AG188 may2016

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MY GOLF BALL HAS TO DO EVERYTHING. AND IT DOES. IT HAS TO BE LONG OFF THE TEE. JORDAN SPIETH

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IT HAS TO BE DURABLE.

LYNN CASSADY AMATEUR AZAHARA MUNOZ

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IT HAS TO BE CONSISTENT. MICHAEL WATSON AMATEUR

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ISSUE

188

M AY 2 0 1 6

Vietnam has suddenly come alive with close to fifty new golf courses expected to be brought on stream within the span of the next two to three years. Leading this development explosion is the FLC Group which has commissioned the award-winning architectural firm of Schmidt Curley Design to develop 10 golf courses.

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SPECIAL FEATURE 20 China – The Sleeping Dragon Awakens This is a special report on initiatives in place to grow the game of golf in China. Our special report focuses on how the giant Mission Hills Group is leading the thrust to make golf a major sporting activity in China. Regardless of what is being said about golf in China, this report categorically traces how Mission Hills is playing a sterling role to help establish golf on a solid and permanent footing in the Middle Kingdom.

24 The Millennials Are Here – Are You Ready For Them? For the first time, the spotlight will be sharply focused on “Millennials”, a new generation that the golf industry in Asia needs to engage with as soon as possible. This topic will be discussed by international author and expert on marketing to Millennials, Gabriel Aluisy at the 2016 Asia Pacific Golf Summit.

28 KING Pumps New Venom Into COBRA One of the most dynamic equipment manufacturers is COBRA Golf, the company that resurrected the legendary KING COBRA driver. In a short time span, the KING COBRA has brought success to the company’s top brand ambassadors, namely Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson. As one reviewer put it, the KING COBRA “will inundate with technology right before it surprises with performance, in a package that is both subtle and intriguing.” To

6 Asian Golf Editorial Team

trace the company’s success, Asian Golf spoke with Robert Philion, president and CEO of COBRA PUMA Golf.

32 Move Over Young Guns – Here Comes DeChambeau! He came to the attention of Asian Golf when he showed up for the desert swing in Dubai earlier this year. Like many, we were struck by his golf clubs (all fitted with same length shafts) and his unorthodox swing. What’s most fascinating about this young player is that he is able to produce great golf by just being totally different.

36 A Unified Asian Tour Or Commit Business Suicide! It is past the time for professional tour players from each country to unite all across Asia. It is past time for the tour players to tell all the existing, fractured tours in Asia just how the cow ate the cabbage. It will likely take a revolt, some sacrifice and maybe some risk – just as it took a player revolt in the 1970s to create the modern PGA TOUR. A commentary by James Prusa.

40 To Hell And Back – Daiman 18 Re-Born! Special report – Southeast Asia, especially Malaysia, is a region that is fast establishing a reputation as a graveyard for old golf courses. Many have fallen into a state of neglect and continue to struggle on shoestring budgets. Asian Golf looks at one such golf course and traces how it has made a return to becoming a golf course in demand again. It is

8 Shared Thoughts From Publisher

68 Next Issue


ISSUE 188

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MAY 2016

FASHION TREND 46 FootJoy Steps Out In Style FootJoy, the world’s number one shoe in golf has rushed to market with a stylish new range of golf shoes that it has tagged as “VersaLuxe”, footwear that embodies versatility and comes loaded with high-end luxurious materials and details.

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GAME-IMPROVEMENT 60 “Back To Square”

hoped that the success of the born-again Daiman 18 golf course in Malaysia will serve as a template to help breathe new life into courses left to die.

50 Patience And Technology – The Twin-Drivers Of Success Asian Golf was accorded an exclusive interview with John Solheim, Chairman and chief executive officer of the famous PING organization. Solheim is a one-of-a-kind leader – a very special man and a true golf visionary. We are proud to share with our readers excerpts from that discussion.

56 Problems With Your Driver? Here’s Help! Asian Golf’s dedicated section on club fitting is proud to present part-three of a six part series in this month’s edition. The focus this month falls on the driver, the one club many golfers have problems with. For the answers, we turn to Jeffrey Bose with whom we are collaborating to produce this series on club fitting.

ASIAN GOLF’s resident golf guru would like to get everything “back to square”. So, regardless of where you are, and if you are having difficulty with finding your swing or worried about getting your game back in shape, just remember one simple thought…Get “Back to Square!”

