Golf Business News

Even the very best have to keep moving forwards and reimagining themselves. The Belfry – the iconic Ryder Cup venue, which hosted what proved to be the spring board to Europe’s change of fortunes in this event – is no exception with the recently unveiled ‘new look’ Derby Course. The revamped heathland layout, will have undoubtedly benefitted from modern design, and environmentally friendly management practices, and is now a layout which can really host players of all ability levels.

The R&A unveils a new five-year global strategy to grow the game. The new strategy aims to have more people playing and engaging with golf more frequently worldwide.

It is good to see that some of the old ‘shackles’ seem to be coming with terms like ‘engaging with the game’ becoming more widely used, and we shall drill down into the numbers in the From the Fringes 2 in the next issue of BG Magazine.

In Spain, buyers’ appetites for golf course properties continues to develop.

This continued buying trend is especially seen among non-golfers, who are still investing into these types of developments, because of the overall lifestyle elements, and supporting facilities that these destinations have been designed to offer their residents and owners.

Is it just coincidence, or the start of a disturbing trend?

Last month it was carts’ vandalism in Australia, and now halfway around the world, one of the UK’s south coast’s venerable courses – Royal Eastbourne in Sussex – has been targeted by vandals who dug up a number of the club’s greens.

If you are trying to position your region as a golf destination, then it will take teamwork, and a concentrated effort to keep the ‘product’ fresh – either by reinvesting in the development of new courses, or by upgrading the existing layouts and the supporting facilities.

Professional golfers continue to play a central role in the development of the game, and the Confederation of Professional Golf recognises the people and organisations that have impacted the game.

What took the UK so long?!

A property development trend, which started many years ago in South Africa – converting golf courses to either residential golf estates, or to facilities with a significant residential component.

So, is this a case of the UK being a little ‘slow’ on the uptake, or a case of changed legislation, or necessity becoming the mother of invention?

not all tech is ‘fun and games’ as we all know, with some of the architecture especially frustrating, and I refer to a scenario where if we let tech designers loose in terms of designing homes, we would need to go through the main bedroom to get to the kitchen! St Andrews Links seems to have embraced tech, and adopted a phone-based booking and info system, so let’s see it delivers on all, or indeed any, of the promises, which will almost certainly have been made by those selling it!

Should we be giving this model much more air-time, wherein rather than close a golf course site, which might be struggling to stay financially viable, it is redeveloped to retain a golf element, but also encompass other sporting and leisure activities?

The advantages are obvious, in that the business model is no longer just reliant on income from the golf operations, which broadens the revenues’ base.

It has been said the next major world war will be over access to drinkable water. Golf courses have long been in the vanguard of those seen as overusing water, and its use is often a very public display, with sprinklers arcing glistening sheets of water across acres of manicured grass areas.