Beware the golf designer with a newspaper column and a bone to pick.
I refer to Richard Mandell, who writes for the Washington Times. This week, the Pinehurst, North Carolina-based designer goes on a rant about an increasingly familiar topic: 20 years' worth of "wasteful spending" on golf courses with "ridiculously high green fees" that don't make for a sustainable golf industry.
Not surprisingly, Mandell's major gripe involves the spate of celebrity-designed golf courses that have captured so much attention in recent years. An "over-abundance of over-priced golf courses," he calls them, most of them built to sell houses for "cookie-cutter homesteads." These courses, he argues, look good on magazine covers but are mostly forgettable and, due to their length and difficulty, hardly playable.
For years as a golf course architect, I have seen oodles and oodles of cash go into construction of a golf course for the sole purpose of selling real estate, Mandell writes. No one ever heeded the warnings that we as an industry were spending way too much to build golf courses that few people would find enjoyment in.
Mandell's column is called "The Subprime Mortgage Crisis and Subpar Future of Golf."
Monday, September 13, 2010
Sunday, September 12, 2010
The Week That Was: September 5, 2010
canada No Golf at Revelstoke?
The planned golf course at Revelstoke Mountain Resort is dead in the water, at least for the time being.
Northland Properties, the owner of the emerging ski resort in British Columbia, didn't meet a June 2010 deadline for the $7.7 million purchase of the golf course site, and the Revelstoke Times Review reports that the purchase agreement has been terminated.
The course at Revelstoke was to have been co-designed by Nick Faldo and architects from Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt Curley Design. Last summer, however, Faldo sued the owners of Revelstoke over an alleged breach of contract.
Northland hasn't completely ruled out building the golf course, but don't expect the ground-breaking to take place anytime soon.
“I think at the end of the day the golf course is still part of the master plan, an important piece of our master plan, and the economy and the success of the resort will tell us when it’s time to move us forward,” said Revelstoke's chief operating officer.
canada Grande Prairie: Where's the Money?
With just weeks to go before reaches its self-imposed fund-raising deadline, Grande Prairie Golf & Country Club is nowhere close to collecting the $4 million it needs to renovate its 1960s-era golf course.
Since June, when the fund-raising campaign began, Grande Prairie has banked just $750,000. It hopes to secure promises for at least $2.5 million by the end of the month.
"We're into the crunch time for the Funding Initiative Plan," a co-chairman of the fund-raising committee told the Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune. "We knew that most of the money was going to come in September, and that's certainly the way that's heading."
The club’s membership has fallen to half of what it was just six years ago, and the difference in revenues isn’t being covered with daily-fee play. According to a story published by the Herald-Tribune earlier this year, the club has lost more than $300,000 in each of the past three years and has debts of more than $1.2 million.
To help attract new members and more rounds, the club plans to completely overhaul its 6,952-yard golf course. The track would close for the 2012 season, and all of its features -– tees, greens, bunkers -– would be rebuilt, a new irrigation system would be installed, and the entire layout would be regrassed. The result, the club believes, would be “the best track in northern Alberta.”
The overhaul will cost $4 million, according to an estimate provided by Puddicombe Golf, a design firm founded by Sid Puddicombe and based in Edmonton.
Even if the fund-raising campaign fails, Grand Prairie intends to open as usual in 2011.
"This golf course will open in the spring, just as it has always opened," said the fund-raising co-chairman. "It just means that our executive has to come up with [another] plan. At some point down the road, no matter what happens, this golf course has to be refurbished."
new zealand And the Winner Is ...
According to group of nearly three dozen golf pros, architects, and tour organizers -- admittedly a small sample -- Wairakei International Golf Course is the best golf course in New Zealand.
The Wairakei course, which sprawls over 450 acres in Taupo, was co-designed by a Brit (Commander John Harris) and a pair of Australians, Michael Wolveridge and Peter Thomson. It was built by the nation's Tourist Hotel Corporation in 1970, to draw international travelers to New Zealand.
