If a round of golf is your idea of a relaxing day of vacation, you're definitely going to want to visit the Maldives in the near future for a golf getaway that will go down in history.
The island nation is making the most of its environmental issues and refuses to have its tourism industry swallowed up by the sea. Enter their plans to build a new floating golf course, complete with underwater tunnels that let plaid-clad golfers experience reef life on their way to the next tee box.
The zero-footprint, solar-powered 18-hole golf course is the combined effort of the architecture firm, Waterstudio.NL, floating development engineers, Dutch Docklands and golf course developer Troon Golf. The location is just five minutes from the airport and the design plan includes building the luxury golf course on floating solar blanket fields using water cooling and desalination. Underwater tunnels will connect the holes and facilities together which allow golfers to visually experience the reef. The architect’s design takes into account the fragile island and has minimum impact on the surrounding ecosystem.
I wonder if you have to yell "fore!" to the fishies. In that same vein, I wonder if biodegradable golf balls will be required for play. What do you think?
Anita Quincy
said on April 26, 2011