Taib tells golf clubs in Sarawak to pool their resources to promote golfing as a tourist attraction

KUCHING: Kuching City can be the next preferred golfing destination among some Asian countries if different golf clubs here pool their resources to market their strength, Chief Minister Pehin Sri Abdul Taib Mahmud said yesterday.

APPRECIATION: Taib receives a memento from Aziz (left). Seen at right is Sarawak Club deputy president Victor Fong. — Photo by Johnathan Bullet

“We’ve golf courses springing around Kuching and we’re now in a position to promote golfing as a tourist attraction.

“I believe this should be turned into a commercial venture with other clubs,” he said at the grand opening of Sarawak Club Golf Resort in Kota Samarahan.

Taib said Sarawak Golf Club’s 36-hole course, Damai Golf and Country Club’s 18, Borneo Highland Resorts’18, Prisons Golf Club’s nine and Sarawak Club Golf Resort’s 18 provided ample golfing facilities and opportunities to locals and visitors alike.

Besides, he said with the coming operation of the Sarawak International Medical Centre nearby, golf clubs should also look into working with the centre to expand potential medical tourism into golfing opportunities. He said golf courses in Miri and Kota Kinabalu already pulled in golfers from as far as Japan, Taiwan and China.

As such, he said golf courses here should be promoted aggressively and they should take advantage of their strength - that is the unique location of each course that offered different golfing experience.

Taib commended Sarawak Club for its achievement in completing another significant project for Kuching and Samarahan area and for its continued role in providing sporting and recreational facilities for the people.

Sarawak Club president Tan Sri Datuk Amar Abdul Aziz Husain in his speech said the new golf resort provided an 18-hole golf course complete with a 25-bay driving range and supporting facilities.

The RM24-million project had a 35,000 square feet club house which houses a banquet hall, cafeteria and bar, library, changing rooms, gymnasium, sports shop and play-grounds for children, he said.

The resort would also have an outdoor spa, a wading pool for children and a full-sized swimming pool, he said, adding that all these would complement the government’s efforts to promote sports and tourism.

He thanked Taib for providing the club the land through Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (Unimas) to construct the golf course and the alienation of a separate parcel of land for the clubhouse.