Tiger’s Streak Ends and Golf Courses Revert Back to Nature

The front cover of the NY Times business section had a ghastly aerial photo of a large patch of green, being overtaken by the desert that surrounded it. It was an abandoned golf course in Dubai, which was originally designed by Tiger Woods, just before the events of November 2009, when things all changed.

Today, according to a Dubai official, “the project is as good as dead and buried.” The project included $100 million mansions ringing the championship course, which were too expensive even for the neighborhood of Dubai. The story detailed other half completed or abandoned golf courses around the globe that fell with the great Tiger.

Think about how lofty Tiger’s perch was when he sat with the turbaned heads of Dubai, enchanting them with the dream that they could play a golf course that the man himself designed. With 14 major tournament wins Tiger was invincible, and so were the plans.

Another golf course project stopped in mid-track is in Baja Mexico, called Punta Brava. No dirt has moved there since 2008. In Asheville NC the Cliffs was moving well after 40 lots, starting at $500,000 each, were sold. Since then, nothing. At the Cliffs, it took a $64 million loan from existing residents to jumpstart it, and of the originally planned eight courses, Gary Player’s is almost ready but Tigers never got started.

Amid this financial mess, one thing Tiger does have is his own practice course that he built in his Jupiter Florida neighborhood.