£250k for a round of golf ?
Australian f inancier builds ultra-exclusive course on Jura (so watch out Mr Trump!)
ONE of the world’s most exclusive golf courses is set to open on a Scottish island – after a multi-million-pound investment by a hedge fund manager nicknamed the Wizard of Oz.
The Ardfin course has been created along the cliffs and beaches of Jura and will offer players breathtaking sea views from every hole.
It looks set to rival Donald Trump’s courses at Menie and Turnberry, and is the brainchild of Australian financier Greg Coffey – who built up a £430 million fortune as an investment manager before retiring in 2012 aged 41.
After buying a 12,000-acre estate on the island for £3.5 million, he set about the lavish renovation of Jura House, extending the listed mansion and creating luxury accommodation with access to a gym, steam room and swimming pool.
He also recruited an acclaimed designer to create an 18-hole golf course and it was built by the company that constructed Mr Trump’s Scottish courses. At one stage, 85 workers were employed on the project, a massive boost to the island’s population of 190.
The course is now set to be formally opened early next year – but it is likely to be out of reach for the majority of golfers.
For although Mr Coffey and his staff have yet to confirm their plans for the estate and course, a council planning document states that it is intended to be used as a private members’ club, while a local source has suggested that membership is set to cost as much as £250,000.
Last week, estate manager Willie MacDonald confirmed the course would open in the spring. He said of Mr Coffey’s investment: ‘It has made a huge difference to the island. Mr Coffey has done nothing but good. The investment and what he has created is superb.
‘We have still got to finish bits and pieces but the golf course, the house, the hotel, everything about it is absolutely amazing, it is lovely.’
He added: ‘We are not going to be operating until next spring. We have never discussed the cost of playing here.’ A policy document by Argyll and Bute Council praised the development work at Ardfin as ‘staggering’ and said the hotelguesthouse ‘is intended to be run as a private members’ club’.
One source told The Scottish Mail on Sunday that fees for joining the club could be as high as £250,000, adding: ‘It is designed to appeal to the elite.’
Mr Coffey, 47, from Sydney, made his fortune in London as a hedge fund manager. He bought the Ardfin estate in 2010. He called in top Sydney architect Bob Harrison to design the golf course. Sol Golf, which built Mr Trump’s courses in Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire, described Ardfin as ‘the most logistically challenging course ever built in the UK’.
Until now, only Mr Coffey and a handful of invited guests have played the Ardfin course.
Martin Kaufmann, travel editor for Golfweek, was one of the lucky ones. He wrote: ‘You can see the ocean from every hole. It is mindblowing. It is arguably as spectacular a site as you will ever see.’