Some fun statistics about golf in Russia, courtesy of the BBC: Of the nation's more than 141 million people, only about 3,000 are “registered” golfers. Only 17,000 Russians have played golf even once. And the nation has just seven golf courses, says the British news service, most of them “private, elite places designed by the world's leading golf course architects.”
So why hasn't golf development gained any traction in Russia, a big, wealthy nation with Western pretensions? Why is there what the BBC calls “an almost complete lack of golf culture” in Russia?
The problem, at least in part, is the extremely high cost of golf construction. In Russia, according to the BBC's sources, it costs as much as $36 million to build an 18-hole golf course -- $2 million per hole. By contrast, the BBC points out, a fellow in Finland can build a golf course for a measly $100,000 per hole.
Why the huge disparity?
Igor Malyshkov, the president of Moscow City Golf Club, blames the high prices in Russia on “the complexity of the irrigation system,” the “quality of grass,” and unspecified “design demands.”
Are you laughing as hard as I am?
C'mon, Igor, cut the comedy. How gullible do you think we are?
Golf construction in Russia is ridiculously expensive because most everyone who wears a tie to work in your country is looking for a little extra money on the side. In Russia's venal, corrupt economy, virtually everyone lines his or her pockets with payola, most especially the petty bureaucrats who sign their names on construction permits. Bribery is a time-honored tradition in Russia, and Western companies who operate there budget for it, as a cost of doing business.
No need to tip-toe around the subject, folks. The problem can't be fixed until it's addressed.
europe When Does the Gloom Lift?
Now that signs of golf's recovery are beginning to make a welcome appearance in the United States, the BBC has apparently discovered that the European golf industry “suffered during the recent economic downturn, and many challenges remain.”
In a nutshell, here are the major challenges that the BBC believes must be addressed by Europe's golf industry: the construction boom has ended, affordable financing has evaporated, participation levels have fallen, skyrocketing oil prices have increased maintenance costs, and a crazy number of distressed properties have put the squeeze on market values.
To be sure, these are daunting challenges. But they've been around for more than two years. The U.S. golf industry has already addressed them. Hasn't the European golf industry done likewise?
Maybe not. An official at KPMG's Golf Advisory Practice in Budapest, Hungary characterizes the “overall” state of golf in the Old World today as “quite gloomy.”
“There will have to be a lot of changes made,” Marnix Von Bartheld told the British news service. “Golf piggy-backed for a decade on a growing economy and now needs to restructure.”
Not to put too fine a point on it, but didn't most every industry on earth piggy-back on the flush, pre-crash economy? The good times rolled, and everyone with an attractive product or service rolled with them.
But the rising tide that floated our boats receded long ago. Haven't most of the golf companies in Europe already restructured their operations so they can compete in a leaner, post-crash world? If not, why not?
Golf in the United States bottomed out last year. In 2011, the industry will begin its comeback. It won't be dramatic or anything to brag about, and many golf-related businesses will continue to face hard times. But golf on this side of the Atlantic has finally regained its pulse. If you look hard enough, you'll see the evidence.
Is a recovery in Europe still years away?
scotland The Gushing Continues
When he isn't running a fraudulent campaign for president, starring in a hokey television show, and spewing hot “birther” air on Fox News, the increasingly irrelevant Donald Trump continues to build “the world's greatest golf course” on a sandy, coastal expanse he calls “the Great Dunes of Scotland.”
And much to Trump's delight, people won't stop slobbering all over it.
Esie O'Mahony, the construction manager for SOL Golf Course Construction, the course's builder, told the Scotsman that the course is indeed destined to become “legendary.” He proclaimed that Martin Hawtree, the course's designer, is “a genius.” He said that building the 7,400-yard track has been “the highlight of my career.”
“It is only going to go downhill from here,” O'Mahony concluded. “You are never going to get a site like this or a client like this again. It is going to be hard to motivate yourself to go to work once we are finished here.”
Such talk must be music to Trump's ears. With every sentence, another tee time is reserved.
More importantly, the Scotsman reports that the construction of Trump International Golf Club Scotland is progressing full bore. All 18 of the course's holes have been shaped, and the dunes they sit upon have been stabilized. The track's tees are in place and will be sodded later this month. Its greens are being sculpted, its irrigation system is set to begin operating next month, and its fairways will be seeded later this summer.
Bury all doubts: The course is on pace to open in the summer of 2012, as Trump has promised.
talking points Gary Player Rants and Raves
During a Q&A at the Masters, Gary Player yet again scolded golf's Powers That Be on the subject that most perturbs him: The “live ball” era, and its effect on golf design. Here are the highlights of his complaint, as edited and punctuated by me:
You cannot put the tees in the streets, gentlemen and ladies. They have got to their limit. So the next thing is, you have to slow the ball down. Because golf courses are going to be completely outdated, which is happening now. . . .
From Timbuktu to Tokyo to China to here, everyone is lengthening golf courses. The members hate it. Fees are going up [because] oil is getting more expensive and we are running out of water. . . . People are saying, “Let me out of here” -- they can’t afford it -- instead of staying where we were and just [slowing] the ball down. . . .
This is going to happen, I can promise you. It is going to happen in time, because hundreds of millions of dollars are going wasted on unnecessary programs.
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