Interviews

Oakmont: An interview with Gil Hanse

With the 2025 US Open arriving at Oakmont, Richard Humphreys spoke with the architect, who renovated the course in 2023, about what to expect

Martin Ebert: Design journey

With a portfolio that includes eight of the ten Open venues, Mackenzie & Ebert occupies an enviable position in the golf design industry. Adam Lawrence spoke with principal Martin Ebert to learn how they got there

Designs for the big screen

Chad Goetz and Agustin Piza discuss their design decisions for the virtual holes that featured in the first season of TGL

Bob Harrison: Wizard of Oz

The Australian designer has had a long career and, like many of his countrymen, has spent much of it away from home. Adam Lawrence listened to his tales from the road

Ben Cowan-Dewar: Shock and awe

Golf development firm Cabot now has properties in six countries. Richard Humphreys speaks with co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar about what makes a great site, selection of golf course architects, and more

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

Oakmont: An interview with Gil Hanse

With the 2025 US Open arriving at Oakmont, Richard Humphreys spoke with the architect, who renovated the course in 2023, about what to expect

Martin Ebert: Design journey

With a portfolio that includes eight of the ten Open venues, Mackenzie & Ebert occupies an enviable position in the golf design industry. Adam Lawrence spoke with principal Martin Ebert to learn how they got there

Designs for the big screen

Chad Goetz and Agustin Piza discuss their design decisions for the virtual holes that featured in the first season of TGL

Bob Harrison: Wizard of Oz

The Australian designer has had a long career and, like many of his countrymen, has spent much of it away from home. Adam Lawrence listened to his tales from the road

Ben Cowan-Dewar: Shock and awe

Golf development firm Cabot now has properties in six countries. Richard Humphreys speaks with co-founder and CEO Ben Cowan-Dewar about what makes a great site, selection of golf course architects, and more

Team building

Turfgrass has launched its US arm with the appointment of John Lawrence, Adam Moeller and Brad Owen. Richard Humphreys speaks with them, Turfgrass founder John Clarkin and director of agronomy Julian Mooney to find out more

Brian Curley: Life of Brian

The designer has surely clocked up more air miles than anyone else in the business. Adam Lawrence caught up with him in between flights to discuss his career and his new venture with Jim Wagner

Richard Humphreys
/ Categories: News

Construction begins on new nine-hole course by EGD in Kazakhstan

Construction work has started on a new nine-hole golf course designed by European Golf Design in Aktau, Kazakhstan.

The course will be the country’s fourth, and is being built on a mostly sandy site near the eastern shore of the Caspian Sea. It will be part of Aktau Resort, a master-planned community project that includes retail and commercial space, real estate and multiple hotels.

The design is being led by European Golf Design’s Gary Johnston, with construction work by Golf Tek, led by Naki Evrandir, and Sembol Construction, both from Turkey.

“This has been a whirlwind of a project since our first conversations with the project team last autumn,” said Johnston. “And now that construction has started, we are looking forward to getting onto site to work with Naki and his team, alongside our clients at Rixos Hotels and Sembol Construction, to create a course that helps achieve the developers’ business objectives but, as importantly, provides locals and tourists the opportunity of exposure, some for the very first time in their lives, to golf. We’re working hard to make this project as inclusive as possible to ensure long term growth and viability.”

The par-34 layout includes five par fours and three par threes and closes with a par five that runs alongside the edge of a lake. Holes five and eight share a double green.

Johnson has designed the course so that it can be played in loops of three and six holes that start and return to the clubhouse. The three-hole loop can also be used as an academy area to provide dedicated short game, putting and long game zones.

European Golf Design hopes the shorter loops will encourage local schools and clubs to take advantage of the facility and more locals will take up the game, as well as providing outstanding golf facilities for residents, guests and tourists alike.

The golf course is expected to be fully grassed by the end of September 2021, with an opening scheduled for summer 2022.

Previous Article Sanford Golf Design creates reversible nine for Florida muni
Next Article Comporta Dunes: Back from the dead
Print
4302 Rate this article:
No rating
Slideshow HTML
  • Aktau
    Sembol Construction

    Construction has started on a new nine-hole golf course designed by European Golf Design in Kazakhstan

  • Aktau
    European Golf Design

    The par-34 layout closes with a par five that runs alongside a large lake

ADd Image Credit here for home page
Sembol Construction
Richard Humphreys

Richard HumphreysRichard Humphreys

Other posts by Richard Humphreys
Contact author

Contact author

x

Subscribe to the Golf Course Architecture newsletter


  • ©2025 Tudor Rose. All Rights Reserved. Golf Course Architecture is published by Tudor Rose.