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SCMP Reporter

The cost of Hong Kong's golf club memberships can be compared to the price of its real estate - exorbitantly high. Most memberships, whether corporate or individual, are priced easily above $1 million.

  The SAR's four private golf clubs are almost exclusively patronised by high-flying businessmen and multinational corporations.

 Most clubs have waiting lists which are intolerably long.

 It usually takes more than 10 years to obtain a membership at the exclusive Hong Kong Golf Club in Deepwater Bay, according to club supervisor Elvis Yuen.

 The club's membership roster includes Cheung Kong's head honcho Li Ka-shing.

  Second-hand memberships at the club, which are rarely available, cost more than $5 million.

 As for Shek O Golf Club, it is virtually impossible for a newcomer to get into the exclusive domain. The club has 350 members and has not taken a new member for years.

  For many young professionals who do not have the resources or the patience to wait for years, a hop across the border to the mainland seems a natural choice.

  Golf, once regarded as an elitist sport, is being played by more people in Hong Kong. At weekends there is a rush to public and private courses around the SAR.

 'Golf has undergone a major change in the past few years, especially in the last couple of years,' said Spencer Robinson, publisher of Asian Golf Monthly.

  'One does not need to be a club member to play golf nowadays,' said Alvin Lee, communication manager at The Better Hong Kong Foundation, who has played the sport for more than 10 years.

 Mr Lee has seen a steady increase in the number of young professionals playing the game.

  The Hong Kong Jockey Club's public golf course at Kau Sai Chau, off Sai Kung, which ranks among the finest courses in the region, has definitely increased the popularity of the game.

  Week-day green fees at Kau Sai Chau at between $250 and $350 are about a fifth of what one would have to pay for the privilege of a game at a more private established club.

  The Kau Sai Chau course is the only one open to the public at weekends.

 At the Fanling, Deep Water Bay and Clearwater Bay clubs, a game on a week day will cost $1,200.

  The Discovery Bay club allows public access on Monday, Tuesday and Friday for a slightly higher $1,400.

  The growing number of public driving ranges in Hong Kong has contributed to the game's popularity.

 The rates are fairly low at such ranges, with prices ranging from $50 to $80 for an hour of swinging. Some ranges charge by the ball, with the cost at just $20 for 40 balls.

 Mr Robinson said that for most people, going to the mainland was still the easiest way to play the game.

  There are about 45 golf clubs in Guangdong province alone, which is sharply up from just 10 in the early 1990s.

 The province boasts as many as 100 driving ranges, up from just five a decade back.

  Compared with Hong Kong's million-dollar clubs, membership in an average mainland golf club costs about $200,000. A good day of golf, plus transport, meals and overnight accommodation, can cost about $700.

  While guest golfers in Hong Kong cough up $2,000 to play an 18-hole round at the weekend, an entire weekend in a mainland club can cost $1,500 with meals thrown in.

  According to mainland club managers, most of their members are Hong Kongers and expatriates living in Hong Kong and Guangzhou.

  About 60 per cent of the 2,000 members at Mission Hills Golf Club, which straddles Shenzhen and Dongguan districts in Guangdong, are from Hong Kong, according to Carol Chu, the club's director.

 Twenty per cent are foreigners residing in Guangzhou and more than 10 per cent are mainland Chinese.

  It has four championship golf courses, with floodlit night golf on 18 holes.

  More than 1,000 golfers play daily at Mission Hills at the weekend, and more than 500 play on an average week day.

 This compared with just a few dozen golfers on a weekend when the club opened its doors in 1992, said Ms Chu.

  The members include Ronny Tong, chairman of the Bar Association of Hong Kong, and K. Y. Yeung, chairman and chief executive of Kowloon-Canton Railway Corp.

 But for businesswoman Helen Li, who plays regularly with her business contacts, golf remains a game for networking.

 'We not only fit in about three games of golf [over the weekend], we also go for supper later. When you share a hobby with a client, the relationship gets closer,' she said.



Golf is becoming more popular in Hong Kong - and more affordable, writes Clara