Tropical North Queensland’s best golf course to close next month.

Following the news of North Lakes’ demise further south in Queensland, comes an announcement from the owners of Paradise Palms near Cairns that they will be closing the door on golf permanently from March 31 this year.

According to an article on the Tropic Now website, Managing Director of Paradise Palms Darren Halpin recently advised staff and golf club members of the closure, and that a new Masterplan for the site would be developed to include housing, a school and new tourist park.

According to Halpin a comprehensive Masterplan was currently being developed. Said Halpin, “closing the course at the end of March allows us to continue stakeholder engagement and the environmental surveying required prior to completing the master plan. At the moment we have a botanist on site, and we are working with a whole raft of native flora and fauna experts that include The Agile Project’s wallaby relocation program.”

The Masterplan is expected to be lodged with local council later in the year, but until works start on the new facilities the existing clubhouse and resort accommodation would continue to operate as normal.

Not so the golf course sadly, which apparently needs to close to enable proper planning to take place on its 96-hectare site. The clear standout golf course in Tropical North Queensland, Paradise Palms was designed by Graham Marsh and Ross Watson for Japanese company Daikyo, and first opened for play in 1990. Signature designer Marsh was also the man responsible for the soon-to-shut North Lakes course nearer Brisbane.

Although golf course closures are becoming more and more common in this country, the demise of Paradise Palms will hit hard and severely reduce the appeal of the Tropical North Queensland region as a golf destination. Other tourism-driven golf properties in the region should be nervous, unless they are able to find enough local golfers to make up for the shortfall in inbound visiting golfers.

From the Cairns Post back on January 23, 2019.

 

A NEW school, retirement village and tourist park for Cairns’ northern beaches are all being considered as part of a multimillion-dollar redevelopment plan for one of the Far North’s premier golf courses.

Golf will no longer be available at Paradise Palms from mid-June as resort managing director Darren Halpin prepares to lodge a development application with Cairns Regional Council to transform the Kewarra Beach 18-hole course into a new housing estate. The resort and clubhouse facility will remain open.

His company, PPNQ Developments, is working with Sydney-based city planning agency Urbis to produce a comprehensive master plan for the 113ha property.

They will be undertaking community engagement to provide an update on the draft plan prior to lodging the application, via stakeholder discussions, newsletters, and information sessions.

It is hoped construction on new residential lots will be able to start in 2020.

 

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