of closing holes anywhere… I found the experience at Michlifen simply great, in all respects.” Michlifen Golf & Country Club The other newcomer makes an entrance at No. 6 and it’s the newly refurbished Blue course at Royal Dar Es Salam Golf Club in Rabat, host venue for the Lalla Meryem Cup on the Ladies European Tour since the tournament returned here in 2016. Following the success of the recent renovation of the Red course, a similar upgrade was carried out on the Blue course, with Cabell Robinson overseeing the work, together with ex-European Tour player Michel Besanceney, one of the club’s senior advisors. Michel told us: “Tees and greens were totally re-shaped, along with some fairway and bunker reshaping and large-scale tree clearing to widen the angles and perspectives. The shaping work was carried out by Dean Bedwell and the whole project has been under the close supervision of HRH Prince Moulay Rachid. We’re quite proud that this Sleeping Beauty doesn't pale against the Red Monster across the road.” Royal Dar Es Salam Blue course In other Moroccan golf news, we hear that the Palmerie Rotana Resort in Marrakech (formerly a 27-hole facility) has reduced the number of holes in play to eighteen, using the original nines that were laid out by Robert Trent Jones in the early 1990s. In the same city, renovation work is almost finished at Royal Marrakech, where Stuart Hallett and Jonathan Davison are overseeing a 2-year redesign of all the bunkers and the installation of a new irrigation system. Work began late last year on yet another course renovation, this time at the Pullman El Jadida Royal Golf and SPA near the coastal city of El Jadida, with James Duncan, the long-time Coore & Crenshaw associate, leading the efforts to trim back trees and upgrade all the greens, tees and bunkers. We’re still eagerly anticipating the arrival of the Al Houra course onto the Moroccan golfing stage. This 18-hole layout, fashioned by Graham Marsh Golf Design in collaboration with Vijay Singh, is situated within a 635-acre property on the Atlantic coast between Tangier and Asilah. The adjacent Hilton hotel opened last year during phase 1 of a Qatari-funded development that includes more hotels, residential villas, health club, shops and various other facilities. Hopefully, the golf course (which was built a couple of years ago) will be next to emerge. To view the complete detailed list of the Top 20 Golf Courses of Morocco click the link. Tunisia There’s not really much to report on the Tunisian golf front, where things have remained rather stagnant as the consequence of a couple of terrible terrorist attacks on foreign visitors which took place in 2015. Visitor numbers had picked up again and flights from the UK had just resumed when the latest coronavirus crisis put everything on hold once again. It can only be hoped that tourism will make some sort of miraculous recovery in the months ahead, as visitors desperate for some sunshine golf perhaps extend the holiday season into the late autumn this year. Make no mistake, Tunisia will be ready and waiting, with golf courses of a surprisingly high quality and green fees that are reasonably priced, providing an attractive, affordable golf product. Yasmin Valley holds sway at the top of our Tunisian table and it’s held the No.1 position since we first started ranking this country in 2009. Located a mere 15-minute drive inland from the Hammamet Medina, it’s a Ron Fream design from the late 1980s that’s routed across an undulating landscape of pine and olive groves. Next door lies two well-regarded 18-hole courses at Golf Citrus, making this a great 3-course destination for discerning players. Yasmine Valley The desert course at Oasis Tozeur, on the north edge of the Sahara desert, has now closed so it drops out of our chart, replaced by the course at Djerba Golf Club, which is a fine 27-hole facility on the small island of Djerba in the Gulf of Gabes, close to the border with Libya. Martin Hawtree laid out three nines here in the mid-1990s and the 18-hole layout of first choice comprises the loops of Les Palmiers (par is set at 37 with four par fives) and La Mer (par is 36 with three seaside holes). It was announced a while back that the Tunis Sports City project in the Lac de Tunis district of the capital would finally go ahead, after the project had languished for many years on the planning board. A Peter Harradine-designed 9-hole golf course is one of the prime sporting components of this development and we await its completion with great interest. Michel Gayon is also involved in designing an 18-hole layout at Tunis Bay Golf in Raoued, a new residential development located on the west side of the Sebkha Ariana salt flats, opposite the RTJII course at The Residence Tunis in Gammarth. The course is not due to complete until 2022/23. To view the complete detailed list of the Top 10 Golf Courses of Tunisiaclick the link. Jim McCann Editor Top 100 Golf Courses