The next three courses on the list were designed by U.S. architects and are also of recent vintage. Kauri Cliffs Golf Club in Matauri Bay was designed by David Harman (it's also owned by an American, Julian Robertson), Kinloch Golf Club in Taupo features the only Jack Nicklaus "signature" course in New Zealand, and Cape Kidnappers Golf Course in Hawke's Bay has a Tom Doak-designed track.
The fifth course, Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club in Paraparauma Beach, has an Alex Russell-designed course (he's Australian) that the club says is "one of the greatest links courses in the Southern Hemisphere."
The first home-grown architect on the list is John Darby, who designed the sixth and seventh courses on the list: Jacks Point Golf Course in Queenstown and the Hills in Arrowtown.
The list was compiled by Andrew Whiley, a Dunedin-based PGA pro who's played 19 of its top 25 courses.
If you'd like an alternative viewpoint, Golf Digest says Cape Kidnappers is New Zealand's top course, followed by Kauri Cliffs, Paraparaumu, Titirangi Golf Club in Auckland (it features the nation's only Alister Mackenzie-designed course), and Wairakei.
scotland So Much for Tradition
Officials at Royal Troon Golf Club, a place that seems to embody all those dusty Scottish golf traditions, recently turned away a U.S. golfer because he was wearing a kilt. They told him to put on trousers like everybody else.
Jeffrey Foster, a radiologist from Louisville, Kentucky, was allowed to play in a kilt at seven other Scottish courses -- including tracks at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Turnberry, and Kingsbarns -- during an eight-day golf vacation.
"They thought it more than appropriate, seeing as Scotland is the birthplace of the game of golf and the home of its original set of rules governing play," he told Scotland on Sunday.
But not Royal Troon, which was founded in 1878 and hosted its first British Open in 1923. It's one of the 30-odd golf clubs in Great Britain that are allowed to carry the treasured "royal" designation.
"Royal Troon has been stuffy back to the days when Colin Montgomerie's father was secretary," the editor of Scottish Golf View told the paper.
For future reference, the folks at Royal Troon welcome kilts in their clubhouse.
The planned golf course at Revelstoke Mountain Resort is dead in the water, at least for the time being.
Northland Properties, the owner of the emerging ski resort in British Columbia, didn't meet a June 2010 deadline for the $7.7 million purchase of the golf course site, and the Revelstoke Times Review reports that the purchase agreement has been terminated.
The course at Revelstoke was to have been co-designed by Nick Faldo and architects from Scottsdale, Arizona-based Schmidt Curley Design. Last summer, however, Faldo sued the owners of Revelstoke over an alleged breach of contract.
Northland hasn't completely ruled out building the golf course, but don't expect the ground-breaking to take place anytime soon.
“I think at the end of the day the golf course is still part of the master plan, an important piece of our master plan, and the economy and the success of the resort will tell us when it’s time to move us forward,” said Revelstoke's chief operating officer.
canada Grande Prairie: Where's the Money?
With just weeks to go before reaches its self-imposed fund-raising deadline, Grande Prairie Golf & Country Club is nowhere close to collecting the $4 million it needs to renovate its 1960s-era golf course.
Since June, when the fund-raising campaign began, Grande Prairie has banked just $750,000. It hopes to secure promises for at least $2.5 million by the end of the month.
"We're into the crunch time for the Funding Initiative Plan," a co-chairman of the fund-raising committee told the Grande Prairie Daily Herald-Tribune. "We knew that most of the money was going to come in September, and that's certainly the way that's heading."
The club’s membership has fallen to half of what it was just six years ago, and the difference in revenues isn’t being covered with daily-fee play. According to a story published by the Herald-Tribune earlier this year, the club has lost more than $300,000 in each of the past three years and has debts of more than $1.2 million.
To help attract new members and more rounds, the club plans to completely overhaul its 6,952-yard golf course. The track would close for the 2012 season, and all of its features -– tees, greens, bunkers -– would be rebuilt, a new irrigation system would be installed, and the entire layout would be regrassed. The result, the club believes, would be “the best track in northern Alberta.”
