• One should balance economics, market trends  (like competition and lifestyles) and vision.
• Key factors for success are location (accessibility, competition, suitability), product (business philosophy, design, construction & maintenance) and management (most projects fail due to poor management).
• Countries like Cyprus, Greece and Spain promote Golf Resort development for upgrading and diversifying their tourism product. The government planning and incentives seek to increase season ability and revenues, special tourism infrastructure and investments.
• The session on How to make money from Golf focused on financing models, course clustering and maximizing the speed of play as well as the ’feel good’ factor.
• Delegates had the opportunity of a sneak preview of the KPMG market survey. Key motivating factors mainly personal interest vs profit making were analyzed for various world regions as well as how investors selected developers and architects based on what criteria. Average golf course development projects in the region require 4 years to complete and obtaining necessary permits was rated as the highest of the 10 main difficulties during development. Cost analysis indicated that 11% were spent in the preconstruction phase and 45% of costs in this phase were spent on design fees. 33% of total costs were spent on earthworks. On average a 9-hole golf course costs three times less than an 18-hole one.
• Changes in the club and ball technology are influencing the carry distance and design parameters. Various design options were discussed and key design success factors are the natural beauty, well-integrated layout and the variety of challenge presented including some dramatic features
• Operating profiles of various golf courses are driven by who owns them, what is their profit motive and where is the course located. Valuation of the golf course will depend on the operating profile and its potential of repositioning it. The best way to increase value is to increase revenue, as expenses tend to occur in a fixed narrow range.
• A sustainable, well-designed golf course should be environmentally friendly, integrated in the local economy and society and should be efficiently managed and profitable.

RICS Cyprus is producing a DVD with the main live presentations of the conference. Those interested please contact Ms Liana Toumazou, Country Manager RICS Cyprus at ltoumazou@rics.org or 00357 99 540 882.