Former world champion Christy O'Connor Jr. spent twenty years achieving success in the world of golf before he started building golf courses. He has designed some of the finest courses in Portugal, Ireland and the United States. In Hungary, O'Connor is building a course in the Zsámbék basin, west of the capital, on 280 hectares around a lake near the city of Bicske. The only unnatural thing at the site is the concrete base of a power plant that was planned during the 70s but never completed.
The project company Budapest Gate started building the course this spring, but already has plans to host a championship tournament by 2010. Next to the golf course, the company is building a clubhouse, a luxury hotel, a spa (complete with glass cupola), a conference centre and a 2,000-home "village" of villas and condominiums.
In just two years, a lane will lead from the already erected gate to the village, with villas on both sides. Visitors will be able to see the golf course, the hotel and the 1,200-capacity conference centre. There will be businesses, cafes, a daycare centre, a drug store and a post office for the village of 4,000-5,000. A sandy beach will line the lake, perfect for children, who O'Connor also hopes to bring to a golf academy he wants to start up in 2008.