The overhaul will cost $4 million, according to an estimate provided by Puddicombe Golf, a design firm founded by Sid Puddicombe and based in Edmonton.
Even if the fund-raising campaign fails, Grand Prairie intends to open as usual in 2011.
"This golf course will open in the spring, just as it has always opened," said the fund-raising co-chairman. "It just means that our executive has to come up with [another] plan. At some point down the road, no matter what happens, this golf course has to be refurbished."
new zealand And the Winner Is ...
According to group of nearly three dozen golf pros, architects, and tour organizers -- admittedly a small sample -- Wairakei International Golf Course is the best golf course in New Zealand.
The Wairakei course, which sprawls over 450 acres in Taupo, was co-designed by a Brit (Commander John Harris) and a pair of Australians, Michael Wolveridge and Peter Thomson. It was built by the nation's Tourist Hotel Corporation in 1970, to draw international travelers to New Zealand.
The next three courses on the list were designed by U.S. architects and are also of recent vintage. Kauri Cliffs Golf Club in Matauri Bay was designed by David Harman (it's also owned by an American, Julian Robertson), Kinloch Golf Club in Taupo features the only Jack Nicklaus "signature" course in New Zealand, and Cape Kidnappers Golf Course in Hawke's Bay has a Tom Doak-designed track.
The fifth course, Paraparaumu Beach Golf Club in Paraparauma Beach, has an Alex Russell-designed course (he's Australian) that the club says is "one of the greatest links courses in the Southern Hemisphere."
The first home-grown architect on the list is John Darby, who designed the sixth and seventh courses on the list: Jacks Point Golf Course in Queenstown and the Hills in Arrowtown.
The list was compiled by Andrew Whiley, a Dunedin-based PGA pro who's played 19 of its top 25 courses.
If you'd like an alternative viewpoint, Golf Digest says Cape Kidnappers is New Zealand's top course, followed by Kauri Cliffs, Paraparaumu, Titirangi Golf Club in Auckland (it features the nation's only Alister Mackenzie-designed course), and Wairakei.
scotland So Much for Tradition
Officials at Royal Troon Golf Club, a place that seems to embody all those dusty Scottish golf traditions, recently turned away a U.S. golfer because he was wearing a kilt. They told him to put on trousers like everybody else.
Jeffrey Foster, a radiologist from Louisville, Kentucky, was allowed to play in a kilt at seven other Scottish courses -- including tracks at St. Andrews, Carnoustie, Muirfield, Turnberry, and Kingsbarns -- during an eight-day golf vacation.
"They thought it more than appropriate, seeing as Scotland is the birthplace of the game of golf and the home of its original set of rules governing play," he told Scotland on Sunday.
But not Royal Troon, which was founded in 1878 and hosted its first British Open in 1923. It's one of the 30-odd golf clubs in Great Britain that are allowed to carry the treasured "royal" designation.
"Royal Troon has been stuffy back to the days when Colin Montgomerie's father was secretary," the editor of Scottish Golf View told the paper.
For future reference, the folks at Royal Troon welcome kilts in their clubhouse.
Tuesday, September 7, 2010
scotland Gleneagles: Grin and Bear It
Jack Nicklaus and the Gleneagles resort have kissed and made up.
Gleneagles, you’ll remember, had hired David McLay Kidd -– the son of the resort’s former superintendent, Jimmy Kidd –- to make some changes to its Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary course. Nicklaus was so ticked off that he threatened to remove his “signature” from the track, effectively disowning it.
But all that is now water under the bridge, as the famed resort in Perthshire has hired Nicklaus to oversee a $3 million “refinement” of the 6,815-yard course before it hosts the Ryder Cup matches in 2014. The work is scheduled to start in late 2010.
The overhaul’s initial focus will be on three holes -– #7, #10, and #18 -– and will attempt, the resort says, to “modernize the holes for today’s game and technology, as well as create some slight aesthetic changes and better flow for spectators.”
