Abandoned golf course owned by once 'richest man in world' was completed in 2009 but has NEVER opened

An abandoned golf course owned by the once world's richest man was completed in 2009 - but never opened to the public.

Two years earlier, in 2007, plans were unveiled for a tournament-standard golf course to be built close to the grounds of the iconic Gleneagles Hotel in Perthshire, Scotland.

Gleneagles hosts three different courses, with perhaps the most renowned one, known as 'The PGA Centenary Course', having hosted the 2014 Ryder Cup and 2019 Solheim Cup events.

The 'King's Course', meanwhile, opened in 1919 and was once described by six-time major winner Lee Trevino as the best course he had ever played on.

A new course was planned to be built in nearby Blackford, around three miles away from Gleneagles.

The land owner was Bahrain-Emirati businessman Mahdi Al Tajir, who was born in Bahrain but was educated in Preston, England.

In the 1970s, Al Tajir became the first UAE ambassador to the United Kingdom and subsequently bought many expensive properties and areas of land.

In 2013, The Sunday Times named him as the richest man in Scotland, partly through his ownership of mineral water firm Highland Spring but also his metal, oil and gas trading.

The Sun claim he was the self-described 'richest man in the world' in the 1970s.

The size's of Al Tajir's owned estate in Blackford spanned a staggering 24,000 acres - more than enough to build a golf course.

The wealthy businessman's plans included 170 ultra-exclusive homes worth up to £3m each, and a six-star hotel to built around the course.

Al Tajir wanted 'gWest', as it was initially planned to be known, to host major PGA Tour and championship events, like nearby Gleneagles had done.

Another popular venue for golf in Scotland is St Andrew's, which was preparing to open its seventh course at the time of Al Tajir's plans. Naturally, he recruited its designer, David McLay Kidd, to design his star-studded course.

Kidd described the Blackford site as 'without question, the best inland site I've ever seen for a golf course'.

The course was fully completed in 2009, and sits proudly as part of the now 93-year-old Al Tajir's estate.

But far from hosting the likes of Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler and Tiger Woods, its current amount of PGA Tour events hosted stands at zero.

As soon as you enter the course's website, you are presented with the following message: "gWest will offer homeowners and their families the opportunity to enjoy an exclusive new residential resort with an 18-hole golf course."

"gWest will comprise an exquisite golf course and clubhouse, an ultra-luxury hotel and concierge services, world-class dining, destination spa, leisure and entertainment facilities."

The Al Tajir family has cited that the 2008 financial crisis, Brexit and the Covid-19 pandemic for not fully developing the project, which would require significant investment.

But the key issue, it appears, is the Scottish independence debate.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4 in a 2020 interview, Al Tajir's son Mohsin said: "At the moment, we're sitting. Brexit's come along. Scotland's screaming for independence.

"You want to invest. The next phase of gWest is another fifty, sixty, maybe one hundred million pounds. And, as a family, we're not willing to put that sort of money in if we don't know what the future is.

"If Scotland got independence tomorrow and they decided to turn it into a tax haven like Monaco, we'd be the first there to put the money. In fact, we'd put in three or four courses and build another two hotels.

"But the way things are today, where it looks like taxation is going to go up, and the local councils and local villages are going to control everything around them, maybe it's not the place I need to put my money. Maybe there are better places to put it."

Mohsin added that he has played the course '20 or 30 times' and enjoyed it, though did joke that he is a 'bad golfer'.