In less mature golf markets increasing the number of people who play golf is the primary goal, but in more developed markets the development of a golf course is often designed to attract high spending international golf tourists, according to a KPMG survey comparing golf course development costs in Europe, the Middle East and Africa.

The survey, sponsored by golf architects Nicklaus Design and Robert Trent Jones II, analysed the key motivations, the duration, the main obstacles and the costs of golf course development projects by interviewing owners, developers and operators of 90 golf courses in 25 countries from the EMEA region (Europe, the Middle East and Africa).

The survey concludes that Europe has experienced steady growth in past decades, while the number of courses has more than doubled in the past twenty years (with almost 500 new courses built in the past five years), the number of registered golfers has grown by an average of six per cent a year, reaching more than four million registered players by 2005.

For a copy of the survey, please contact KPMG's Mark Sandilands by e-mail.

This article first appeared in issue 3 of Golf Course Architecture, published in January 2006.