No doubt, the resort is also responding to the complaints of PGA pros who’ve griped that a few of the track’s holes are, according to a 2009 story in the Scotsman, “too easy and too dull.” In particular, some pros have criticized hole #7 -– one that Kidd changed significantly -– because it no longer holds their shots.
Also likely to change is the track’s 18th hole, which the Scotsman recently described as “probably” -– that’s the key word -– the “worst closing hole in Ryder Cup history.”
Gleneagles spreads across 850 acres and includes a 232-room hotel, a spa, and two other “championship” golf courses. It’s been the site of numerous high-profile golf events since the 1920s, and in 2005 it hosted the G-8 Summit of world economic leaders.
The property is owned by Diageo PLC, a liquor colossus that owns a parade of brands including Guinness, Smirnoff, Gordon’s, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Bailey’s, Harp, Red Stripe, Johnny Walker, and J&B. But neither the spirits nor the resort business is doing well these days, and Diageo has been trying to sell Gleneagles for several years.
Incidentally, Nicklaus once called the site of the PGA Centenary course “the finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with.”
Gleneagles.com
Gleneagles, you’ll remember, had hired David McLay Kidd -– the son of the resort’s former superintendent, Jimmy Kidd –- to make some changes to its Nicklaus-designed PGA Centenary course. Nicklaus was so ticked off that he threatened to remove his “signature” from the track, effectively disowning it.
But all that is now water under the bridge, as the famed resort in Perthshire has hired Nicklaus to oversee a $3 million “refinement” of the 6,815-yard course before it hosts the Ryder Cup matches in 2014. The work is scheduled to start in late 2010.
The overhaul’s initial focus will be on three holes -– #7, #10, and #18 -– and will attempt, the resort says, to “modernize the holes for today’s game and technology, as well as create some slight aesthetic changes and better flow for spectators.”
No doubt, the resort is also responding to the complaints of PGA pros who’ve griped that a few of the track’s holes are, according to a 2009 story in the Scotsman, “too easy and too dull.” In particular, some pros have criticized hole #7 -– one that Kidd changed significantly -– because it no longer holds their shots.
Also likely to change is the track’s 18th hole, which the Scotsman recently described as “probably” -– that’s the key word -– the “worst closing hole in Ryder Cup history.”
Gleneagles spreads across 850 acres and includes a 232-room hotel, a spa, and two other “championship” golf courses. It’s been the site of numerous high-profile golf events since the 1920s, and in 2005 it hosted the G-8 Summit of world economic leaders.
The property is owned by Diageo PLC, a liquor colossus that owns a parade of brands including Guinness, Smirnoff, Gordon’s, Tanqueray, Captain Morgan, Jose Cuervo, Bailey’s, Harp, Red Stripe, Johnny Walker, and J&B. But neither the spirits nor the resort business is doing well these days, and Diageo has been trying to sell Gleneagles for several years.
Incidentally, Nicklaus once called the site of the PGA Centenary course “the finest parcel of land in the world I have ever been given to work with.”
Gleneagles.com
Sunday, September 5, 2010
The Week That Was: August 29, 2010
florida ClubLink's Southern Comfort
Canada's largest golf operator has purchased seven golf properties at a seniors-only community in Sun City Center, Florida.
Mississauga-based ClubLink Enterprises, a publicly traded firm, coughed up $8.7 million for two 27-hole complexes (including Sandpiper Golf Club), three regulation-length 18-hole courses (including Club Renaissance), and two executive-length 18-hole courses (including Kings Point Executive Golf Course). North Lakes Golf Club, one of the 18-hole tracks in acquired by ClubLink, closed last year.
"This acquisition establishes a firm foothold in Florida for us, and we are actively pursuing other opportunities on both sides of the border," said ClubLink's CEO.
ClubLink owns 33 golf properties in Canada, including Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario; Rattlesnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ontario; and Club de Golf Fontainebleau in Blainville, Quebec.
