China: Most expensive golf in the world

Revealing new survey

Golfmagic correspondent
Tue, 2 Dec 2008
China: Most expensive golf in the world

golfinchina
16th hole at mission hills where the World Cup was played this week

While many of us might baulk at the green fees charged by some elite clubs in Britain and Ireland it's almost insignificant compared to China which is reckoned to be the most expensive place in the world to play golf, surpassing even the Middle East and Japan, according to a pioneering report.

Following the Omega Mission Hills World Cup in the Republic China this week (won incidentally by Robert Karlsson and Henrik Stenson of Sweden), a KPMG Golf Advisory Practice report reveals that China has been included for the first time and reveals a unique and rapidly developing golf market.

According to the report, which analyses the state of the golf business across Europe, the Middle East, Africa and beyond, there are now some 300 courses, more than half of which have opened since 2000 and over 300,000 playing regularly.

However, the average joining fee of a golf club is a staggering US$53,000 – more than four times the cost of a club membership in Spain and Switzerland, the countries with Europe’s most expensive joining fees. And ten per-cent of Chinese clubs charge and introductory fee exceeding US$100,000, with annual subscriptions varying between US$1,500-$4,000.

golf in china
One of the many clubhouses at Mission Hills

As for green fees, they are the highest of any country with Chinese golfers paying on average US$161 to play an 18-hole weekend round, outstripping the average green fee in Dubai of US$152.

The report, which surveyed 70 clubs across China, cites three main factors behind the growth in golf:

1.Rapidly expanding economy has generated corporate demand for the game.

2.Burgeoning leisure and tourism industry

3. Media exposure driven by professional tournaments like the China Open and World Cup of Golf, which will be staged in China every year until 2018.

“There’s no doubt that golf in China is catching on fast, but it is an elitist sport,” said KPMG's Andrea Sartori. “Asked about their expectations, 98% of the golf course operators said prospects were either ‘excellent’ or ‘good’. Our analysis was conducted prior to this autumn’s global financial crisis, but we still expect the medium to long-term prospects for Chinese golf to be strong.

“If even one in every thousand Chinese played golf by 2030, it would add up to 1.3 million golfers, requiring perhaps 1,700 new courses over the next 20 years. But the extremely high pricing policy and the government’s continuing ban on the development of golf courses on agricultural land could prove barriers to that kind of growth.”

Other key findings in KPMG’s study reveal that:

* 87% of club members in China are men

* Annual club subscriptions vary greatly in China, and are often negotiated privately with individual members, according to a member’s 'business value to the club'

* 86% of Chinese courses are rated by their operators as “good quality” or better. Many golf complexes incorporate lavish hotels and property developments, plus other leisure facilities like accommodation (46%), tennis courts (43%) and health clubs (43%)

* Membership numbers per course are relatively low, averaging 403 players per 18-hole course, compared with 1,094 in South Africa and 703 in Great Britain and Ireland

* Staffing at Chinese courses is extremely higher than any region covered by the survey so far. An 18-hole course employs on average 258 full-time staff, more than 10 times the number employed by courses in Western Europe

* 94% of courses are owner-operated, and outsourcing of activities is rare. Most courses run their own pro shop (86%), food and beverage operations (85%) and golf academies (95%)

As well as Europe, the Middle East, Africa and further afield, the 2008 Golf Benchmark Survey includes three new regional reports on China, South America and North Africa. Golf courses submitted key data from 2007 financial results to the overall Golf Benchmark Survey, which is designed to help golf course owners and operators to compare their own business against high, average and low performers in their geographic markets.

The China regional report is now available to download free of charge, from: www.golfbenchmark.com