The Week That Was, may 11, 2014

     As he begins his farewell tour, the chief executive of the R&A clearly has reservations about the future of golf in nations where the game is well established. “In mature golf markets, it will be pretty hard for golf to keep the market share it had of people’s leisure time years ago,” Peter Dawson said in a comment published by Reuters. “We’re still growing, but the growth will be in new countries, and established countries will have to fight to keep their market share.” Unfortunately, Dawson doesn’t give himself enough nearly credit for helping to put golf into this distressing predicament. While he sat in the industry’s principal seat of power, golf avidly marketed itself to newcomers in emerging nations instead of taking on the much harder task of maintaining the game’s popularity among those already familiar with the sport. It’s a pity that Dawson and so many other brilliant minds failed to recognize the dangers lurking along the path of least resistance.

     Will golf make its triumphant return to the Olympics in Great Britain instead of Brazil? Don’t rule it out. A British newspaper says that panicked executives from the International Olympic Committee have “secretly” approached British officials to determine if London, which hosted the summer games in 2012, could stage them again in 2016. “It’s very unlikely, but it would be the logical thing to do,” an unnamed source told the Evening Standard. For months, the IOC has been complaining about the pace of construction in Rio de Janeiro, and the ownership disputes and construction delays that have slowed progress on the games’ Gil Hanse-designed golf course have been well documented. At least for now, however, the IOC insists that it won’t take the event from Brazil, a snub that would be unprecedented. A spokesman for the group told the Associated Press that the newspaper’s report contains “not a shred of truth.”

     Directly and indirectly, the golf business was worth nearly $806 million to the state of Utah in 2012, according to a study by the Stanford Research Institute. The study, commissioned by the Golf Alliance for Utah, also determined that the state’s golf industry supported more than 9,600 jobs, provided more than $250 million in wages to its employees, and generated $11.2 million for charities. “We’re here to stay,” the director of the state’s PGA section told Fairways magazine, “and we’re serving a high percentage of our citizens.” Generally speaking, Utah’s golf industry favorably compares to its better-promoted ski industry. The golf business is said to be slightly larger, but skiers hit the slopes more than golfers hit the links (4 million to 3.7 million).

     Thanks in part to an early spring, golf-course owners and operators in the United Kingdom registered a welcome increase in play during in the first quarter of this year. The number of rounds played were up by 6 percent from the same period in 2013, suggests a report by Sports Marketing Surveys. “A first-quarter increase of near on 6 percent is a good omen for golf participation for the rest of the year,” an SMS analyst said in a press release. “We know from our experience that if golfers are out on the course playing before the Masters, then the game can expect to play a larger part of their year, with further rounds to follow suit.” According to SMS, much of the increase was posted in March, when the number of rounds played in the U.K. was up by 30 percent.

     Is John Paulson considering another golf investment in Puerto Rico? The world’s credit-rating agencies may have little or no faith in Puerto Rico’s economic future, but Paulson, the billionaire hedge-fund manager, thinks the U.S. territory is on the verge of becoming “the Singapore of the Caribbean.” Speaking at a recent investment forum, he claimed that Puerto Rico was “at the beginning of a turnaround” and that its capital city, San Juan, will soon become “the most vibrant financial center” in the region. Last year, Paulson bought a majority interest in the Bahia Beach resort community, which includes a Robert Trent Jones, Jr.-designed golf course and a St. Regis hotel, and Bloomberg reports that he’s “on track to invest $1 billion in the territory over the next two years.” Puerto Rico has close to 20 golf properties, and it’s possible that some of them are looking very attractive to a man of such faith.

     Late last year, Robert Trent Jones, Jr. put the finishing touches on his first (and still only) golf course in Colombia. Mesa de Yeguas Country Club, which is said to offer “great drama,” is the centerpiece of a gated, upscale community outside Anapoima, a city known for having “the best climate in the country.” The course, which draws much of its clientele from Bogota -- the capital city is an hour’s drive east -- opened its first nine holes opened in 2010, and its second nine was scheduled to open in December.

     If you have an urge to join the One Percent, maybe you should think about playing more golf. Tom Corley, the self-help guru who thinks the key to getting rich is to mimic the habits of rich people, has determined that 23 percent of wealthy Americans have been members of country clubs. “Quite simply, who you associate with is who you become,” notes the Street. For those who’d like to get rich quicker, Corley has other habits worth emulating: Wake up earlier, read more, stop eating junk food, exercise, create a to-do list, and shut off the TV.