WCI Communities, the seller, is making its way out of bankruptcy and is trying to shed assets. The golf courses in Sun City Center have been on the block for more than a year. Last summer, WCI tried to sell three of them to the community association.
Sun City Center is located roughly 35 miles south of Tampa and was originally developed by Del Webb Communities. The Financial Post reports that the value of houses in the community has fallen by more than one-third since 2007. According to the Post, an "older" unit in the community currently sells for as little as $50,000.
india Arjun's Army?
Last week, Arjun Atwal became the first Indian to win a title on U.S. PGA Tour, and an Indian news agency is wondering how much sizzle his victory will add to the growth of golf in his homeland.
The director of the Professional Golf Tour of India believes that Atwal's victory, at the Wyndham Championship, "is sure to lift golf's profile further in India. It is already one of the fastest-growing sports in the country."
India, a nation of 1.15 billion people, currently has only about 200 golf courses, but dozens more are in the works. AFP says that golf is "well-suited to modern India, as vast new towns and housing developments spring up to cater for the country's educated and professional middle classes."
One of those vast new towns is DLF City in Gurgaon, one of New Delhi's four satellite cities. The city is home to DLF Golf & Country Club, which features a high-profile, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course that hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic, a European Tour event, in 2008.
DLF's owners recently hired Gary Player to design a second 18-hole track for the club, and AFP reports that other developers are planning to build similar communities "to promote the aspirational lifestyle sought by many Indians."
switzerland Andermatt Advances
Samih Sawiris' new resort in the Swiss Alps is coming along nicely, a report from Bloomberg suggests.
The resort is taking shape in Andermatt, the town where Elvis Presley learned to ski. Today Andermatt has a population of 1,350 -- as Bloomberg notes, it's the prototypical "sleepy Swiss village" -- but by the time Sawiris is done with it, it'll have six high-end hotels, 490 housing units, a shopping area, a sports center, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Kurt Rossknecht, a German architect.
The first houses are expected to come on line in late 2013 or early 2014. If you're interested, the cheapest one will set you back $1 million or more.
Bloomberg calls Sawiris, the principal of Orascom Development Holding AG, "an Egyptian billionaire with a penchant for risk." He's probably best known as the developer of the famed El Gouna golf resort on the Red Sea in Egypt, but he's got other golf properties in his portfolio and he plans to build new courses in Montenegro and Morocco.
hawaii Here Come the Chinese
A Chinese investment group has agreed to buy a golf course on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The group, operating as Hawaiian Golf Properties LLC, is buying Kapolei Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Kapolei. The course, which opened in 1995, saw more than 66,000 rounds last year, and it's said to be on track to post a small increase this year.
The seller is a Japanese company, Kapolei People’s, Inc., led by Nobuo Nakamura.
The sale is expected to close on September 10, according to Pacific Business News.
around the world Clothes Calls
Tiger Woods is in a slump, and his troubles on the PGA Tour are being mirrored in the sales of his clothing line.
Sales of Woods-branded clothing, famously produced by Nike, Inc., are down this year, while -- surprise, surprise! -- sales of golf apparel in general are up. This is a signal, Bloomberg says, that “"consumers are returning to the course, just not to Woods.”
Golf Discount Superstore, an online retailer, tells the news service that it’s seen a “definite decline” for Woods-labeled shirts, pants, and jackets, and Golfsmith says that the line’s volume dropped by 7.5 percent through the first six months of 2010.
“When Tiger’s doing well, people watch and buy his brand,” an official with Interbrand’s global golf practice told Bloomberg. “When he’s not, people decide not to watch and they buy something else.”
Canada's largest golf operator has purchased seven golf properties at a seniors-only community in Sun City Center, Florida.
Mississauga-based ClubLink Enterprises, a publicly traded firm, coughed up $8.7 million for two 27-hole complexes (including Sandpiper Golf Club), three regulation-length 18-hole courses (including Club Renaissance), and two executive-length 18-hole courses (including Kings Point Executive Golf Course). North Lakes Golf Club, one of the 18-hole tracks in acquired by ClubLink, closed last year.
