The Week That Was, march 24, 2013

     A new, feel-good study claims that the golf business in Europe is “on sound footing” and “well-placed to grow,” but its data suggests that the continent’s golf struggles are deep-rooted, stubborn, and tough to overcome. Last year, the golf industry contributed €15.1 billion ($20.2 billion) to Europe’s economy, according to Sports Marketing Surveys, Inc. This is a substantial amount, to be sure, but it’s less than the estimated €15.4 billion ($20.6 billion) that our industry was worth to the Old Country in 2006. SMS attributes the decline to “the more difficult economic times” and confidently predicts a revival “when European performance improves in the years ahead.” But golf in Europe, like golf everywhere else, is bedeviled by fundamental troubles that restrain its growth and won’t magically disappear in an economic recovery. As SMS notes, our industry is generally perceived as being expensive and exclusive, dominated by men, intimidating to women and beginners, and, perhaps worst of all, “getting older in many of the established markets.” Add it all up and you get an enterprise that attracts just 7.85 million of Europe’s 511 million people. Some observers may view a participation rate of 1.54 percent as an opportunity for growth. I think it should spark a cold, hard self-examination.

     The preceding post originally appeared in the March 2013 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Cue the marching band and release the confetti: At long last, Gil Hanse and a crew of six have begun to hand-clear the site of the golf venue for the 2016 Olympics. According to Golfweek, “with good weather, a disciplined work crew, and no more delays from local officials, the course could be ready within 18 months.”

     Now that Gil Hanse’s construction team has begun to stir, the organizing committee in Brazil has begun to brag about the magnificence of its undertaking. Carlos Nuzman, the president of Rio 2016, believes that the long-delayed construction “represents the beginning of a new chapter in the history of the sport.” For sure, lots of people in our business are praying that he’s right. The course itself, Nuzman contends, will forever serve as “an example of sustainability and preservation of an environmentally protected area” and “inspire millions of youth across Brazil and the globe.” Not to rain on anyone’s parade, but it’s worth noting that Brazil has been, throughout its history, decidedly cool to golf. Don’t expect miracles.

     The ceremonial opening of Nick Faldo’s new course in Vietnam took place last week, and a press release calls it “arguably his boldest and best creation.” The track anchors Laguna Lang Co,



a 700-acre oceanfront resort in Thua Thien Hue Province, about 50 miles east of Hue. “The course is everything we thought it would be, and even better,” Faldo said during the festivities. “I believe it will hold up against the better courses in this region and maybe the world.” The course is Faldo’s second in Vietnam -- his 18-hole layout at Ocean Dunes Golf Resort in Phan Thiet opened in the mid 1990s -- and, according to the press release, his 26th overall.

     Some information in the preceding post originally appeared in the December 2012 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     On the face of it, the news is straightforward: Pacific Links International and the PGA Tour’s TPC division have agreed to provide reciprocal play to their respective members. Pacific Links’ members will get access to 23 Tournament Players Club courses (as well as to some properties operated by Heritage Golf Group), while the TPC Passport Program’s members will get access to Pacific Links’ eight properties, the majority of them on Oahu in Hawaii. But I’m wondering: Could there be more going on here? Pacific Links, which is owned by a Chinese entrepreneur named Du Sha, aims to market its courses on Oahu to Chinese vacationers. “Part of our strategy is to replace the Japanese golfer with the Chinese golfer,” the firm’s CEO recently told WorldGolf.com. On the other side, the PGA Tour is drooling over the marketing opportunities offered by the People’s Republic, and it’s already laid plans to build a TPC course in Beijing. It just may be that this collaboration between Pacific Links and the PGA Tour was mostly crafted to generate memberships in China.

     The always captivating Huang Nubo -- poet, propagandist, mountain climber, golf developer -- has earned a long-overdue feature in the New York Times. The newspaper reports that Huang’s plan to build a 100-square-mile, build-it-and-they-will-come golf resort in a remote, desolate part of Iceland has stirred not only controversy but “bafflement” in the nation. “I’m just aghast,” says a dumbfounded tourism official. “It is not the first place I would have chosen,” says a bewildered old friend. “Nobody knows what the devil they are up to,” says a suspicious former ambassador. Huang “is not just a simple poet wanting to find peace of mind in the mountains of Iceland,” says the nation’s wary interior minister. Naturally, Huang’s little-known, Beijing-based firm insists that the people of Iceland have nothing to fear. A spokesperson for Zhongkun Group told the paper that the middle of nowhere was chosen because solitude-seeking Chinese vacationers “don’t like to travel to dirty, noisy places.” It would have been great to hear Huang wax poetic about his intentions, but the Times unfortunately couldn’t reach him. He’s supposedly trekking up a mountain somewhere. He likes difficult journeys.

     Emirates Golf Club celebrates its 25th anniversary this month, and its publicists want you to know exactly how important it has been to the growth of the Middle East in general and Dubai in particular. The club’s original 18 -- the first all-green golf course in the region -- “provided the base around which a whole new city has grown,” writes Sport360, and “kick-started a chain of events that has led Dubai to be constantly named among the top sporting cities in the world these last few years.” As part of its promotional effort, Sport360 also caught up with Karl Litten, the Majlis course’s 80-year-old, Florida-based designer. I’ll bet it won’t surprise you to learn that Litten considers the track, which was personally commissioned by Sheikh Mohammed Bin Rashid Al Maktoum, to be his best work. He thinks the sheikh liked it too. “I heard he was very happy,” Litten recalls, “but of course, he never told me that personally.”

     The younger brother of Beastie Boy Adam Horovitz has written a memoir of his days as a caddie at St. Andrews. Oliver Horovitz, who spent seven seasons working at the cradle of golf -- “the only Jewish caddie in the history of the shack,” he believes -- recently talked about An American Caddie in St. Andrews with Sports Illustrated. Here’s how he sizes up the club’s courses: I love the New Course. The New Course is only “new” in relation to the Old Course. It was built in 1895 -- that’s new for St. Andrews. It was laid out by Old Tom Morris, and it’s the only course of any of his designs that still has the greens in their original spots. It’s really fun, and in my opinion tougher than the Old Course. Of the four main courses at St. Andrews -- the Old, the New, the Jubilee, and the Castle, which is the newest -- the Old Course is actually the easiest from the normal tees. The New is much tighter, and the greens are much smaller. The Jubilee has so much gorse on it that it’s really tough, and the Castle is just a monster of a golf course. One other thing: Horovitz helpfully points out that St. Andrews has more pubs per capita than any other place in the United Kingdom.

     Earlier this month, while North Korea was huffing and puffing and making threats that could lead to armed conflict, where was South Korea’s top military brass? On their favorite golf course in Seoul, naturally. Make golf, not war.