Golf memberships booming in Jakarta

Golf memberships booming in Jakarta

If you don't like golf, you should, because a great deal of
important lobbying has been successful after a few hours with the
right partner on the greens. These benefits may have kept fees
high but memberships are increasing. The Jakarta Post's reporters
Imanuddin, Primastuti Handayani, Devi M. Asmarani, Kosasih
Deradjat, IGGP Bayu Ismoyo, Sri Wahyuni and Riyadi, and
contributor Sirikit Syah, look at the competition between golf
courses and related issues on this page, Pages 8 and 13.

JAKARTA (JP): Many Indonesians consider that golf is expensive
and prestigious. But golf courses are mushrooming, with almost 60
courses in Greater Jakarta alone.

Members seem undeterred by costs: US$30,000 for a "cheap"
annual membership, plus monthly fees, caddy fees, green fees and
equipment. Annual fees are $75,000 for Pantai Indah Kapuk, North
Jakarta, and Bumi Serpong Damai in Tangerang. People even boast
about having more than one membership.

As golfers rush to try each new course, managements must
compete to retain members with challenging golf course designs,
services and lifetime and transferable memberships.

The Senayan Golf Club, formerly known as the Kebayoran Golf
Course, is in an exclusive location; on Jl. Asia Afrika near the
central business district and facing the new Plaza Senayan.

Managed by the International Management Group since 1996, the
Senayan Golf Club's new club house is expected to open this
August. The club hopes to raise its membership from 100 to 1,000.
Membership costs $30,000.

Garry Cozier, the Senayan golf course manager, said last week:
"We feel the success of our new club will directly relate to
keeping it the most private club in Jakarta."

Membership would also mean access to top golf courses around
the world, Cozier said.

The 18-hole Matoa golf and country club, owned by Mohammad Bob
Hasan, says it ensures that members are surrounded by other
gentlemen.

Manager Budi Santoso says membership is "a bit more
selective.... we want members who have ethic golf codes".

A membership to the Matoa club in Ciganjur, South Jakarta, is
Rp 75 million (US$31.250): Rp 30 million as a deposit and Rp 35
million for administrative fees.

Bob Hasan helped design the 60-hectare course on land which
had belonged to the Air Force and had hosted about 200 endangered
species.

While many clubs serve American and European food, the Matoa
offers delicious local favorites. "Our members want traditional
food, but they're ashamed to buy it at the market or on the
street," Budi says.

The Damai Indah Golf and Country Club in Bumi Serpong Damai,
Tangerang, sold all its 1,300 memberships in 1995 which then cost
an incredible $67,000. But this included membership of the Pantai
Indah Kapuk golf course facing the sea in North Jakarta. So
members got the Spirit of the Hills course designed by Jack
Nicklaus, and the Spirit of the Seas by Robert Trent Jones, said
club membership manager Mira Magnolia.

Other benefits include complimentary green fees for appointed
golf courses such as the Pantai Tering Indah Course in Batam,
Citraland Golf and Country Club in Surabaya, Glen Marie Golf and
Country Club in Malaysia and Tanah Merah Country Club in
Singapore.

Worried

Golf course quality was among the things that serious golfers
look for, Mira said.

"It was a pride for us that the Omega Tour, another
prestigious international tournament, granted that the BSD
(Bandar Serpong Damai) Course was the host venue for the year of
1996," Mira added.

But golf enthusiasts are worried. Despite all the
international events, there are hardly any local winners.

How are serious amateurs supposed to be attracted to the sport
while membership fees remain as high as they are? More golf
courses are becoming members-only, meaning beginners would have
to be lucky to be among the maximum of three friends or family
allowed to play with members.

Christian Hutapea, the director of the Sasana Golf Wijaya in
Kebayoran Baru, South Jakarta, says membership fees here are
irrational. Land prices should not be included, he said.

He cites the development of real estate, where 40 percent of
land is unused.

"To be able to maintain the open space it's better to make a
golf course," he said, so land prices should not affect fees.

"The business will soon crash," he said. If a golf course gets
less than 500 members, it will have trouble maintaining the site,
he added.

Matoa's manager, Budi, said people were fed up of soaring
fees, and many were dumping their memberships, although fees were
still cheaper than in Singapore and Japan. Golf managements were
having a hard time keeping their private clubs private.

Golfers over 50 years of age are not looking for prestige.
They want to enjoy themselves and will pay what they have to.

Christian said, "Look at the packages to play golf in Perth,
Australia, with only $400 including a return ticket and hotel
room. The same goes for Thailand. So the golf business is ruined
if it won't compete."

Golf managements know this, he said. "But if they decreased
fees, earlier members would protest."

Christian suggests reducing entrance membership fees, and
distribute sales to senior members fairly.

"Without lower membership fees, people will eventually choose
to play outside the country," he said.

Golf should be considered a low cost sport, he said.

"One golf course might cost Rp 15 billion to build, but 200
people can play at the same time. You can't find any sports like
that."

At least one golf course has a way to secure aspiring
professionals without soaring fees. Poor children around the
Pondok Cabe Golf and Country Club, Tangerang, train for free.
Charlie Pelupessy, a graduate of a Golf Academy in San Diego,
USA, is training around 20 children in basic golf techniques at
the Club.

The Club, owned by state oil company Pertamina and managed by
PT Wahana Kridatama, sponsors them to compete in local and
overseas competitions. (team)