Ironwood groundbreaking is now in sight.

Plans for the Arnold Palmer 27 hole championship golf course, were submitted to the Planning Department for approval today, Friday 15 April 2016. The hearing date is expected to be 25 May 2016

The 18-hole, 498 acre golf course, to be Cayman’s first championship course, will be sided by a 9-hole family course that features a double design to make it adaptable for ‘foot-golf’, the latest craze in North America, appealing to both golf and football fans.

The golf course design has 30′ of elevation change, the highest of any course in the Cayman Islands and is to be complemented by a boutique hotel that will be operated by Arnold Palmer Properties.

The plans include 70 acres of inter-connected waterways that will be suitable for leisure activities such as paddle boarding, and a 55 acre golf academy with housing for international students who can come to learn the art of the game on Arnold Palmer’s first Caribbean golf course.

Ironwood spokesperson Denise Gower noted that this development will have a positive impact on Cayman’s tourism product: “This course will be capable of handling PGA-level tournaments, making this development a game-changer for the Cayman golf scene, setting the stage to make Cayman a true golf destination and attracting the type of visitors Cayman likes best — those with dispensable income and a love for quiet, tropical vacations,’ she said.

Now that the Department of Environment has given the green light to the use of shredded tires as fill, planning approval for the project is the last step before the 1 million or more tires currently clogging Cayman’s landfills can be recycled and used as in an environmentally-friendly way.

A ground-breaking for the project is being planned, pending approval from the Department of Planning, for the end of July, seeing the Arnold Palmer Properties team back in Cayman to celebrate the monumental occasion.