The Week That Was: August 15, 2010

france A Modest Proposal To "Grow the Game"

The 2018 Ryder Cup will be played somewhere in continental Europe, and the competition for the prized international golf event is heating up.

Five nations remain in the hunt, as Sweden recently dropped out due to a lack of corporate and government support. Based on a reading of a recent story in the Irish Times, the odds-on favorites appear to be France and Germany, as the other contenders -- Spain, Portugal, and the Netherlands -- have deficiencies that may be difficult to overcome.

What intrigues me is France's proposal. Unlike its competitors, which plan to build new courses for the Ryder Cup, France would stage the event at an existing course, the Albatross track at Le Golf National in suburban Paris. With the money it could have spent on a new course, France proposes to create what amounts to a golf legacy, in the form of 100 golf facilities -- driving ranges and par-3 or pitch-'n'-putt courses -- that would be built in cities across the nation.

The idea -- or at least the hope -- is to create legions of new golfers who'd sustain the game for generations. France currently has 410,000 "registered" golfers, and the nation's golf federation believes it can, with the Ryder Cup's promotional help, increase the number to 700,000 by 2020.

Chinese officials proposed a similar idea earlier this year. When they did, golf organizations from every nook and cranny of the planet offered praise, and many of the world's most prominent architects pledged to help China "grow the game" in any way they could.

Curiously, I haven't heard even one important voice in golf utter a single word of support for France's plan to do essentially the same thing China wants to do. Why not? Is it more important to grow the game in Beijing than in Bordeaux?

australia Greg Norman Steps Back in Time

Later this year, Greg Norman will oversee a redesign of the East course at Grange Golf Club in suburban Adelaide.

It's a return to where it all started to Norman, who won his first professional tournament on the course way back in 1976.

“I continually say that winning the West Lakes Classic in ‘76 has always been the highlight of my career, because that tournament is what started my career,” Norman told the Weekly Times Messenger.

The course opened in 1967, and it's never been upgraded. The scope of the renovation won't be determined for several months, but the course will almost certainly require a thorough overhaul.

“Our problem is going to be that there are so many options,” said one of Norman's associates. “It’s now about finding the best option.”

The construction is expected to begin sometime in 2011 and conclude in 2014.

costa rica The Zero Sum Solution

Costa Rica: It's not just for health care anymore.

No, these days Costa Rica is also for real estate investment. Unfortunately, hardly anybody is buying.

The latest evidence comes from Guanacaste Country Club, a gated golf community in suburban Liberia. To move its lots, the club is offering a mighty sweet deal: No down payment, 100 percent seller financing.

More important, the developers are dealing. A press release from the club, whose featured attraction will be a Jack Nicklaus "signature" golf course, says that "prices are currently being offered at discounts to entice early investment."

In other words, get 'em while they're cold!

Craig Williamson, the community's developer, says his offer “presents a rare and extraordinary opportunity to invest in an excellent wealth protection program as Americans and the world in general recover from the financial crisis.”

new england The Sun Puts a Shine on Golf

Although the U.S. golf business remains in the dumps, golf courses in New England are posting increases in play this year.

The Patriot Ledger reports that rounds played at courses in Massachusetts and Rhode Island this year have increased by 4.4 percent from 2009, while play at courses in Maine, New Hampshire, and Vermont is up by nearly 25 percent.

The course operators attribute the increase in part to an improving economy, in part to good weather.

“The economy was obviously part of the problem [in 2009], but it was also unusually rainy last year,” a course operator told the paper. “This year, with better weather, our rounds are up substantially over 2009 and even ahead of 2008 through July.”

china No Actual Reporting Required

This week, the website of China International Business blew sweet kisses to Mission Hills Haikou, the emerging golf resort on Hainan Island.

China International Business' untitled article masqueraded as a profile of the resort's three recently opened golf courses. In fact, it was little more than a re-write of a press release issued by the course's designers, Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt-Curley Design. For comparison purposes, here's Cybergolf's version of the press release.

I don't ordinarily care to waste any time talking about stuff like this. I bring it up now because, all too often these days, people read stories in newspapers and magazines and assume that they're reading independently produced, "factual" material. Sadly, nowadays publications are so desperate for what they call "content" that they increasingly rely on the work of publicists to fill their pages.

Of course, they do it at the expense of their credibility. They don't think anyone will call them out on it.

Well, I'm calling out China International Business. I'm saying that it should invest in real reporting by real reporters. I'm saying that it should care more about its readers and less about its advertisers.

And I'm saying it's too bad that golf journalism in particular is littered with such nonsense.