Sir Nick Faldo – 2016 Golf Course Designer of the Year
Sir Nick Faldo was awarded the prestigious title of Golf Course Designer of the Year at the 2016 World Golf Awards Gala Ceremony, held on November 12th in the Algarve, Portugal. Nominated alongside some of golf’s most celebrated designers and architects, including Jack Nicklaus and Bill Coore, votes were cast by golf industry professionals as well as members of the golfing public.
Faldo said: “I am very proud to receive this award – to be recognised in this way by industry members and the golfing public is truly an honour, and I would like to thank you all very much. I am very proud of my design company, Faldo Design; we have been involved in developing courses for 25 years now and in total have created 26 around the globe. I see this award as a reflection of the high quality portfolio we have developed with the help of our clients and I look forward to adding to it in the future.”
World Golf Awards serves to celebrate and reward excellence in golf tourism, world class courses and golf destinations. Christopher Frost, WGA Managing Director, said: “It is an honour for World Golf Awards to recognise Sir Nick Faldo as the Golf Course Designer of the Year. We received more votes than ever before ahead of the 2016 Gala Ceremony and only the very best organisations in golf hospitality were recognised this year. Sir Nick Faldo and his firm, Faldo Design, fit perfectly into this category with the popularity of their courses unrivalled around the world. It is a pleasure for us to recognise his golf course design achievements here in Portugal.”
Accepting the award on Sir Nick Faldo’s behalf was Andrew Haggar, Director of Architecture at Faldo Design, who commented: “For some time Nick has been focussed on ways to grow the game and as a design firm we recognise that the industry has evolved in recent years. Retaining and attracting new golfers is vitally important and so we have developed alternative and visually interesting short and par 3 courses for our clients, as well as multi-use practice facilities that are challenging and exciting. With a particular focus on sustainability, we address all aspects of golf course design and have a far greater focus on redesign of existing facilities than ever before.”
Faldo Design’s international presence saw Laguna Lăng Cô in Vietnam become the latest addition to its portfolio of world class golf courses; it was awarded ‘Best New Golf Course Asia Pacific’ at the Asian Golf Awards in 2013. The firm’s next project, Vattanac Golf Resort in Cambodia, is currently in construction and its first of two 18-hole courses is due to open in 2017.