The Week That Was, march 15, 2015

     According to what’s been called “the first-ever official count,” our world has 34,011 golf venues in 206 nations. The data, published by the R&A in “Golf Around the World 2015,” was compiled over the past four years by the National Golf Foundation. The NGF’s numbers crunchers have determined that the vast majority of the Earth’s golf facilities -- 79 percent of them -- can be found in just 10 nations: the United States (15,372), Japan (2,383), Canada (2,363), England (2,084), Australia (1,628), Germany (747), France (648), Scotland (552), South Africa (512), and Sweden (491). It’s worth noting that only 33 countries on the planet don’t have at least one golf course.

     The future of golf tourism in Southeast Asia isn’t as rosy as it used to be, according to the region’s foremost tour operator. Mark Siegel, the principal of Bangkok, Thailand-based Golfasian, has identified several looming threats to the industry, chief them unreasonably high greens fees, aging venues in need of a makeover, poor service, and competition from golf destinations such as Turkey, Portugal, and South Africa. “You can have the best course, but golfers want more,” Siegel said in a press release. “Golfers don’t travel only to explore a market. They want a whole golf tourism experience, which is why Thailand and Vietnam, in particular, are now so successful.” Siegel figures that more than 1 million golfers travel to and within Southeast Asia each year, with the typical one spending between $2,000 and $3,000, and he believes that the number of vacationing golfers can grow to 2 million annually by 2025.

     Deep-pocketed Chinese investors have acquired another high-profile resort in Australia, this one featuring one of the nation’s top-rated golf courses. An affiliate of Beijing-based Sunshine Insurance Group has purchased the Vintage, a popular resort community in the Hunter Valley of New South Wales. The Australian estimates that Sunshine, the seventh-largest insurance company in the People’s Republic, paid $40 million for the property, which includes hundreds of houses and apartments, a 100-suite hotel, a spa, some developable property, and Vintage Golf Club. Sunshine plans to add a 300-room hotel, renovate the club’s existing, Greg Norman-designed golf course, and build the community’s hoped-for second 18-hole, championship-quality golf course. The Vintage had been owned in part by Donald Panoz, the inventor of the nicotine patch and the developer of a pair of U.S. golf properties, Chateau Elan in Braselton, Georgia and Diablo Grande in Patterson, California.

     The Vintage is one of at least a half-dozen Australian golf properties that have been sold to Chinese entities in recent years. In 2012, William Han, the owner of China’s Golf Channel and the developer of two forthcoming Tom Doak-designed golf courses on Hainan Island, bought the former Club Med resort on Lindeman Island in the Whitsundays. The following year, My Yi Yu’s Fullshare Holding Group purchased two golf resorts in Queensland, Laguna Whitsundays near Airlie Beach and the Sheraton Mirage in Port Douglas. And last year Hong Kong-based Green Horse Holdings, the owner of Dragon Lake Golf Club in Guangzhou, China, acquired two other properties in Queensland, Noosa Springs Golf & Spa Resort and Links Hope Island Golf Club. In addition, Tony Fung, the face of one of Hong Kong’s wealthiest families, has announced a plan to build the Aquis Great Barrier Reef Resort on 850 acres north of Cairns, Queensland. Among other things, the Aquis will feature a casino, a convention center, nine hotels, one of the world’s largest aquariums, and an 18-hole golf course.

     Some information in the preceding post first appeared in the January 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.

     Last month, a waterfront resort on the island of Zanzibar unveiled what it figures will be “a unique golfing experience for the whole family.” The nine-hole, 18-tee track, the first course to open on the island, is the featured attraction at Sea Cliff Resort & Spa, on the island’s northwestern coast. Peter Matkovich, the layout’s designer, believes the course will add “an enjoyable and fun golfing experience” to Sea Cliff, which has been attracting vacationers seeking “tranquility, peace, and beauty” since the 1990s. Matkovich, an architect based in South African (and a former professional golfer), has had a hand in creating numerous courses in South Africa (among them Pinnacle Peak Golf Club in Mossel Bay and Elements Private Golf Reserve in Bela Bela), as well as others in Mauritius, Malawi, and Zimbabwe.

     Africa is richer than most people think, and it’s rapidly emerging as the next frontier for golf development. Yes, it’s still the planet’s poorest continent, with widespread poverty, corrupt governments, and a distressing lack of drinkable water, quality medical care, round-the-clock electricity, and modern infrastructure. But it’s also the land of the future. By 2050, its population is expected to nearly quadruple, from the current 1.1 billion to roughly 4.2 billion. By the end of the 21st century, it’ll have 40 percent of the world’s population. Today, Africa’s biggest cities are full of people who are making good money in the energy, banking, and technology industries, and they’re spending it on designer clothes, expensive jewelry, and luxury rides. Like their counterparts in the United States and Europe, they want to live in safe, high-prestige communities, like the popular golf enclaves being built in Kenya, Nigeria, and Egypt. They want to vacation in fully appointed destination resorts, and they believe that golf is one of the keys to getting ahead in business. With the golf industry’s prime markets stuck in no-growth modes, and with China putting the squeeze on new construction, Africa stands alone as a golden, ground-floor opportunity for architects, developers, and builders who have the foresight and wherewithal to capitalize on it.

     The original version of the preceding post first appeared in the March 2015 issue of the World Edition of the Golf Course Report.