Serbia gets 18-hole golf course - Is our country good place for sports complexes?

Although some people find it incomprehensible that people can enjoy playing golf, others see this sport as a great way to recreate, enjoy the nature or have business talks. In our country, those who love this sport have two nine-hole golf courses at their disposal – one at Ada Ciganlija in Belgrade and the other in Zabalj near Novi Sad, but there is still no professional golf course in Serbia.

As eKapija learned, a new 18-hole golf course should soon be built in the vicinity of Novi Sad. Namely, the nine-hole golf course spanning 38 hectares in Zabalj, which is mainly visited by golfers from Novi Sad, Zrenjanin and Belgrade, as well as by golf lovers from Romania, Croatia, Slovenia and other countries in the region, will be expanded to include 18 holes.

- The plan is to expand that golf course and build another nine holes as well as accommodation facilities, considering that golf has a significant tourist dimension in addition to the athletic one. Such complex will definitely improve the tourist offer of Serbia and Vojvodina, and any support to this project is extremely important to us – Sasa Jokic, president of the golf club Centar in Zabalj, says to eKapija.

Jokic stresses that the club will continue with its regular activities, such as the organization of tournaments, international meetings and team building events.

(Centar Golf Club)

- In the following period, accent will be placed on further popularization of golf in Serbia, and our priority will be open a golf school, that is, a golf academy. We have recently signed a cooperation agreement with the Faculty of Physical Education in Novi Sad, which will surely give a significant contribution to the education and faster popularization of golf. We plan to resume our cooperation with the Olympic Committee of Serbia, in association with which we have organized tournaments to promote golf as a new Olympic sport.

Given that there is only one more golf course in Serbia, Jokic believes that they have no competition because both golf clubs are committed to the popularization of this sport, but he hopes that Serbia will get new golf courses soon.

Golf courses near Pancevo

Jovica Bozic, the owner of the Bozic i Sinovi company, came up with an idea to build a golf course in Serbia two years ago, but the economic situation prevented him from putting that idea into reality because, as he says, "golf is a luxury."

- My plans are to have a nine-hole golf course built in the vicinity of Pancevo, given that I was born in that area. There should also be a big house where people would be able to relax reading a newspaper by a big fire and enjoy homemade specialties – Bozic points out.

Our interlocutor says he is considering three locations, but all actions are impeded by the unresolved status of the land.

- One of these sites is in Omoljica, one is in Starcevo, and we may also get the third location from the Pancevo municipality. As soon as we choose the location, the rest of the work will not be such a big problem. The British company 360 Degrees, which has a vast experience in this field, will prepare designs. Serbia has experts, cheap manpower and good and cheap irrigation systems, so that the project would be implemented in a very short time. I believe that golf is a good investment. Unlike other businesses, golf is a business in which it is not good to be the first. It is said that the first golf course does not make money because golfers love to play golf on different courses.

Bozic says that there is no real golf course in Bosnia.

Big golf course in Belgrade

The first attempt to build a golf course in Serbia was made in the late 1930s, when Milan Stojadinovic, prime minister of the royal government at the time, advocated for the construction of a golf course in Kosutnjak. Seven decades later, the first golf course in Belgrade was built nearby, alongside the right bank of the Sava River, at Ada Ciganlija.

The capital city also has other suitable locations for golf courses, one of which is Umka.

- Between the old road and the Belgrade-Obrenovac main route, there is an ideal location for the construction of an 18-hole golf course. Such big course requires a 65-hectare area and an investment of about EUR 4 million. Belgrade is a metropole that has no professional golf course – Svetlana Dragic, director of Belgrade-based C.T.D.3 that has prepared a study on the analysis of the location and preliminary designs for the golf course complex, says in a talk with eKapija.

Our interlocutor points out that all documentation is ready for an investor, given that the study defines the location, ownership status, land quality, climate, as well as all other benefits offered by Belgrade.

The company C.T.D.3 has also prepared feasibility studies for golf courses in Deliblato Sands, in Mramorak near Kovin and in Surcin.

When it comes to locations in the vicinity of Belgrade, commencement of the construction of an elite 300-hectare residential and business complex with a golf course in Surcin's neighborhood Becmen is announced for this year.

Suzana Obradovic