GOLF COURSE SERVICES TEAM
Paul Burley, Senior Vice President - Paul.Burley@img.com.
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Paul is responsible for overseeing IMG's portfolio of managed clubs, as well as IMG's Golf Course Design business. He has over 35 years experience in the golf industry, and has worked in Europe, Africa, Middle East, Asia and Australia. Paul has managed several of the world's leading clubs including the iconic Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland, and the Gary Player Country Club and Lost City Golf Club at Sun City in South Africa. Paul is considered to be one of the leading experts in the golf industry, and is a PGA Master Professional, one of an elite group of golf professionals to receive this prestigious award from the British PGA.
Russell Hannah, Vice President - Russell.Hannah@img.com
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Russell is responsible for the division's business development activities in Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and management of IMG's portfolio of clubs in the region. He has over 25 years experience in the golf industry and has worked at several award winning clubs including Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland, and the incredible Le Touessrok Resort in Mauritius, where he was the Golf Club General Manager. Russell is a Class AA member of the British PGA.
Chris Brown, Operations Director - Chris.Brown@img.com​
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Chris oversees a portfolio of IMG managed clubs providing pre-opening technical advice, marketing and operational support. He has worked at a number of high profile clubs including Turnberry Golf Club in Scotland and the award winning Els Club in Dubai, where he worked for 3 years as Director of Golf and 7 years as the General Manager. Chris has outstanding pre-opening experience, a wealth of operational knowledge and knows how to deliver high quality standards and exceptional financial performance. Chris is a member of the British PGA.
Steven McFarlane, Golf Course Architect - Steven.Mcfarlane@imgprestige.com​
With over 30 years golf course design experience, Steven is responsible for developing the strategy, concept and plans for IMG designed golf courses. He prepares construction drawings, specifications and makes site inspection visits to ensure our design standards are being followed during construction. His expertise and global experience of designing high quality, world class courses on a wide variety of different sites, provides our clients with creative design solutions and exceptional golf courses. Steven has designed courses in the United States, Canada, South America, Europe and Asia, and has been a member of the European Institute of Golf Course Architects (EIGCA) since 1990.
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James Somerside, Marketing Director - James.Somerside@imgprestige.com​
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James provides our clubs with industry leading marketing support with a focus on driving strategic marketing campaigns, partnerships, brand strategy, promotional opportunities, graphic design, PR, social media actions and website content. He has over 10 years of golf marketing experience which includes roles with Golfbreaks, 54 and Taylor Made.
Shyam Bhaskaran, F & B Consultant - Shyam.bhaskaran@imgprestige.com​
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Shyam is based in Dubai and has over 25 years of Food & Beverage experience, working with industry leaders such as Dubai Sports City and The Els Club, Dubai. At Dubai Sports City, Shyam was General Manager of the F&B division, and had responsibility for 11 outlets. He provides our clubs with F&B concept creation, Pre-Opening procurement, staff training and F & B operational support.
Rhys James, Operations Manager - Rhys.James@img.com​
Based in Dubai, Rhys is responsible for providing pre-opening and operations support to IMG's portfolio of managed clubs. Prior to joining IMG, he worked at Emirates Golf Club in Dubai as Director of Golf. Rhys has also been part of IMG's Golf Events team, working with different clients around the world, including several HSBC golf events. Rhys is a member of the British PGA.
Sylvain Duval, Agronomist
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Sylvain is widely regarded as one of the golf industry’s leading authorities on golf course construction and course maintenance. He is responsible for overseeing the turf conditions at IMG’s portfolio of golf courses, and ensuring playing surfaces are consistently maintained to world class standards. Prior to IMG, Sylvain worked at several high profile projects including Polaris World in Murcia, Spain where he was responsible for the construction and maintenance of six Jack Nicklaus designed Championship golf courses.
Allan Zhang, Golf Course Design Associate
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Allan has over 15 years experience of working on IMG Design projects, and has been involved in providing design support to many of our golf courses in Asia Pacific. He creates construction documents and design plans, and makes site visits to review construction progress. Allan is an expert with Autocad which helps him produce high quality detailed design documentation for our clients across the region. He has a deep understanding of golf course architecture and has visited many of the world’s great golf courses. Allan has a bachelors degree in Turf Science, and is a panelist for Golf Travel Magazine's Top 100 courses in Asia.
Leon Sun, Agronomy Associate
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Leon is responsible for providing Agronomy support to IMG’s portfolio of managed clubs in China, including award winners such as Jinji Lake Golf Club and Sheshan Golf Club. He has worked for IMG since 2014 and is one of the most experienced Agronomists in China. Prior to joining IMG, Leon worked at Lan Hai Golf Club and Lake Malaren, two of China's leading clubs. Leon is actively involved with supporting the team at Sheshan Golf Club making regular site visits, and assisting with course preparations for the HSBC Champions event.