Montgomerie looks over plans for new development alongside EGD designer Robin Hiseman (EuropeanTour)
Ryder Cup legend Colin Montgomerie is set to join forces with European Golf Design to design a new course alongside one of Morocco’s finest beaches.
The Plages des Nations site near Rabat, Morocco will be the centre piece of a major new 1,200-acre luxury resort and 10,000 strong residential community featuring a clubhouse, beach club, hotel and shopping centre.The triumphant 2010 Ryder Cup Captain and EGD were asked to take on the project following a successful collaboration on The Montgomerie Course at Marrakech City with The Prestigia Group, part of the Groupe Addoha company.This project will create one of the largest developments of its kind in North Africa offering breath taking views of the Atlantic Ocean with an 18-hole, par 72, layout that will wind through valleys and undulations set back from the beachfront.This landscape is what drew Montgomerie to the project, and he is excited to get started.He said: “We’ve got interesting terrain and changes in elevation to work with, which is helping us to create a lively and intricate, strategic design. We will be having some fun with the contouring, to encourage more golfers to play more creatively. “I am keen on designs that test a golfer’s initiative & decision making, so Plage des Nations is going to be a definitive expression of that philosophy. It will be challenging putting it together and we’re confident that the end result will be a beautiful, testing and fun golf course.”
EGD celebrates its 20th anniversary in 2012 with a team of acclaimed architects making their mark on more than 50 golf courses across four continents, most notably the Twenty Ten Course at Celtic Manor, venue for the 2010 Ryder Cup.
They have also worked with some of the game’s greatest names such as Annika Sorenstam and Bernhard Langer, as well as Montgomerie and a number of other European Tour players.Jeremy Slessor, Managing Director of EGD said: “Signature design is proven to raise the profile of many developments, adding value to sales of golf tourism packages, membership and real estate.“Colin Montgomerie and EGD have worked on a number of projects and what you get with Colin is a hands-on approach and involvement from a world-class player who has an instinctive talent for golf course design. He has a clear idea of what he expects of a course bearing his name and Plage des Nations is an exciting prospect that we look forward to working on together.”
It will be the eighth time that Montgomerie and EGD have worked together on a design project making them one of the most successful partnerships in Europe, the Middle East and Africa with previous joint ventures including courses in Bahrain, The Netherlands, Ireland, Wales, Turkey and Scotland.
Jawad Ziyat, the Managing Director of Prestigia said: “We have witnessed first-hand, at Marrakech Golf City, what Colin Montgomerie and EGD bring to a project. We like the team’s approach and vision, and their ability to create golf courses that are unique in style, challenging but also enjoyable for all golfers.“Our objective is to make the Plage des Nations Golf Resort an iconic venue in North Africa, and we know Colin and EGD will help us deliver this.”
.
