Sportal.co.in
It is famous for its souks and its palaces, but the ancient Moroccan city of Marrakesh is starting to develop a reputation as the golfing capital of North Africa.
When
Medhi Amar
arrived in Marrakesh in 2000, there were just three golf clubs. Today, about 15 18-hole clubs encircle the city. And while the idea of playing golf in the shadow of the Atlas Mountains might seem novel, Mr. Amar, director of Barnes International Realty, believes Morocco has something to offer golfers which Europe lacks: almost year-round sunshine. The average daily temperature in January is 66 degrees. And it doesn’t hurt that the clubs are within easy striking distance of Marrakesh, a Unesco World Heritage site. Real-estate prices are also attractive. At the exclusive 27-hole Golf Amelkis, a Cabell B. Robinson-designed course that opened in 1995, buyers can still pick up a three-bedroom villa for as low as $500,000, according to
Alex Peto,
a director at Kensington Luxury Properties, a Christie’s International Real Estate’s affiliate in Morocco. At the top end, a 20,000- to 30,000-square-foot home facing the course would cost around $25 million, he estimated.
Players like its challenging course dotted with palm trees and the mountain views. Located just 4 miles east of the city, Golf Amelkis, which plans an expansion to 36 holes, also includes a children’s club and tennis courts. Currently listed with Barnes International Realty is a four-bedroom villa on the course priced at $3.45 million. The 12,917-square-foot villa has a contemporary décor and a clay-brick terrace overlooking its swimming pool.
It is not only golf homes that are comparatively affordable in Marrakesh. Actually playing is also a bargain. It will cost you about $500 to play a round at Valderrama Royal Club in Spain, said Mr. Peto. “Admittedly that is a famous championship course,” he noted, but few courses in Marrakesh cost more than $123 a round, and the norm is more like $74. Mr. Peto said Marrakesh embraced golf for both emotional and practical reasons. King Hassan II of Morocco, who ruled from 1961 until 1999, was an avid player who did much to encourage its development. He founded the Hassan II Golf Trophy, now an official event on the European Tour that will be played in Rabat this month.
The oldest club is Royal Golf of Marrakech, a private club that opened in 1927. One of the newest is the 27-hole Tony Jacklin Marrakech, an Argan Golf Resort, that opened in 2016. The great golf experiment has not been entirely a hole-in-one for developers, and some courses have struggled to find home buyers. Instability caused by both the recession, which began to bite in 2007, and the subsequent Arab Spring have hurt Marrakesh’s high-end market overall.
Maude Fajas,
director at Emile Garcin Properties, estimates that the prices of golf villas—almost exclusively sold to overseas buyers—have fallen by around 30% since 2008, only stabilizing over the past two years.
She also believes that the city is now saturated by golf. “We are in a desert, and golf courses need a lot of water,” she said. If Ms. Garcin is proved correct, a lack of new supply should help prop prices up in future, although right now construction continues on established courses like Amelkis, where the peace of the fairways is still being disrupted by the sounds of workmen wielding power tools as new homes are built. Mr. Amar says some clubs are responding to water shortages by planting cactuses on their courses instead of trees. He expresses some skepticism that a lack of water will stop more golf clubs coming, although he does agree that the golf boom is slowing down. “I don’t think we need 10 more golf clubs,” he said. In the meantime, buyers investing in golf properties are led by those from France, where the common language makes Morocco a popular choice for a second home.
Philippe Chazot,
a consultant at Barnes International Realty, said most of his overseas clients have a budget of between $740,000 and $1.23 million, seeking a home with a view of the course and an aesthetic that’s contemporary, with a Moroccan twist. Currently listed with Barnes International Realty is a 3,057-square-foot, three-bedroom villa at Al Maaden Golf, a resort that features a Park Hyatt hotel, tennis courts and several restaurants. The $660,000 property has a neutral, simple décor designed to appeal to Western buyers, and a spectacular roof terrace for them to enjoy the sun. “People like the fact that these are lock up and leave properties,” said Mr. Peto. “A lot of retired people love the fact that it is an easy, comfortable place to be, and often retired people do play golf.”
