The Week That Was, september 2, 2012

The Top 100: How Many Are Really Great?

Earlier this summer, while doing some research about a golf course in Asia, I stumbled across Darius Oliver’s appraisal of Phoenix Country Club in suburban Tokyo, Japan. Oliver, one of Golf Digest’s course raters, says that Phoenix is “both monotonous to play and lacking in challenge for accomplished players.” He calls the course “almost completely devoid of feature and outstanding design” and concludes that “it’s not a great course.”

Mind you, this is the #67 course on Golf Digest’s 100 Best Courses Outside the United States.

I’ll confess that I was surprised to read so many discouraging words about what by all accounts should be a world-class venue. So I decided to read all of Oliver’s top-100 profiles (or at least the 90 or so that he’s posted at his website). I’m probably one of a handful of people on the planet who’s done it.

As you’d expect, Oliver offers glowing reviews of the most elite courses on the list, which is topped by Royal County Down Golf Club in Northern Ireland (#1), the West course at Royal Melbourne Golf Club in Australia (#2), and the Old Course at St. Andrews in Scotland (#3).

But it doesn’t take long for trouble to appear.

In his profile of the Dunluce track at Royal Portrush Golf Club in Northern Ireland (#13), for example, Oliver uses the words disappointment and disappointing. What hurts Kauri Cliffs Golf Course (#19) in New Zealand, he says, is “the lack of genuine world-class golf holes to match its astonishing setting.” Pete Dye’s Teeth of the Dog course (#22) at Casa de Campo Resort in the Dominican Republic has several holes that “do feel a little underwhelming,” and Kingsbarns Golf Links (#34) in Scotland is “a triumph of vision and construction rather than design.”

As one travels further down the list, the judgments become harsher. Woo Jeong Hills Country Club (#81) in South Korea is “a course with potential but serious design shortcomings.” Noordwijkse Golf Club (#87) in Holland features a course that’s “a notch below the best in Europe and a long way from fulfilling its true potential.” Redtail Golf Course (#97) in Canada is “a good course but not exactly a world-beater.”

The experience of reading these profiles left me with two questions: Are there really only 10 or 20 impeccable golf courses outside the United States?

And if the world-wide pickings are so slim, then how many impeccable courses are in the United States? Fewer than 10, I’d guess.

A couple of months ago, Mike Keiser told me, “There are maybe 30,000 courses in the world, but the only ones that really matter are the top 50.”

I’m beginning to think he’s right.

worth reading Putting “Golf’s 2020 Vision” into Focus

Are the money launderers and interest-rate fixers at HSBC trying to peddle half-truths about the future of golf?

By 2020, the British banking colossus contends in “Golf’s 2020 Vision,” our business will be “revolutionized” by innovative concepts such as time-saving six- and nine-hole courses, low-priced urban tracks designed to introduce the game to residents of inner cities, and family-friendly facilities that will enable men and women (and their children, presumably) to spend more leisure time together.

HSBC bases its predictions on what it calls “a major new piece of research” -- a comical phrase if I ever heard one, given that its “research” is nothing more than a series of interviews with famous professional golfers.

I’m an enthusiastic supporter of any and all initiatives that can increase golf’s popularity, but growing our game requires action, not talk. The year 2020 really isn’t so far away. I understand that France’s golf federation has promised to build 100 golf practice centers by then, but who’s going to build similar centers in other countries? Who’s going to foot the bill for those urban facilities and those family-oriented venues?

Until these questions are answered, predictions about the future of golf are nothing but wishful thinking.

HSBC’s report isn’t research. It’s a publicity stunt.

The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the August 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

talking points A Man of the People?

Greg Norman may be one of golf’s most unabashed One Percenters, but he recently made a plea for growth and development from the bottom up.

Speaking with a Middle Eastern news agency, Norman advised the nations of the United Arab Emirates to embrace “grass-roots access” as a means to create a sustainable golf industry. This is a model I’ve long endorsed, and I compliment Norman for making the case publicly. (Of course, now he needs to put his money where his mouth is.)

Here’s what Norman told Gulf News:

I think that [the UAE] is really embracing the game. But in order for it to trickle down to the mainstream and make it accessible to everybody, one needs to take a look at what happened in Sweden in the late 1970s and early 80s. There was a gentleman called Sven Tumba who loved the game of golf, and he went about creating golf courses and promoting the game at [the] grass-roots level. Now that was way back. But take a look at Swedish golf today. It is in a pretty healthy state and producing champions. 

As far as the UAE is concerned, golf is pretty much in its infancy as far as growth is concerned. But they have to think about the future right now. This is the same with China and India. It takes a period of time, at least a generation, before things begin to kick in. The UAE has the climate, the sporting prowess, and the financial ability to grant grass-roots access for people to play the game.

wild card click A car. Las Vegas. My daughter. Me. The radio. A duet.