The Week That Was: June 12, 2011

brazil Nicklaus Flexes His Muscle

Jack Nicklaus is putting the squeeze, both emotional and economic, on the organizers of the golf event at the 2016 Olympics.

“The future of the game of golf hinges on what happens on this project,” he announced during a press conference at the Memorial Tournament.

In other words, the Olympic organizers aren't merely choosing a designer for a golf course. They're making what amounts to a make-it or break-it decision for an entire industry, the repercussions of which will be felt forever.

No pressure, though.

Nicklaus is, of course, one of the celebrity designers who hopes to win the commission to design the Olympics' course. If selected, he plans to co-design the track with Annika Sorenstam.

Nicklaus has already upped the ante once, when he revealed that he and Sorenstam would waive their design fee if they get the job. Now he's raised the stakes again, considerably this time.

His message: The 2016 Olympics will be a supreme showcase for golf. Because so many eyes will be focused on this grand stage, the competition will provide golf with what just may be its last, best chance to grow the game in Brazil, India, China, and other nations where it doesn't yet have a firm foothold. If the event in Rio de Janeiro isn't a complete and unqualified success, he's suggesting, it'll be remembered as nothing more than a glorious lost opportunity.

And the only way to ensure success, presumably, is to hire the right architect for the golf course.

“They better put their best foot forward,” Nicklaus warned.

When Nicklaus talks, people listen. But is he talking sense, or just blowing hot air?

hungary Birdland's Sad Song

Hungary's first 18-hole, championship-length golf course is for sale.

Birdland Golf & Country Club, in western Hungary, opened in 1991. It's not the nation's first 18-hole course -- Magyar Golf Club in Kisoroszi, which features a 6,397-yard track, opened in 1980 -- but it appears to be the longest, at 6,948 yards.

The course occupies 200 acres adjacent to the former Birdland Golf & Spa Resort Hotel in Bukfurdo. (The property is now known as Greenfield Hotel Golf + Spa.) It's reportedly complemented by a nine-hole “academy” course.

Asking price: Just under $5.4 million, presuming the currency converter I've got for the Hungarian forint is accurate.

As best I can determine, Birdland was developed by János Palotàs, operating through a group called Hungaria Golf Ingatlanforgalmazo-Fejleszto es Uzemelteto Kft. I don't know how or why, but the company went belly up and was liquidated in the summer of 2010.

Most sources don't list a designer for Birdland's course. I found a website that credits the Hauser brothers, who are also responsible for a nine-hole course in Hungary (at the Princess Palace Hotel in Kossuth) as well as a nine-hole course in Austria.

In all, Hungary has nine 18-hole courses. At least three of them -- Boya Eagle Golf & Country Club in Vamospercs, Polus Palace Golf Club in Kadar, and Royal Balaton Golf & Yacht Club in Balatonudvari -- have been built since the turn of the century.

around the world Where's the Money?

It's often said that the rich are different from the rest of us. Now we can add a corollary to that maxim: Their numbers are growing.

According to a study by Boston Consulting Group, the number of millionaires on the planet grew by 12.2 percent last year, to about 12.5 million. Those 12.5 million millionaires represent less than 1 percent of the world's households, but they control 39 percent of its money.

“2010 was a damn good year for global wealth,” noted one of Boston Consulting's partners in a comment reported by Forbes. “Global wealth is at an all time-high.”

Boston Consulting reports that the largest concentration of millionaires can be found in Singapore, Switzerland, Qatar, Hong Kong, and Kuwait. However, the largest number of millionaires live in the good old USA. In 2010, our nation boasted 5.22 million millionaires (that's 4.5 percent of U.S. households), up from 4.75 million in 2009 and up from 4.14 million in 2005.

Of course, when it comes to wealth, the real comer is China. There are now 1.11 million millionaire households in the People's Republic, nearly one-third more than the 850,000 counted in 2009 and nearly three times the 410,000 counted in 2005.

If you're wondering where the wealthy go from here, well, Boston Consulting predicts that they'll continue to get richer. The firm expects overall global wealth to grow at a compound annual rate of 5.9 percent through 2015.

The wealth will grow fastest, Boston Consulting says, in emerging markets, particularly in India (18 percent) and China (14 percent).