Vital Signs, january 9, 2015

     Membership does indeed have its privileges: According to a pace-of-play study by the U.S. Golf Association, it takes 25 minutes longer to play 18 holes at a public course than at a private course.

     Dubai’s housing market is reportedly “beginning to cool,” which means that the emirate’s golf industry will soon get the chills. Home prices are still rising, but only at a fraction of the 51 percent rate they posted in 2013, and late last year a real estate analyst told the Telegraph that he believes prices “will decline further in the coming months.” A replay of the development shut-down that the emirate experienced in the immediate wake of the Great Recession may not occur, but with so many golf communities in the pipeline -- Akoya, Akoya Oxygen, Dubai Hills, Dubai World Central, Jumeirah Golf Estates -- it’s possible that supply is already exceeding demand.

     Though some industry observers have doubts about the prospects for golf in Cuba, others think the island will emerge as the world’s next development hot spot. “If Obama is right, and trade relations become routine,” one of them told the Independent, “then Cuba inside a decade could be on track to becoming one of the world’s major golf destinations. It won’t take much to green-light what will be another revolution.”

     If golf operators in the United Kingdom wish to get their cash registers ringing again, advises a new study of the region’s golf properties, they should rid themselves of the boys-club mentality that turns off so many prospective female golfers. Specifically, the study has determined that more women would take up the sport if golf venues were “less masculine” and “less intimidating” and more accommodating to their needs and desires. “The results of our qualitative research show that an important factor [in attracting women] is the ability to learn and play with friends and family at venues where women feel welcome,” said a spokesperson for Syngenta, the company that commissioned the study. This message has been repeated over and over in recent years, and not just in the U.K. Economically speaking, things may have to get a lot worse before the world’s golf operators are willing to embrace change.

     Lee Kim Yew, one of Malaysia’s best-known developers, is trying to revive Mines Golf City, his long-delayed resort community in suburban Kuala Lumpur. The community’s first golf course will wear the “signature” of Annika Sorenstam, whose design fee, according to the Edge Malaysia, is $1 million.

     Speaking of million-dollar paydays, CNN reports that 97 professional golfers won $1 million or more on the PGA Tour last year. Nice work if you can get it.