The Week That Was, january 29, 2017

     Has a truce been declared in China’s so-called war on golf? Last week, after a five-year purge, the nation submitted its updated count of golf fatalities: 111, or roughly one of every six that had been in operation. In addition, 18 courses have reportedly been ordered to return some land that they’ve been using for golf purposes – let’s call them the walking wounded – and a few have closed “voluntarily.” In addition, it appears that construction has been halted on as many as 47 courses. Citing a figure from the National Development and Reform Commission, the Telegraph reports that the People’s Republic now has 507 courses, all of which will eventually need to be certified as legal. If there’s a silver lining in this dark cloud, it’s that government officials have given no indication that any further closings are on the immediate horizon. It’s entirely possible that China has finally laid a foundation for a regulated golf industry.

     Financially speaking, last year’s Open Championship was a disappointment. The event, at Royal Troon in Scotland, had an estimated economic impact of £110 million – £64 million in direct benefits and £46 million in harder-to-measure “marketing” benefits. The R&A and other stakeholders had expected the total to exceed £150 million. By contrast, the 2015 Open Championship, played at St. Andrews, generated £88 million in direct economic benefits and £52 million in marketing benefits, for a total of £140 million.

     The direct economic impacts of golf championships are, of course, closely related to attendance, and recent attendance at the Open Championship ought to concern the R&A. Last year’s event, at Royal Troon, reportedly attracted 173,134 spectators, down by more than 3,000 from the 176,410 who attended the previous time Royal Troon hosted the event, in 2004. In 2014, the Open at Royal Liverpool attracted 202,917 spectators, down by more than 26,000 from the 228,976 who attended the previous time Royal Liverpool hosted, in 2006. And in 2013, the event at Muirfield attracted 142,036 spectators, down by more than 18,500 from the 160,595 who bought tickets at Muirfield in 2002. In this context, the rainy 2015 Open Championship was an outlier. St. Andrews lured 237,024 spectators, but a direct comparison of attendance can’t be made because it took five days to name a champion. Despite the weather, the £140 million economic impact the Open delivered that year was, according to the R&A, “the largest amount ever achieved by a golf event in the United Kingdom or Ireland.” Let’s not jump to conclusions just yet, but St. Andrews may very well be the only sure thing in the Open’s rotation.

     Would you trust a movie review written by someone who's never seen Citizen Kane, Casablanca, The Seven Samurai, or The Third Man? Would you buy a painting recommended by a person who doesn't have a thorough knowledge of art history? Do you think a $100 bottle of wine is almost certainly overpriced? If you answered "yes" to any of these questions, you'll love the new U.S. course rankings from Golf Advisor.