Stippelberg, Old MacDonald, Mission Hills capture Development of Year honors

Golf Baan Stippelberg in the Netherlands beat out several storied golf course developments to be named Development of the Year for 2011, Golf Inc. magazine announced on December 7. The course was designed by Michiel van der Vaart of Jol Golf Design.

Old MacDonald, the latest course by Mike Keiser and Tom Doak in Bandon Dunes, Ore., placed second in the competition, followed by Mission Hills, Hainan, the 180-hole giant development in China, designed by Schmidt-Curley.

“The magnitude of many of the entries for Development of the Year were outstanding — from U.S. to International submissions,” said Katina Cavagnaro, publisher of Golf Inc. “We expanded the number of finalists from three to five because of the unparallelled quality of the entrants.”

The magazine will honor the three winners and five finalists in the upcoming Winter issue of Golf Inc. magazine. Finalists included Barnbougle Lost Farm in Tasmania; Black Jack Crossing in Lajitas, Texas; Castiglion del Bosco in Tuscany, Italy; Eléa Golf Club in Cyprus; and The Signature Course at Thracian Cliffs Golf & Beach Resort in Bulgaria.

More than 30 projects from 19 countries were judged. There were four entries from the U.S., three from China and two from Mexico, Abu Dhabi, Bulgaria, Italy, Netherlands and Korea. Other countries included Australia, Bahamas, Cyprus, Fiji, Portugal, Russia, Slovakia, South Africa, and Sweden. Judges for the contest were Sam Sakocius, president at Project Control International Ltd., who is based in China, and Rick Baril, principal at Von Hagge, Smelek & Baril, and winner of last year’s competition.