talking points Adapting to Changing Times

Not many golf course designers have spent as much time in China as Brian Curley.

Curley, one of the principals of Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt-Curley Design, helped to design the 12 courses at the Mission Hills resort in Shenzhen and the six courses that have opened thus far at Mission Hills Haikou, not to mention various other tracks in the People's Republic.

No, he hasn't seen it all. But he's seen a lot, and certainly more than most of us have.


A week or so ago, Golf Club Atlas posted an wide-ranging interview with Curley, who had this to say about some of the differences between golf in China and the United States:

Golf doesn’t have an economic problem, it has a golf problem. Operators, in my opinion, are too slow to adapt to changing times. I was recently sent an e-mail from a club asking the membership if it was okay to bend the “no denim” rule at the clubhouse for one night -- a cowboy cookout theme.

I am afraid that younger golfers will take a pass on golf. You cannot tell a prospective 35-year-old member he has to give up his Blackberry for five hours. Times have changed.

Golf is a great game with a long history and it’s not going away, but, with the quick advances in technology and multi-tasking mentalities, it will need to adjust. I’ve told operators they should get rid of the GPS screens on carts (that you bump your head on) and change it to ESPN!

This certainly isn’t the case for all courses (Augusta is certainly in no dire need to “adapt”), but some courses will need to do so to survive.

Asia, on the other hand, is different. The sport is new and exciting. Plus, unlike the Western World, they embrace combining business with golf. Women play more. Families promote golf to children as a tool to advance in business. . . .

Moreover, golf is a social game, and Asians — especially Chinese — are very social. Americans change their shoes in the parking lot and want a quick round in order to get back to their other responsibilities and family. To many Asians, the golf club and its expansive clubhouses that get ridiculed by the West represent their family/social scene. They are not afraid of multi-tasking. Cell phones are not only everywhere, but you will see signs boasting cell service quality at clubhouses and on first tees.

I am not saying one view is “right” and the other “wrong” -- it is just the state of our world today, and I think Western operators could learn something from how Asian clubs function. China never got the early “rules” of golf and adapted the game to their culture. There is no old guy at the back of the room wearing a blue blazer with dandruff exclaiming, “That’s the way we did it back when Hogan played here.” . . .