The Latest in Luxury Resort & Real Estate News

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New Fishing Community Opens at HomeWaters Club East

(SPRUCE CREEK, PA) -- The new River Village at the HomeWaters Club East is now open and ready for the 2010 fishing season. The River Village, at the confluence of Spruce Creek and the Little Juniata River, consists of a clubhouse, first-of-its-kind fly-casting challenge course, and several new lodging options, including the recently renovated 1790's Bark House, Camp Little J Lodge, plus the just completed Family Lodge and River Suites.

The brand new accommodations in the River Village at the HomeWaters Club include the Family Lodge offering a 3-bedroom/4-bath lodge with a gourmet kitchen, ideal for the family or group of friends who want to share a house; and the River Suites consisting of three, one-bedroom suites with wood-burning fireplaces, kitchenettes and log gazebos overlooking the confluence of Spruce Creek and the Little Juniata River.

Existing River Suites can be reserved on a nightly basis by club members and HomeWaters University students and can be purchased for $440,000 fully furnished. Future development sites have been identified.

"We've always had an unbelievably beautiful natural setting for the club headquarters", said club founder Donny Beaver. "These new lodges now bring our man-made amenities much closer to the high level provided by Mother Nature."

On the bank of the river just steps away from the new River Suites will be the first-of-its-kind Lefty Kreh Challenge Course offering dry-land, still-water and moving-water stations from which students can learn fly casting and practice real-life fly fishing situations. This challenge course is the first-ever designed and endorsed by fly-fishing legend Lefty Kreh and will be available to members of HomeWaters Club and students in the new HomeWaters University.

HomeWaters University is a new program designed to offer two-day fly-fishing courses. With a staff of 20 fishing guides, HomeWaters University is ideal for the beginner looking for an introduction to the sport, the expert angler wanting to learn a new casting technique, and for anyone honing fish-catching skills. HomeWaters University classes began in June 2010.

HomeWaters Club was formed in 2009 as an alliance between Spring Ridge Club of Pennsylvania and Alpine River Club of Colorado, to preserve, and offer members access to gold-medal trout streams from the East to the West. HomeWaters Club currently offers access to 35 miles of blue-ribbon trout and steelhead waters across Pennsylvania and 40 miles of the very best streams and rivers in Colorado. With 60 of the best fishing guides in the business on staff, HomeWaters Club offers the perfect family-friendly environment to learn, grow and pass-on a passion for fly-fishing. Membership options range from the new for summer 2010, and two-day HomeWaters University courses to unlimited, full-family memberships.

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Abu Dhabi Debuts New Golf Course Community

(ABU DHABI, UAE) -- With looming debut of Yas Links Abu Dhabi this fall, traditional links style golf has arrived in the UAE and the semi-private course has already garnered rave reviews from local aficionados, as well as discriminating international players who have previewed this stunning gem on the Arabian Gulf.  Acclaimed golf course architect Kyle Phillips, who designed modern British links designs such as Kingsbarns and Dundonald, has created an engaging coastline circuit of bunkers, swales, rugged dunes and ridges that promises quickly to rise to prominence as the finest course in the region.

Yas Links is situated on Yas Island, an unparalleled sports and entertainment venue just 15 minutes from Abu Dhabi's city center that was specifically developed as a unique destination to attract international tourism.  The 18-hole course measures 7,394 yards from the back tees and four other sets of tees offer golfers a variety of challenges.  Yas Links features eight dramatic holes hugging the coastline and 109 bunkers to negotiate along with shifting winds.  Five of the last six holes play along the sea, while the 15th through 18th already are deemed an exacting four-hole journey test home.  A strategic game plan is key to negotiate this course where Phillips used Paspalum for all the playable turf areas, in order to allow for firm fast surfaces all year round.

"What makes Yas Links so intriguing is how traditional it is because nothing like it has ever been attempted before in the UAE," says Phillips.  "There are a lot of very good courses in the UAE but up until now there hasn't been anything that would be featured on a golf connoisseurs 'must play' list." 

Phillips has made a dozen trips to the site since February 2007 overseeing the construction details.  Presented with a flat desert wasteland devoid of vegetation, Phillips turned Yas Links into a dunescape evoking a Scottish links flavor. 

"It was a tough challenge and we had to work out where we could find the material to build the landforms necessary to create a true, traditional-style links course," Phillips added. "We also had to take great care in preserving the ecology and every aspect of the course design took this into account. Any good golf course has to have a big finish, and I believe the three closing holes at Yas Links are three of the best closing holes of any course in the world I know."

The club also includes a par-3 academy course with generous floodlit practice facilities and a majestic clubhouse.   An air conditioned indoor studio allows practice year-round.

Kyle Phillips Golf Course Design is a full service international design firm with projects spanning the globe.  Founded in 1997 and located in Granite Bay, California, the firm provides a full range of services, from golf course feasibility, to construction bid documents, to renovation and historical restoration design.  A member of the American Society of Golf Course Architects, Kyle's better known courses include: Kingsbarns Golf Links in St. Andrews, Scotland; The Grove in London, England, Dundonald-Loch Lomond Golf Club in Troon, Scotland and Verdura Golf & Spa Resort in Sicily, Italy.

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