Golf clubs look to lagoons in bid for renewal

With golf participation numbers in decline and a significant number of Australia’s 1500 golf clubs in financial distress, multinational technology company Crystal Lagoons is suggesting its technology may offer a solution.

Increasingly, the company, which creates unlimited size lagoons suitable for swimming, sailing and water sports, is being called on to establish a lagoon as part of reconfigured golf courses, allowing clubs to appeal to a wider leisure market.

Late last year Crystal Lagoons announced a 12.1 hectare crystalline lagoon on the Las Vegas strip that is proposed as part of redevelopment of an 18-hole golf course.

The lagoon will be the centrepiece of a round the clock entertainment destination, offering an idyllic beach and lagoon for swimming, boating, sailing and paddle-boarding by day and the backdrop to fireworks by night.

German Rocca, the Sydney-based Oceania Regional Director of Crystal Lagoons, said the beachfront lifestyle offered by Crystal Lagoons presented golf clubs with a way to appeal to a wider market while retaining golf as their core purpose.

Rocca explained “the golfing industry knows they have a problem attracting young members and players.

“In Australia the number of younger players is a fraction of what it used to be and that is because so few people can devote five hours to a round of golf.

“When both parents work and fathers want to be hands-on parents they are looking for activities that the whole family can enjoy. If you can offer nine holes alongside a lagoon or a reconfigured 18 holes you don’t have the problem of unhappy golf widows and kids.

“By boosting membership and participation, golf clubs can consider a range of associated leisure options including cafes and water sports so that the golf club becomes central to family life – not just Dads.

“This opens up new revenue generating opportunities essential for older clubs that need the cash flow to upgrade ageing facilities.”

Within residential golf developments lagoon-front properties deliver a premium that helps to enhance the viability of the project and in many cases pave the way for increased density.

Rocca cites how Crystal Lagoons is helping to turn around a number of struggling golfing developments, notably the Diamante Cabo San Lucas in Mexico, and Las Brisas development in Santo Domingo, Chile.

Diamante Cabo San Lucas, one of the premier luxury resorts in Mexico, inaugurated three years ago, was able to accelerate sales by broadening its demographic with the inclusion of a four hectare Crystal Lagoon.

The lagoon complements its recreational facilities which includes a Davis Love III designed course, named in the prestigious Golf Magazine Top 100 as one of the best in the world, and a Tiger Woods designed course currently under construction.

The Las Brisas project, despite its coastal location and 27 hole golf course, considered the best in Chile, was selling only two family lots a year. Crystal Lagoons built a 2.2 hectare lagoon and immediately single and family lot sales increased, achieving more than 200% price premium.

Rocca said the Las Brisas redevelopment involved reconfiguring just one hole but achieved a complete turnaround for the project.

He advised “(this) was a dramatic reversal which demonstrated why Crystal Lagoons are being hailed as the top amenity in the world.

“We see enormous potential in Australia to assist clubs that are struggling with declining membership and club facilities that desperately need upgrading. Crystal Lagoons is the perfect complement for them.

“The lagoon offers recreation for every age group and can be established as part of a golf and entertainment destination or to enhance the appeal of a residential golf course development.”

Rocca said the low construction and maintenance costs were appealing to golf club executives and developers, adding “we structure our agreements so that developers can begin marketing the amenity right from the start.”

On-going costs are equally attractive with the lagoons only needing water to compensate for evaporation. Water consumption is 30 times lower than a golf course and they use 100 times fewer chemicals than traditional disinfection and drinking water systems.

Significantly, Crystal Lagoons technology use only 2% of the energy required by conventional filtering technologies.

Click here to contact Crystal Lagoons's Sydney office via their entry in the Australasian Leisure Management Supplier Directory.

Images: Diamante Cabo San Lucas – sales in the premier golfing resort revived after the inclusion of a Crystal Lagoon (top) and Las Brisas - reconfiguring one hole for a Crystal Lagoon changed the fortunes of the development (below).

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