I have typed it all out for those who are interested:-
Nicklaus takes a swing at creating a perfect course
Jack Nicklaus is on a mission to turn dusty Spanish wastelands into Europe’s largest golf and recreational sites. JAMES MURRAY met ‘The Golden Bear’.
The man who accumulated a record 18 golfing majors – five more than Tiger Woods – retired from professional years ago. But now, Jack Nicklaus, 68, is busier than ever, channelling all his natural competitive energies into golf course design.
His company is building nine courses in a dusty corner of Murcia in Southern Spain, 50 miles west of holiday hotspot Alicante.
So, far, four have been completed and work on the other five is under way, with Jack’s top team from the US and Europe working closely with developer Polaris World.
About £55million is being spent convert the area into verdant fairways in Jack’s showcase course in the new town of Alhama.
The same attention to detail he has show at the hugely impressive Valhalla international golf course in Kentucky is being carries out at Alhama, which should be open for playing next year.
Jack is moulding and sculpting what is 100 acres of barren earth into a magnificent golfing challenge. “Looking at a piece of waste ground inspires me because I want to see what it can become” he says.
“I like to get over in the helicopter to look at the landscape and then drive around on the ground to build up the compete picture of what we want to create. I make notes and maps and then work out where I want the holes.”
Those who work for his course design company say he is instinctive about it, possessing an uncanny ability to visualise a dream course where most people can only see boulders, dirt and problems. From his maps and conversations, his team then get in the bulldozers to bring the idea to reality.
His signature course in Alhama will be the focal point of a vast development and if it is chosen to stage major golfing events, such as the Ryder Cup (which is the game plan), the value of the properties will soar.
In late September, golf fans around the word will be glued to their TV screens as the epic Ryder Cup -0 the feverish battle between the US and Europe – unfolds at Jacks’ Valhalla course, on which his new one at Alhama will be partly based.
For £93,500 you can buy a two-bedroom apartment with roof terrace, rising o £196,500 for a two-bedroomed white washed Mediterranean-style villa complete with a patio or a rooftop dining area.
The rooms are airy and bright but the bedrooms are a little on the compact side, although the idea is that you spend most of the time outside. There are also penthouse suites and individual properties at prices in excess of £1milion.
Polaris world is creating an entire town with about 8,000 properties overlooking lakes and three of Jack’s golf courses, which provide a lush oasis. The properties will be built in phases and are not expected to be fully ready until 2011.
The company describes the project as “Europes first leisure-based township, built around a purpose-built lagoon called the Condado de Alhama.
The resort will also have tennis courts, football pitches, gym facilities and 200 acres of public parks and gardens, so there is plenty to do besides play golf.
"This is far more than a resort," says Jose Luis Hernandez, chief executive of Polaris World, the face of the company as seen on television.
“This completely redefines residential tourism. Our town will have everything you would expect in any medium-sized town in the Mediterranean.
“There will be a bilingual school, a hospital and local health centres supported by pharmacists. There will be specialist shops, banks and offices as well as laundrettes. Local bars and tavernas will mingle alongside international standard restaurants.”
Spain is just a small piece in the Jack Nicklaus golf design global jigsaw and he is also focusing on the fast-growing economic powers.
“I’ve just been talking to the mayor of Moscow about building 15 courses around that city,” he says. I think we’ll build three courses in Moscow. Russians have played golf there before, so it’s exciting.
“We’re also working on a course in Japan and have been very busy in China. We’re taking the game into new markets every year, which is the enjoyable part for me. We have 60 courses under construction and we are in 56 countries, so I am pretty busy, but I love it.”
When he does enjoy a few days rest, Jack heads for his home in Florida to spend some time with his wife of 48 years, Barbara, his 5 grown up children; Jack II, Gary, Nan, Steve and Michael and their 21 grandchildren.
Bizarrely, none of the grandchildren play golf, but that doesn’t bother golf legend Jack one bit.
“They are all athletes, enjoying a whole variety of sports, so I am just happy they are doing that, “ he says.