Developers threaten castle of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fame   more

Allan Hall, The Scotsman, 14 November 2000

The world’s most romantic castle, featured in the children’s film Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and rebuilt in plaster and wood at the Disneyworld complex in Florida, is under threat.

Captain Cook's little corner of Hawaii under threat from new golf course   more

Chris Gray, The Independent, 11 November 2000

A memorial to Captain James Cook on a small patch of British-owned land in Hawaii is being threatened by plans to turn a tract of coastal wilderness into homes for millionaires.

Discreet to a tee   more

Karen Robinson, The Sunday Times, 1 October 2000

To be in possession of a golf buggy with white Rolls-Royce bodywork - including the silver Spirit of Ecstasy perched on the bonnet - is to make a certain statement about your establishment. And when the sales director of the San Roque Club cruises the fairways in this distinguished vehicle, and points out that villa owners on his estate have the buffer zone of two golf courses between them and the houses on neighbouring Sotogrande - as though that opulent enclave of golf, polo and visiting Spanish royalty were the local sink estate - you start to get the message.

I can't believe it's not greener   more

The Independent, 16 September 2000

News last week that Microsoft billionaire Paul Allen has been ordered by the Washington state Department of Ecology to close down his private golf course - which has allegedly taken so much water from the nearby Sammarish River that a rare breed of salmon has died out - highlights golf’s environmental dangers.

'Favoured few' raise local ire   more

The Sunday Times, 10 September 2000

Guests at one of the Caribbean’s most exclusive hotels have become embroiled in a dispute with islanders over access to the beach. A group of local protestors blocked roads into the Italian-owned Carenage Bay Beach and Golf Club after they were banned from using their cars to reach the beach.

Clint Eastwood, his Pebble Beach golf course for millionaires and the tale of the Monterey pine

Andrew Gumbel, The Independent, 8 July 2000   more

What Clint Eastwood wants, Clint Eastwood gets. That much is undisputed around Carmel, the affluent California coastal town the gravel-voiced Hollywood star has made into a virtual fiefdom, thanks to his passion for golf and his forays into the worlds of politics and property development.