ISIMI mini-course, stimulus for local golf growth

BY SAM EMEHELU

As the population of Lagos gears towards 30 million, the challenge to solve the housing challenge without tilting the delicate ecosystem further into danger has been one major headache of urban planning.

Golf, despite being seen as a sport, has proved one of the tools that can be used to balance the risk of deforestation and maintain good use of open, green, and well-manicured spaces.

The foregoing must have informed owners of Landwey properties to unveil what they call a mini-golf course to be tucked into the layout of ISIMI; the ambitious project located in Epe, Lagos State.

Toyin Ayilara, Chief Executive Officer of Landwey, said: “While developing our city, we need to prepare for the future as there are a number of irreparable environmental decisions we have taken that need not happen again.

“We are conscious of this and have keyed into the climate change policies of Lagos and Federal governments, especially with regard to their adaptation for property development for a mega city like Lagos. SIMI Lagos will dramatically alter what we currently consider the norm in Lagos.”

ISMI won’t be the first housing solution to incorporate a golf course. There is already the Lakowe Lakes Golf Course that has an 18-hole Championship Course layout embedded with different housing projects. It stands presently in a class of its own.

To get a better picture of the peace that ISIMI three holes and driving range layout could bring is to consider that the present layout of the Golf Section of Ikoyi Golf Course is the biggest green space available anywhere on the densely populated Lagos and Victoria Island.

Had there been other golf layouts, apart from the game it serves, there would have been more alternatives they would have been useful for as the city population grew with spaces diminished.

According to one of Golf ruling bodies, R&A, in a publication “Golf Around The World” published in 2019, Nigeria is the second biggest golf facility owner on the continent with 54 courses, compared to South Africa which topped the list by far with 489 courses. Kenya has 43 while Zimbabwe is joint fourth with Egypt at 38 courses apiece. Let us not bother about the rest for now.

To put the information into perspective, consider the population against the number of golf courses available to a person (Golf per capita ratio). Nigeria has the worst of those ratios, scoring very low on environmental preservation.

For every golf course (in Nigeria), there are 3, 814, 814 persons waiting for its use. In South Africa, with 59 million populace the ratio is 120, 654, Kenya is 1, 232, 558, Zimbabwe has one golf course for every 394, 736 while Egypt’s numbers are 2, 684, 210.

There is really no proven correlation between these numbers and any means of livelihood but one can hazard that it might point to the level of each government’s hang on environmental planning, deployment of green space policy, and perhaps wildlife preservation.

The list of countries above also includes the top three economies on the continent, but while South Africa is not currently top of that rung, we can deduce that there is a relationship between the numbers and each of the country’s GDP. The outlier here is Zimbabwe.

In 2013, The International Association of Golf Tour Operator (IAGTO) named Nigeria and Kenya as the biggest golf destinations on the continent. Nigeria did not build any major golf course prior to the year, except for Lakowe Lakes and Smokin Hills Golf Course (Akure), which were under construction during the period.

When querying the IAGTO research, the only matching reason for the spike in Golf Tourism came from the FDIs (Foreign Direct Investment). So, in simple terms, when foreign investors or their representatives show up in a country, they are likely to play golf or spend an extra day strolling on the greens.

No research document has put a seal on this, except for the hypothesis from the IAGTO. If this is true, it then means that the reverse may be true as well.

In Lagos, where the population has swelled to over 20.6 million already, (approximately 10% of Nigeria’s population has lived in Lagos at any time), ISIMI will help relieve the unbearable traffic of golfers that has thronged Ikoyi Course. This has made it difficult for any major remodeling or construction that has been proposed in over a decade to be actualized.

Along the Lagos Island-Lekki-Ajah corridor, the new upscale Lagos habitat, no major green space was fitted. Although talks of new possibilities have risen in the wake of some new land reclaiming projects through dredging, it still remains to be seen.

One other thing ISIMI will afford Nigeria is to inspire more people to take up golf as the Nigeria Golf Federation is still grappling with the best possible way to get people to embrace the sport in the absence of public courses.

Beyond being symbolic of peace, ISIMI may turn the locks open and usher in progress for golf development for Nigeria and prospect seems only a matter of time.

Sam Emehelu, a sports journalist, writes from Lagos