Duffers in Hawaii
Kaneohe Golf Club
For years I watched the Hawaiian Open on TV. The golf held little interest – I was mesmerized by the scenery. Eventually, I moved to Hawaii and, for several years, lived on a ridge that overlooked the course. If there was a segment of Hawaii’s tourism industry that I would have thought was booming, it would likely be golf. Wrong.
The Honolulu Star-Advertiser ran a piece last week about how Hawaii has fallen behind in the world tourism sweepstakes to attract golfing visitors. And, even as a non-golfer, I found some of the reasons fascinating.
Most golf visitors to Hawaii are from the U.S. mainland or from Canada. Visitors play close to one-quarter of the rounds on Hawaii courses, though that goes over 50% at the famous high-end courses. But where are the golf visitors from outside North America? Mark Rolfing of the Golf Channel, and soon to host a new worldwide golf show on NBC, says Hawaii’s courses are too tough, too costly and take too long to play. I’m not sure about the too costly part; according to the U.S. Commercial Service, average club memberships around Shanghai are $78,000. I don’t think we’ve got anything that steep in Hawaii. It’s true, the famous courses can have high greens fees, but my father-in-law was quite happy playing the many public courses, particularly Ala Wai and Hawaii Kai.
Rolfing’s point about too tough puts Hawaii’s courses in a similar league to Scotland’s. He points out that Europe’s relative newcomers to golf (e.g., Swiss or Germans) take their golf vacations in Portugal, Spain and Turkey where the courses are easier and not too expensive. It may be many years, if ever, before they decide to tackle St. Andrews or Royal Dornoch. He thinks China’s legions of new golfers just aren’t ready to take on Waialae or Kapalua – and he may well be right. Of course, Rolfing and many others note that U.S. visa requirements are also likely keeping Asian golfers away. Talk about a tough lie.
Another factor is that, over the years, golf course ownership in Hawaii has become separated from hotel/resort ownership. This means that, although concierges will happily tell you about golfing opportunities, their main task is to keep you doing things in their resort – not on somebody else’s golf course. And the recession has taken its toll on sponsorship for Hawaii golf tournaments, resulting in less worldwide coverage, fewer shots of superstars playing Hawaii courses, and fewer people like me watching the magnificent scenery. Finally, the experts say that it sure does help if a destination is the home of some of golf’s superstars. Hawaii made a run at this with Michelle Wie and Tad Fujikawa, but both have faltered of late.
I’m no expert on golf, but it seems that some good, old-fashioned marketing is needed. A good step would be for Hawaii, whether the Hawaii Tourism Authority or individual golf courses and tour companies, to participate in the Commercial Service’s Sino-U.S. Golf Tourism Expo this September in Shanghai, Chengdu and Beijing. But focus on bringing those new Chinese golfers to the smaller public courses. Don’t start them out with the tough ones, even if they are famous.