64 How To Practice To Play Great Golf Our golf gurus from the Pro Tour Golf College discuss the importance of practicing to improve how you play on the golf course. As part of this exercise, they want you to answer five questions, so as to help you to understand where potential roadblocks in your game come from, and how they could be sabotaging your ability to perform on the golf course.




MIKE SEBASTIAN Chief Executive Officer/Managing Editor

ANGELA RAYMOND President

[ mike@asiapacificgolfgroup.com ]

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RAQUEL M. ARCEGA Art Director & Ezine Development [ raquel@asiapacificgolfgroup.com ]

WAYNE LWEE Social Media/Video Editor

LAWRENCE YOUNG Editor (New Equipment)

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MYRA PARAS Accounts Executive

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Contributing Professionals

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ALICE HO Marketing Executive

[ alice@asiapacificgolfgroup.com ]

TONY MEECHAI, DAVID MILNE & LAWRIE MONTAGUE (PRO TOUR GOLF COLLEGE), JEFFREY BOSE, JIM PRUSA (INTERNATIONAL ROVING EDITOR)

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SHARED THOUGHTS From The Publisher

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ith just twelve weeks to go before golf gets back on the Olympic Games schedule since 1904, we thought it would be worthwhile checking out what sort of “fever pitch” the return of the noble game is creating. Just before the start of the 2016 U.S. Masters, the chairman of Augusta National, Billy Payne bleated with enthusiasm: “New audiences from all over the world, some for the very first time, will be exposed to our great sport (during the Olympic Games) and come to know and appreciate the amazing athletes and heroes in golf.” And this is how optimistic he is about what the Olympics will do for golf: “From this greater visibility, we believe will evolve greater participation in our game.” However, this blue-sky thinking does

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not seem to reflect how Asia or Asian governments are reacting to golf’s re-entry into the Olympics. There are certainly no visible signs of governments rushing to throw their support behind golf. Maybe this is due to the fact that only 60 men and 60 women will participate in the Olympic golf competitions with the top 15-ranked players in the world automatically being eligible to compete with no country allowed more than four players. In fact, some of the game’s big names are not reacting too enthusiastically about playing in the Olympics. Here’s a cross-sectional sampling on what professionals have to say: “It’s a fun exhibition. Winning an Olympic medal is nothing I have ever dreamed of having and it really doesn’t have any significance for golf. I’m not really sure how just having another golf tournament is really going to enhance the game or grow the game any more than any other tournament just because it’s the Olympics.” – Adam Scott.

“I can’t really say it would be a dream come true, just because golf hasn’t been in the Olympics for so long. It’s so different. To me, a major is going to be a major. It’s always a major. That’s the No. 1 on my priority and goals list right now.” – Rickie Fowler. On the flip-side some players are supportive like Bubba Watson who thinks: “I would say it (a gold medal) would be a little bit bigger than a green jacket - it’s more rare. The game of golf hasn’t seen it in years. And I get to keep that gold medal for life. I don’t have to give it back after a year.” Henrik Stenson, known to be very outspoken had this to say, “I’ll take a bronze medal over third at Augusta.” Well, like any story, there are always the pros and the cons and golf in the Olympics has its fair share. Let’s only hope whatever skepticism there is on this matter will ultimately be replaced by a sense of support and enthusiasm for golf in the Olympics.



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COVER STORY Vietnam – Country Report

I remember being in South Vietnam in 1967 which was at the height of the raging war in Vietnam. Although I never had the opportunity to travel around the country (movement was restricted by the U.S. military authority), what I witnessed from Saigon was like nothing I have witnessed in my life. The frequent aerial bombPUN ZVY[PLZ [OL ÄYLÄNO[Z HUK UHWHST ÄYLZ[VYTZ JHYYPLK V\[ I` the Americans was enough to tell me that the Vietnamese landscape was being ravaged and ripped apart. When I left Saigon after a short stint as a reporter, I had nightmarish visions as to how this country could ever recover and YLWHPY [OL ^HU[VU KLZ[Y\J[PVU PUÅPJ[LK upon it. By Mike Sebastian 12

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ISSUE 188

BLAST FROM THE PAST For the benefit of readers who have no recollection whatsoever about the bloody Vietnam War, we would like to capsulize what happened in this Southeast Asian country over 40 years ago. The Vietnam War was a long, costly armed conflict that pitted the communist regime of North Vietnam and its southern allies, known as the Viet Cong, against South Vietnam and its principal ally, the United States. The war began in 1954 (though conflict in the region stretched back to the mid-1940s), after the rise to power of Ho Chi Minh and his communist Viet Minh party in North Vietnam, and continued against the backdrop of an intense Cold War between two global superpowers: the United States and the Soviet Union. More than 3 million people (including 58,000 Americans) were killed in the Vietnam War; more than half were Vietnamese civilians. By 1969, at the peak of U.S. involvement in the war, more than 500,000 U.S. military personnel were involved in the Vietnam conflict. In 1975, communist forces seized control of Saigon, ending the Vietnam War, and the country was unified as the Socialist Republic of Vietnam the following year.

