Why Indonesian golfers still get left behind

By Sri Wahyuni

JAKARTA (JP): Golf does not necessarily exclude the less-than wealthy. Regardless that the market price of transferable permanent membership at certain golf courses is very expensive -- some cost up to US$150,000 -- there is also a growing number of talented and qualified golf players in Indonesia, both professional and amateur, being of families that are not rich.

A lack of sponsorship is often a problem for these poor golf players in moving on. Yet, there has always been a way to handle it. Indonesian Golf Association (PGI) secretary-general Sjachrul Taufik Aziz, 63, shares his experience with The Jakarta Post in dealing with such a problem.

Question: How do you see the development of golf in Indonesia compared to in other countries in the region?

Answer: The development of this sport is inseparable from people's prosperity, especially when we talk about professional golfers. That's why our professional golfers are far behind.

Indonesian amateur golfers, on the contrary, are much better. I can say that they are comparable to those in the Philippines, Thailand, Singapore and Myanmar, although they are not yet comparable to those in Taiwan, Japan and Korea.

There are of course indications of growing development. As you see, only eight to nine years ago, golf was not recognized as a place for promising professions both as a sport and as a field of (golf course) business management. This changed in the early 1990s following the growing development of golf courses all across the country.

Nevertheless, it's saddening -- though understandable -- that for the last five to six years of its growing development, almost all of the top management levels in almost all club houses in Indonesia are still under expatriates.

Q: Are you saying that we don't have many local golf course top managers yet?

A: That's right. The percentage of local top managers is less than 5 percent. The good news is golf is now seen as a place of promising professions. Top managers of a club house in Jakarta, for example, can earn a monthly take-home salary of between US$5,000 and $6,000. It's interesting, isn't it?

I've noticed at least two Indonesian amateur golfers who graduated from U.S. golf academies. One in San Diego, the other from the California Golf Academy. Both are surely promising golf course top managers to be. There are certainly many more to come, including those who are not golf players.

Q: How long will it take for the locals to take over all the expatriates' positions as top managers in Indonesian golf courses?

A: I cannot say. It will take time but I'm quite sure that the time will come. We have the potential to do so. It's only a matter of time because it was only a few years ago that we realized we could make a living by it.

Even as a golfer, if you are good enough, you can make a living from it. If an Indonesian professional golfer of top level wins, let's say, two tournaments in a year, he would earn Rp 50 million to Rp 100 million a year. It's a big enough sum for an average Indonesian, isn't it?

If you are at a lower level, on the other hand, your earnings will only be about Rp 5 million to Rp 6 million a year. It is nothing compared to the expenses you have to pay to take part in the tournaments. Can you imagine those who never win a tournament?

Q: Is that a problem?

A: Of course. It makes it even more difficult to attract educated young beginners to play golf. Not only they will earn nothing, they will spend more money as well.

Q: How does PGI usually overcome such a problem?

A: As matter of fact, there are always rich people who donate to poor golfers, without expecting any reward. Thanks to these people, there is also a growing phenomenon of Indonesian professional golf players from the grass roots. They usually come from families which have a member -- mostly the father -- working at a golf course or in golf course surroundings.

Q: Will this phenomenon help to eliminate the image that golf is only for rich people?

A: We cannot deny that such an image is indeed there. Nevertheless, we cannot deny either that most of our (Indonesian) top-ranked amateur golfers are not from rich families.

Q: If that is the case, what is the most difficult obstacle the PGI is facing in producing top national players at the present time?

A: I myself never see it (obstacle) as a difficulty. A good player will only grow well if the sport itself is growing well in the country. It's, therefore, not just the training that counts. How can we produce good players if the sport itself doesn't grow well here?

Q: How do you see it here given the fact that the number of golf courses is amazingly increasing?

A: Regardless of how expensive memberships or green fees are, the increasing number of golf courses will eventually make it possible for more newcomers to come. It will in turn give us more opportunities to observe and select talented players, through the tournaments we conduct, to be further trained in the national training center.

We, for example, have found recently a talented female player from Manado, North Sulawesi. Although she is old enough as a beginner, she is 18 years of age, she is worthy regarding the fact that we have only a very limited number of female players. She is now one of the two Indonesian female players trained abroad in preparation for the upcoming SEA Games.

Q: Golf courses have always been related to destruction. How do you accept this?

A: Let me put it this way. A real estate site usually is built on an area of 500 hectares to 600 ha or even 1,000 ha. An 18-hole golf course will only occupy about 50 ha to 60 ha of that. How can a golf course which occupies only one-tenth of the whole site, or even less than that, be considered a cause of the problem?

This is understandable, however, because golf courses are usually built ahead of the other facilities including the housing development. That's why it's almost always the golf course which is the first target when a real estate development has trouble with land disputes.