Renaissance for world's golfers

“In 2007 we let the course grow in and we opened in April 2008, just as the whole world collapsed,” says Sarvadi. “By the summer, people had stopped travelling and we just couldn’t get them to come and play.”

The entrepreneur, who had sold his jet fuel distribution businesses to fund the project, halted construction of the £3.5m on-site lodge, closed the club for the winter and took stock.

“We struggled through 2009-10. Although I had budgeted for losses in the first few years of my five-year business plan I kept having to extend the time frame,” he says. “When it comes to the business of golf courses, year two should be the busiest in terms of influx of members.”

When the course was still under construction, walkable but not yet playable, 55 members signed up to the club, which currently charges a £30,000 joining fee for individual members and a £70,000, 30-year debenture for family membership. Based on research into world-renowned clubs, he expected member numbers to rise by 50pc a year after opening, but instead only 19 more joined. Fees and funding just about kept the club in play. Now, the membership is up to 250 and last year the business generated £2.2m annual turnover, employing 75 staff.

Prior to the venture, he had raised £12m, setting up a UK partnership called LLP Invest Archerfield. With backers and no bank debt, he has so far invested £33m.

“It’s still a very difficult world for us, but it’s getting better,” he says. “European problems linger, but the golf market is coming back in the US and direct flight links that have been opened between Edinburgh and Chicago, Newark (New York) and Philadelphia are making things easier. We have focused marketing resources in those parts of North America, and are now turning our attention to London. It’s a key market for us.”

The club is also starting to see interest from Asia with members signing up from Singapore and Korea. Forty-five per cent of members are from Scotland, 45pc from the US and 10pc from the rest of the world.

The downturn was not the only hazard for Sarvadi, however. The terrain itself was a challenge because, at the end of the Second World War, the Scottish Forestry Commission planted sycamore and pine trees as an experiment to see whether they could grow on coastal land without management.

“Maybe it would have worked with harder wood such as the oak tree, but they were battered by winds that swept in off the sea and grew sideways with flat tops,” explains Sarvadi.

Scientists from the Netherlands had also planted sea buckthorn, a non-indigenous plant, which Scottish Natural Heritage was trying to control as it spread over the dunes that are the signature of a links course.

Up against some locals opposed to the project, Sarvadi worked with East Lothian council and Scottish conservationists and, in return for felling the trees, he removed the sea buckthorn and agreed to manage the 47 acres of sand dunes affected, ensuring they did not become overrun again.

This suited his vision for the course, one that played to its natural surroundings.

“Just walking around on one of my initial visits you could feel the sandy soil beneath the grass, perfect for a golf course, and see the natural undulations,” he says.

Unlike many modern golf course designers who are happy to bulldoze away to manufacture bunkers, water hazards and rough, he used the world-renowned architect Tom Doak and his team, who built the course the way the land flowed.

“It was deliberately minimalist,” Sarvadi says. “All materials used could already be found on the land”.

Now, the luxury resort consists of a club house, lodge accommodation, a spa and a restaurant, and has been selected to host the 2016 Boys Amateur Championship. “It’s tournaments that will really put us on the map,” says Sarvadi.

But, with Muirfield as its neighbour, how does The Renaissance Club plan to compete with a 250-year-old, international institution?

“We’re a totally different business model and all about the history of the Scottish game with state-of-the-art facilities. Most clubs are aimed at individual members; we have a family feel,” says Sarvadi, who is one of nine children.

Underdog he may be, but he’s not afraid of a fight, taking on his illustrious counterpart in a bid to host the Scottish Open in 2015.

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