Fairways paradise

Leisurecorp is determined to take the top spot in the world's golfing and real estate business.

Fifties entertainer Pat Boone is credited as being one of the pioneers of celebrity-related golf and real estate.
When he made his home in Ocean Shores Estates near Seattle on the Pacific coast of the USA in the late sixties, he attracted some of the biggest stars of stage and screen to his annual golf tournaments.

The press and television followed and soon audiences all over the world were becoming exposed to the attractions of the golf course lifestyle.

Forty years on, residential golf communities are big business. Homes overlooking the fairways of world-class golf courses are at a premium. These days however, discerning buyers want something more and one man taking the business to the next level is LeisureCorp CEO David Spencer.

A protégé of the late Australian media tycoon Kerry Packer, American-born Spencer, who grew up in Australia, has spent the latter part of his working life developing the business of golf real estate.

He formed LeisureCorp, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Dubai World in July 2006 to acquire and develop leisure and lifestyle-related investments in Dubai and all over the world.

The company's current portfolio includes Jumeirah Golf Estates, Pearl Valley Golf Estates in South Africa, a major shareholding in Island Global Yachting, a stake in Troon Golf and a shareholding in GPS Industries, providers of Wi-Fi enabled global positioning systems.

Spencer, 47, who plays off a mean six handicap himself, was the driving force behind the decision of the European Tour to bring its international headquarters to Dubai. Not only will this enhance the city's reputation as a world-class golfing venue, but it will further fuel interest in the Jumeirah Golf Estates development.

He explains: "Dubai is a very difficult place in which to seem unique. That's the secret of why it's so successful. You have to come up with ideas that are keeping with the spirit of Dubai.

"Like a lot of good ideas it came out of need. Our company had always wanted to host an event like the Dubai Desert Classic at Jumeirah Golf Estates. When I got to Dubai in 2001 the concept was that it would be played at the Emirates Golf Club and then the Dubai Creek Golf Club and then the Montgomerie, in other words that it would move around.

"The fact that it stayed at the Emirates Golf Club was the right decision. It gives the tournament tradition and it makes the tournament better each year by adding to the infrastructure and the condition of the course.

But that didn't help our company. We needed to come up with a concept to have a tournament that was different and that would be able to be sustained on an ongoing basis."

Spencer and his team came up with the idea of the Dubai World Championship at Jumeirah Golf Estates with a prize fund of US$10m to be competed for by the top 60 players in the Race to Dubai, formerly the European Order of Merit.

"Not many developers would have that sort of money.

How could we make it pay for itself? We decided to create a tournament where we don't have to pay appearance money. We thought on a global basis a tournament like that would be very well respected. Making it a limited field meant there would be no concerns about making the cut and there would be a guaranteed last pay cheque.

"Then we had to decide how to make it pay on the basis that we get no sponsors? We thought the way to do that was to try and enhance the real estate and create a headquarters for the European Tour which had residences, golf shops and a centre of excellence for players to condition and train.

When we started to document the uplift we would have by becoming the home of the European Tour and the Race to Dubai, it made the penny drop.

Spencer reckons at least 50 top players will choose to make Jumeirah Golf Estates their home, at least for the winter.

"The players are crying out for a place where they can live and practise and develop all under the same roof. There will be a state-of-the-art gym, lap pool, conditioning rooms and availability of coaches and caddies. They can hop on a golf buggy and go back to a gated community. It's a fantastic arrangement for a professional golfer.

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