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Shirley Lau

When Mission Hills Golf Club started to sell memberships in 1993, it was charging US$50,000 (about HK$389,000) for an individual membership. Seven years down the road the same membership costs US$150,000. With an almost three-fold increase in price, there is little wonder that people who do not even go to driving ranges would consider buying a golf club membership, just for its investment value.

 Many Hong Kong people have been attracted to the game simply because of the prospects of making a good profit from a club membership.

  But with the Asian financial crisis, the value of these memberships suffered a blow, much like the stock market.

 An individual membership at the Hong Kong Golf Club in Fanling cost more than HK$10 million in 1994. The present value has slumped to HK$5.3 million.

 Jacqueline Chan Suk-yin, membership manager for Sandia Membership Service, which buys and sells golf club memberships, said the second-hand value of local and mainland club membership had seen a general rebound since late last year.

 Demand for Shenzhen Golf Club memberships was especially high, thanks to the club's proximity to Hong Kong and the relatively lower transfer fee.

 However, a spokesman at Noblesse - an international agent that arranges golf membership - said people needed to be careful when buying memberships at mainland golf clubs primarily for investment as there were too many golf clubs there.

  '[The clubs] boast the membership's value at the beginning, but the value will eventually go down because of oversupply,' he said.

  Ms Chan said Mission Hill Golf Club memberships were selling for 50 per cent of their original price.

 'The gold membership cost about HK$600,000 to HK$700,000 and the jade memberships from HK$200,000 to HK$300,000,' she said.

 When Hong Kong businessman Des MacGahan tried to sell his Mission Hills corporate memberships, he found it hard to find any offer higher than the US$80,000 he paid for the two nominee corporate memberships.

  Mr MacGahan, a Mission Hills member for three years, said he never had much time to play.

 'There is no way I can see mainland golf memberships being a good investment,' he said.

 Despite the sliding value of club memberships in the past two years due to the economic crisis, the value of a second-hand membership at Mission Hills Golf Club has almost doubled in seven years.

  The Noblesse spokesman said that the prestige of a club was critical in determining the value a second-hand membership could command.

  'If it is [prestigious], it is almost always a good choice as its value in the market will always be high,' the spokesman said.

 However, golfers caution that it is not a good idea to buy a golf membership if you do not love hitting the ball.

  'Only buy [a club membership] if you are going to use the facility on a regular basis,' said Spencer Robinson, publisher of Asian Golf Monthly.

Clara Li and Shirley Lau 



Membership a risky business