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.