Golf in Nigeria

[SteveRitson]

Steve would like to hear of golf experiences in Nigeria and how you think golf courses should be developed there -  by private companies just looking to maximise profits from real estate and hotels or by Government or private individuals who could create more pay and play courses to benefit the average golfer and help bring golf courses to the masses.

[SteveRitson]

We are still awaiting full payment for our design work at the Le Meridien Ibom Golf Course and hope that the present administration in Akwa Ibom can honour the contract for the work which was carried out by our company in 2004, originally for the Ministry of Tourism and Industry under Victor Attah.

[ladycapricorn11]

So, for you, what is the most beautiful location to play a golf in Nigeria?




_________________
Augusta GA Hotels

[SteveRitson]

Of course my reply for the best place to play golf would have to be our course at the Le Meridien Ibom in Akwa Ibom State with the IBB Course in Abuja where I used to be a member close behind. I have seen several courses in Port Harcourt but they are rather flat and boring. I havent seen any of the courses in Lagos and so cannot judge but I hope to visit some in the next few weeks when we are looking at a new golf course in Osun State.  The place where I would like to build a beautiful course would be at Yankari Game Reserve in the North, Near Zuma Rock on the outskirts of Abuja or in Obudu Cattle Ranch in Cross Rivers.  Nigeria has great potential for golf course development, especially if anyone would like to create a golf course with housing and I look forward to working there again soon and sampling more courses.

[greenguru13]

Lady Capricorn - I would agree with Steve that the best course is the Ibom golf Club in Uyo. I believe all golfers in Nigeria would agree with this as well.
I basically re-built the golf course in 2008 as it was in very poor condition. There was no grass on the greens and the tees were in very poor condition. We made some slight changes (dont worry Steve, no real design changes except hole 17), but basically we planted the Seashore Paspalum Supreme grass on the greens which will provide the best greens in Nigeria if well maintained.

Steve - hoping to get involved in further projects with you in Nigeria and also hoping your financial issues get solved from the Uyo project (but i would doubt it).

Happy Golfing -

Gary

[SteveRitson]

Hi Gary,

Yes Jardin thought it would be good to try every other type of grass known to man for the golf course and for some reason would not listen to the advice that I had given when they first built the course that Paspalum would be a good choice for the whole golf course. However outside of the IBB club in Abuja, very little was tried and tested up till then in terms of grasses for golf courses and even a recent visit to the IBB Club has shown that it doesnt matter what you plant on the course, if you dont maintain it well it will quickly revert to the thick local grass which is very poor for golf.  When I used to play the course in Abuja when it first opened it was fantastic with bermuda fairways and the tiff dwarf greens but since this time the grasses have mutated on the greens and the course grasses have all but replaced the original seeded bermudas. They used Bermuda Triangle mix I think. The greatest problem is actually over watering but it is very difficult to tell the greenstaff if they have an irrigation system only to use it very sparingly!!

Steve