F

ast forward to the second decade of the 21st Century and the transformation that has taken place to this once war-ravaged country is nothing short of a miracle. The Socialist Republic of Vietnam is a humming machine of industrial growth and productivity. It is one of the most vibrant economies in Asia and although it is a communist nation, it is a growth juggernaut that is on the move. With rapid industrialization and visible signs of wealth stretching from the capital city of Hanoi in the north to the plains of Ho Chi Minh city in the south, virtually all signs and memories of a nation once

ripped apart by war have been totally obliterated. Perhaps a tangible manifestation of Vietnam’s good times can be seen through the number of golf courses, always a sign of a nation’s march towards wealth and its passage to the burgeoning ranks of an emerging economy. Golf courses in this placid country is a very recent phenomenon with a sprinkling of golfing venues spread out mostly in the general vicinity of Hanoi, Ho Chi Minh City and the coastal regions of Danang. Many, especially golf course architects, were of the opinion that the next explosion in golf course development would be in Vietnam. Unfortunately, this did not transpire for a number of reasons, mainly political.

MAY 2016


COVER STORY Vietnam – Country Report

But then, this “moratorium” on new course development was seemingly shortlived. Just as I was getting ready to take the spotlight off Vietnam, I received a message from Brian Curley, partner and principal of the award-winning golf course design firm of Schmidt Curley Design. The message read: “Getting very active in Vietnam. Signed a 10 course deal at the beach on an awesome site.” Wow! What a bonanza! I scrambled to get all the dope on this development and discovered that there are at least three major Vietnamese groups that are active in multicourse developments. For the purpose of this reveal, the focus will fall on the FLC Group,

a large property developer which has gone public to declare that they have at least 13 golf courses on the drawing board. “The project is some 2000 hectares (5000 acres) including over three miles of beachfront. The entire site is sand and features primary dunes at the beach as well as secondary dunes inland that rise over 30 metres high,” Curley explained. According to him, the vegetation varies from pine scrub to wetland ground covers and shrubs and pockets of forested areas. Curley and his partner Lee Schmidt are no newcomers to multi-course development as this is the team that has built the twenty-two golf courses for Mission Hills in China, the

If you combine the quality of the site, the pace of construction, and the timing of it happening during a very creative and influential period in the history of golf architecture, I believe it to be one of the greatest jobs imaginable and intend to give it my greatest of efforts to rise to the test.” – Brian Curley 14

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world’s largest golf resort. The terrain, even when on the flatter areas, is said to be very golf friendly with subtle movement that also transitions into large elevation change, but always in a white sand base that is perfect for golf. “It is truly a huge opportunity for us as we have built our strong reputation by largely transforming difficult properties (often severe and rocky) into great courses and here we get to start with a stunning and very golf –friendly, sand based site for all the ten courses,” Curley pointed out. The project will have ten full length championship 18 hole courses and some short course/academy elements and expansive practice areas. At the lower portion of the site near the beach there will be a residential and resort component. “The remaining golf is pure golf with no development component at all,” explained Curley who added, “These courses are located on some fantastic dunes land with very appealing native vegetation including pine scrub and various scraggly ground covers that have interspersed sand popping through.” The dunes sometimes rise to over 30 meters in height and meander through areas of native vegetation held in reserve. Giving an insight to the landscape, Curley said, “Although the beach offers fantastic opportunity for great


ISSUE 188

It is truly a huge opportunity for us as we have built our strong reputation by largely transforming difficult properties (often severe and rocky) into great courses and here we get to start with a stunning and very golf –friendly, sand based site for all the ten courses.” golf, in my opinion the best holes will be had inland where the landscape is absolutely stunning. The terrain features plenty of natural movement and essentially every hole is “there” today, requiring very little, if any, work to produce great golf.”