"This acquisition establishes a firm foothold in Florida for us, and we are actively pursuing other opportunities on both sides of the border," said ClubLink's CEO.
ClubLink owns 33 golf properties in Canada, including Glen Abbey Golf Club in Oakville, Ontario; Rattlesnake Point Golf Club in Milton, Ontario; and Club de Golf Fontainebleau in Blainville, Quebec.
WCI Communities, the seller, is making its way out of bankruptcy and is trying to shed assets. The golf courses in Sun City Center have been on the block for more than a year. Last summer, WCI tried to sell three of them to the community association.
Sun City Center is located roughly 35 miles south of Tampa and was originally developed by Del Webb Communities. The Financial Post reports that the value of houses in the community has fallen by more than one-third since 2007. According to the Post, an "older" unit in the community currently sells for as little as $50,000.
india Arjun's Army?
Last week, Arjun Atwal became the first Indian to win a title on U.S. PGA Tour, and an Indian news agency is wondering how much sizzle his victory will add to the growth of golf in his homeland.
The director of the Professional Golf Tour of India believes that Atwal's victory, at the Wyndham Championship, "is sure to lift golf's profile further in India. It is already one of the fastest-growing sports in the country."
India, a nation of 1.15 billion people, currently has only about 200 golf courses, but dozens more are in the works. AFP says that golf is "well-suited to modern India, as vast new towns and housing developments spring up to cater for the country's educated and professional middle classes."
One of those vast new towns is DLF City in Gurgaon, one of New Delhi's four satellite cities. The city is home to DLF Golf & Country Club, which features a high-profile, Arnold Palmer-designed golf course that hosted the Johnnie Walker Classic, a European Tour event, in 2008.
DLF's owners recently hired Gary Player to design a second 18-hole track for the club, and AFP reports that other developers are planning to build similar communities "to promote the aspirational lifestyle sought by many Indians."
switzerland Andermatt Advances
Samih Sawiris' new resort in the Swiss Alps is coming along nicely, a report from Bloomberg suggests.
The resort is taking shape in Andermatt, the town where Elvis Presley learned to ski. Today Andermatt has a population of 1,350 -- as Bloomberg notes, it's the prototypical "sleepy Swiss village" -- but by the time Sawiris is done with it, it'll have six high-end hotels, 490 housing units, a shopping area, a sports center, and an 18-hole golf course designed by Kurt Rossknecht, a German architect.
The first houses are expected to come on line in late 2013 or early 2014. If you're interested, the cheapest one will set you back $1 million or more.
Bloomberg calls Sawiris, the principal of Orascom Development Holding AG, "an Egyptian billionaire with a penchant for risk." He's probably best known as the developer of the famed El Gouna golf resort on the Red Sea in Egypt, but he's got other golf properties in his portfolio and he plans to build new courses in Montenegro and Morocco.
hawaii Here Come the Chinese
A Chinese investment group has agreed to buy a golf course on the Big Island of Hawaii.
The group, operating as Hawaiian Golf Properties LLC, is buying Kapolei Golf Course, an 18-hole track in Kapolei. The course, which opened in 1995, saw more than 66,000 rounds last year, and it's said to be on track to post a small increase this year.
The seller is a Japanese company, Kapolei People’s, Inc., led by Nobuo Nakamura.
The sale is expected to close on September 10, according to Pacific Business News.
around the world Clothes Calls
Tiger Woods is in a slump, and his troubles on the PGA Tour are being mirrored in the sales of his clothing line.
Sales of Woods-branded clothing, famously produced by Nike, Inc., are down this year, while -- surprise, surprise! -- sales of golf apparel in general are up. This is a signal, Bloomberg says, that “"consumers are returning to the course, just not to Woods.”
Golf Discount Superstore, an online retailer, tells the news service that it’s seen a “definite decline” for Woods-labeled shirts, pants, and jackets, and Golfsmith says that the line’s volume dropped by 7.5 percent through the first six months of 2010.
