Floating Golf Course in the Maldives

Golf courses have always tried to mimic the natural: undulating hills, thick forests, deep water and unforgiving sand. It's been a trend of recent years to flip this, instead opting for the unusual: whether that be the lush greens and rolling sand dunes of Dubai's desert golf, the foreboding doom presented by a recently dormant volcano at Lanzarote or the thrill (chill?) of ice golf in Uummannaq in Greenland.

So we really shouldn't be surprised to discover a recent venture from Troon Golf and Dutch Docklands to create an 18-hole floating golf course in the Maldives, should we? A series of man-made floating platforms containing a number of holes each will be linked together by underwater tunnels. Although seemingly an exercise in extravagance, it is not without conscience. The project will be entirely carbon neutral, using solar energy, sustainable desalination and water cooling technology.

The Maldives approval of the project is more than just a cash grab. With rising sea levels, precipitated by climate change, predicted to submerge a series of the Maldives islands, the government is looking offshore for solutions. President Mahamed Nasheed is even looking to purchase new land in other countries to house his people.

The verdict is still out on the project, drawing out such loaded terms as 'obscene' and 'indulgent' but also 'responsible' and 'socially inclusive'.