Award-winning Schmidt-Curley Design – one of the world’s most active and innovative design firms – has broken new ground with the signing of its first golf course design in Myanmar.
Mandalay Myotha Golf Club will be located southwest of Mandalay, the last Royal capital of Myanmar and considered the centre of Burmese culture while being key to upper Myanmar, as its commercial hub. The layout will include an 8,000-yard championship golf course along with a full service driving range and golf academy.
“An innovative design will take full advantage of the site’s dramatic terrain, with golf holes playing along deep river canyons and fairways routed through a vast rolling landscape,” said Lee Schmidt, Principal at Schmidt-Curley Design.
The par-72 layout will be designed with Kyi Hla Han, Executive Chairman of the Asian Tour and a former professional golfer. “As the layout is set to play host to international events, Kyi Hla will provide valuable input on the course design to help produce a stern test for today’s best players,” added Schmidt, who will assume the prestigious role as President of the American Society of Golf Course Architects in May.
Han, who predicts major professional tournaments will be staged at the venue, said: “Having spent 25 years playing various Tours around the world and hundreds of courses, I’m able to offer an insight from the perspective of a professional golfer. Schmidt-Curley has done some wonderful work in Asia and I’m sure this project will rank right up there with the best.”
Mandalay Myotha Industrial Development (MMID) Public Co. Ltd is leading the project, aiming to become the ‘model’ industrial park development in Myanmar by generating employment opportunities and helping to alleviate poverty in the Mandalay region.
U Aung Win Khaing, Chairman, Royal Hi-Tech Group, holding company of MMID, said: “It is exciting for us to bring together award-winning design firm Schmidt-Curley and Kyi Hla Han, the pride of Myanmar golf, to create a new world class golf destination in Mandalay.”
In addition to a state-of-the-art 18-hole golf course, this 11,000-acre project will include schools, hospitals, factories, warehouses, small businesses, parks, and various residential components able to accommodate an estimated population of 250,000 people.
Golf course construction is projected to begin in the middle of 2014 with a grand opening planned for late 2015.
Based in Scottsdale, Arizona, USA, Schmidt-Curley Design has two fully-staffed China offices (in Haikou and Kunming) to promote quicker mobilisation, lower travel costs and other valuable advantages over competitors.
Schmidt-Curley Design www.schmidt-curley.com