Ury Estate Selected as Prestigious
Jack Nicklaus Golf Club

Ury Estate is set to become one of the most select golf residential-resort communities in the world with the announcement today that it is to become one of only 25 courses to be part of the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club family.

Jack Nicklaus, the golf legend and acclaimed designer who has already signed up to create a Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at the spectacular Ury Estate, near Stonehaven, Aberdeenshire, agreed to this enhanced relationship with FM Developments, the company behind the multi-million-pound plans for the 1,500-acre estate.

Never before has a club been branded with the Jack Nicklaus name, and Ury Estate becomes the first project in the U.K. to be chosen as part of the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club program that encompasses some of the world's most sought-after markets and destinations. Current JNGC sites include Tuscany; New Zealand; Royal Island (Bahamas); St. Lucia and Anguilla in the Eastern Caribbean; Cap Cana in the Dominican Republic; the Patagonia region of Argentina; South Africa; Vancouver Island in Canada; North Carolina; and Mount Holly, a private ski destination in Utah. In addition to these spectacular destinations, Jack Nicklaus Golf Club members will have access to Jack’s two U.S. home courses—The Bear’s Club in Jupiter, Fla., and Muirfield Village Golf Club in Dublin, Ohio.

As part of this unique license, the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club of Ury Estate will be able to offer up to 35 Associate Club Members reciprocity at other Jack Nicklaus Golf Clubs, as well as access to a Nicklaus Home established on each property, including Ury Estate, for use by Jack Nicklaus, his family and other JNGC Members worldwide. The Nicklaus Home at Ury Estate will be built in close proximity to the proposed fairway of the 18-hole championship course.

“We are delighted to have Ury Estate join the family of Jack Nicklaus Golf Clubs,” said Jack Nicklaus, who visited Ury Estate twice last year to launch his plans to work with FM Developments and for a site visit to work on his design for the 18-hole championship course. “The addition of Ury Estate provides our JNGC Associate Members the opportunity to play in Scotland, a country rich in beauty and golf tradition. Ury Estate is set to become a terrific destination, and I think our other Jack Nicklaus Golf Club members will find that out in due course.”

FM Developments director Richard Milne said: “To receive this elite designation and Jack's personal involvement in the project is a thrill for our company and a testament to the vision we have to produce a spectacular resort experience located in the northeast of Scotland. Jack's vision and creativity will bring the course to life and will place Ury Estate among the elite luxury clubs in the world."

Richard Milne added: “Being a part of Jack Nicklaus Golf Club reinforces our faith in the potential of the estate to become a golf resort that will attract visitors from around the world, but which will also have a great deal to offer the local community and to attract visitors to Stonehaven and surrounding areas.”

Nicklaus, nicknamed the Golden Bear, has always harboured an affinity for Scotland—its people, its rich golf traditions, and its beautiful landscape for great golf venues. The latter is among the chief allures of Ury Estate, with its unrivalled views of the breath-taking Mearns countryside and the majestic centrepiece of Ury House, which will be restored to become a luxury hotel and spa facility.

“People in Scotland have always been fantastic to me, and whether I have visited as a player or golf course designer, I have always been warmly welcomed every time,” Nicklaus said. “It has always been a very special place for me to play golf and I look forward to the opportunity given to me by FM Developments to create a memorable golf experience at Ury Estate that my family and each member of the Jack Nicklaus Golf Club family can enjoy for many years to come.”

A residential development of 230 houses, designed to blend in with Ury Estate through a series of four hamlets peppered across the estate, will fund FM Developments’ restoration plans for Ury House. The outline planning application for the houses is due to be considered by members of Aberdeenshire Council’s Infrastructure Services Committee at a meeting to be held on June 19. Hundreds of people have already registered their interest in buying a property at Ury.

Nicklaus’ legacy as a player is equalled only by his reputation as a golf course designer. With 265 courses to his résumé, the Golden Bear has built the world’s leading golf course design firm. Nicklaus Design has 330 courses open for play in 32 different countries, with 59 courses that have been ranked in various national and international Top-100 lists. The firm also has 84 courses that have hosted close to 600 professional tournaments worldwide or significant national amateur championships in the United States.

Last month local councillors unanimously backed FM Developments’ plans to restore Ury House into the golf club and create hotel facilities to blend with the awe-inspiring estate setting. FM Developments was granted initial planning approval in 2006 to create the golf course.