With a golf academy currently being designed in Moscow, are the Russians eyeing domination at the 2016 Olympics?
The golf course design practice founded by five-time Open Champion Peter Thomson with partners Ross Perrett and Tim Lobb has been commissioned to design a new golf academy at Moscow’s Luzhniki Olympic Complex.
The landmark development will introduce golf to Europe's largest sports center, venue of the 1980 Olympics and 2008 Champions League Final between Manchester United and Chelsea, which boasts facilities for more than forty different sports with five million visits per year.
The new golf academy will include a new 9-hole par-3 golf course, driving range, practice putting, family adventure golf, plus a spacious clubhouse with indoor golf simulators.
Luzhniki Olympic Complex, Moscow
TPL principal Tim Lobb said: “The golf academy at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex will be an important development for Russia. This will be the closest golf facility to the city centre and will be a family friendly and social venue that will enable the people of Moscow to experience, enjoy and learn to play golf.
“It is a very exciting project to be working on and, with the return of golf to the Olympics in 2016, is befitting of the Luzhniki Complex’s vision to be a legacy of Olympic sport.”
Among the Russian sports stars who have benefited from the facilities at the Luzhniki Olympic Complex are tennis aces Yevgeny Kafelnikov and Marat Safin. The question is, could Russia’s first golf star emerge from Luzhniki’s new golf academy?
The first golf course in Russia was established in 1989 and has fourteen courses currently in operation. The Russian Golf Association is creating a five-year plan to establish a future in golf by increasing the number of courses to one-hundred, boosting the number of golf lovers to 100,000 and having a few golfers winning tournaments in time for the 2016 Olympics.