“When Tiger’s doing well, people watch and buy his brand,” an official with Interbrand’s global golf practice told Bloomberg. “When he’s not, people decide not to watch and they buy something else.”
Friday, September 3, 2010
worth reading Unraveling the Mysteries of Golf in China
China: Is it golf development's next frontier or just another grand illusion?
Adam Lawrence addresses that question in the July issue of Golf Course Architecture. In "China: Golf's Wild East," he discusses a variety of hot-button issues, including golf's relation to real estate speculation, the potential for golf development on Hainan Island, and the number of golfers who could eventually emerge in the People's Republic. His story is liberally seasoned with comments from architects who've seen, with their own eyes, how things work there.
Here are some points that caught my attention:
-- Developers in China may not be building as many golf courses as their press agents have suggested. According to Richard Mandell, a Pinehurst, North Carolina-based designer with a project in Hunan Province, There are only about 150 active golf course projects under construction. Yet, if you talk to golf architects, everyone has about four or five projects. I am afraid many of those are just simply hanging on a wall, waiting for a market.
-- People have begun to reassess the development possibilities for Hainan Island, where some observers once predicted that as many as 100 golf courses would be built.
You have to worry about Hainan, because there’s so much being built, so much already built, and still so much in planning, says Dana Fry, a Columbus, Ohio-based architect with two courses in the works on the island. Everyone you talk to down there is doing projects that are two, three, four courses each. The real scary thing is the bubble situation with the housing market.
-- Though golf is growing in popularity in China, it'll be a while before anyone describes the Chinese as golf-crazy. Here's Mandell again: I’ve never seen a full house at any course I’ve visited in China. I’ve seen busy driving ranges, but never a full golf course.
-- Finally, Lawrence notes that there's strong development potential in “regional,” cities that aren't nearly as well known as, say, Beijing and Shanghai. He quotes John Strawn, the president of Toledo, Ohio-based Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates: If you look at Shanxi Province, which is about an hour’s flight south of Beijing, there are cities of about a million people -- very nice, very clean -- and they have no golf at all. These regional cities will each want at least one or two courses.
Here's a link to "China: Golf's Wild East."
Adam Lawrence addresses that question in the July issue of Golf Course Architecture. In "China: Golf's Wild East," he discusses a variety of hot-button issues, including golf's relation to real estate speculation, the potential for golf development on Hainan Island, and the number of golfers who could eventually emerge in the People's Republic. His story is liberally seasoned with comments from architects who've seen, with their own eyes, how things work there.
Here are some points that caught my attention:
-- Developers in China may not be building as many golf courses as their press agents have suggested. According to Richard Mandell, a Pinehurst, North Carolina-based designer with a project in Hunan Province, There are only about 150 active golf course projects under construction. Yet, if you talk to golf architects, everyone has about four or five projects. I am afraid many of those are just simply hanging on a wall, waiting for a market.
-- People have begun to reassess the development possibilities for Hainan Island, where some observers once predicted that as many as 100 golf courses would be built.
You have to worry about Hainan, because there’s so much being built, so much already built, and still so much in planning, says Dana Fry, a Columbus, Ohio-based architect with two courses in the works on the island. Everyone you talk to down there is doing projects that are two, three, four courses each. The real scary thing is the bubble situation with the housing market.
-- Though golf is growing in popularity in China, it'll be a while before anyone describes the Chinese as golf-crazy. Here's Mandell again: I’ve never seen a full house at any course I’ve visited in China. I’ve seen busy driving ranges, but never a full golf course.
-- Finally, Lawrence notes that there's strong development potential in “regional,” cities that aren't nearly as well known as, say, Beijing and Shanghai. He quotes John Strawn, the president of Toledo, Ohio-based Arthur Hills/Steve Forrest & Associates: If you look at Shanxi Province, which is about an hour’s flight south of Beijing, there are cities of about a million people -- very nice, very clean -- and they have no golf at all. These regional cities will each want at least one or two courses.
Here's a link to "China: Golf's Wild East."
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