MOST members of Hong Kong's golf clubs have found the value of their investments rise faster than their handicap has dropped.
With demand outstripping supply, the prices offered for selling a membership are the financial equivalent of a 'hole-in-one'.
Membership of Hong Kong's golf clubs is such a rare and sought-after commodity that it can change hands on the buoyant second-hand market for millions of dollars' profit.
But experts warned that many new clubs were opening in southern China and there were no guarantees that these gains could be repeated.
Membership of the Discovery Bay Golf Club has risen in value about twelvefold during the last 10 years. At that rate of return it would have beaten most conventional investments.
The Hang Seng Index has risen by just under 487 per cent over the same period, while the average Hong Kong equity unit trusts increased in value by a comparatively modest 651 per cent, according to Micropal, the statistics firm.