MAY 2016


COVER STORY Vietnam – Country Report

The company has already started on the first two co ou courses and it expects to complete all ten courses within a tw wo two-year time frame. Besides the 10-course package, the FLLC Group has also commissioned SCD to design another FLC 18 8 18-hole course in Ha Long Bay, a spectacularly picturess esque area of Vietnam. It has also been brought to our att attention that the group has commissioned Nicklaus Desiig the company owned by golf legend Jack Nicklaus sign, o develop another two courses which have since been to cco completed. When asked to comment on whether Vietnam will be an another China where golf course development went out of control and to this Curley responded: “Unlike China w where courses popped up everywhere with no permittin process, there is a defined and observed permitting tin process in Vietnam. This will keep the reins in on ting

MARK REEVES

BRG is committed to develop a full portfolio of quality courses throughout Vietnam and the best way to do that was to join hands with the world’s leading golf course designer.” – Mark Reeves 16

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ne of the early players in golf in Vietnam is the Hanoiheadquartered BRG Group which is part of a major Vietnamese business conglomerate with interests in banking, hotels and property development. It is the operator of the award-winning Kings Island Golf Resort in Hanoi and recently, it inked a brand exclusivity agreement with Nicklaus Design, the company owned by golf legend Jack Nicklaus. This contract has been described to be “a pivotal action toward BRG’s long term golf strategy” covering over 20 key Vietnamese jurisdictions and the surrounding areas. Commenting on the contract, BRG’s Director of Golf Development and Property Business Mark Reeves said, “BRG is committed


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MAY 2016

FLC SAMSON BEACH & GOLF RESORT

development to a more sustainable pace. What this means to the exact number of new courses is not known. I think there will be a good stream of work but not anything near a frantic pace that multiple architects will participate in. Unlike China where many of the golf course projects were property plays, Curley feel that this will not be the case in Vietnam. “The nice thing about Vietnam is, even if there is a development component, the golf must remain largely as a “core “ golf experience , not fingers of golf surrounded by houses as is typically done. So, even on a less than spectacular site, the golf has good bones regardless of the characteristics you start with.” This is good to know because unlike China, golf development in Vietnam seems to have a more noble cause which is to grow the game of golf in what is arguably one of the most dynamic emerging nations in the Asia Pacific.

to develop a full portfolio of quality courses throughout Vietnam and the best way to do that was to join hands with the world’s leading golf course designer; Nicklaus. It’s also the best way to ensure Nicklaus courses in Vietnam get built to the highest standards and in high profile locations.” The partnership has already swung into action with plans being announced for the building of a new 7,265 yard long Jack Nicklaus II designed course on the Kings Island property named “The 54 Kings Club.” BRG reports that it will be a spectacular product that rests in the best sector of golf land on

The nice thing about Vietnam is, even if there is a development component, the golf must remain largely as a “core “ golf experience, not fingers of golf surrounded by houses as is typically done. So, even on a less than spectacular site, the golf has good bones regardless of the characteristics you start with.”

the whole property. The second design will be in a new location to be announced very soon. “In fact, we have identified more new locations for BRG courses up and down the country and continue to engage Nicklaus to roll out master plans and routings for these,” Reeves disclosed. The driving force behind the BRG Group is the renowned Vietnamese entrepreneur and chairman of the BRG Group, Madame Nguyen Thi Nga. A passionate golfer herself, this is how she looks at her partnership with Nicklaus Design: “BRG Golf is not just a business it also has a very important mission

that comes from my heart and the minds of my professional golf management team to refresh the Vietnamese golf industry and bring New Vitality to the game countrywide and I want to give golfers an opportunity to experience the highest international standards which is why I chose Nicklaus Design, the best in the world, as my exclusive partner.” The exclusivity contract covers the whole range of Nicklaus golf course design products including Nicklaus Design, Jack Nicklaus II Signature, Nicklaus Legacy and Jack Nicklaus Signature courses.


COVER STORY Vietnam – Country Report

he other company that has jjoined the ranks of the megacourse developers is Vinpearl Golf. This player operates d th under the auspices of Vinpearl Management Company, a leading Vietnamese private enterprise and a pioneer in the development and management of golf courses. As a leading golf course provider in Vietnam, Vinpearl Golf currently has two championship courses - Vinpearl Golf Nha Trang and Vinpearl Golf Phu Quoc. The company has engaged with golf legend Gary Player and his design team to develop multiple projects. After a recent visit to Vietnam, Player said, “This will be a grassroots effort, and Vietnam certainly will play a large role in developing the game in the Far East.” Vinpearl has some ambitious plans which call for the development of at least 23 golf courses within the next three to four years.

TROON SINKS ROOTS IN VIETNAM

We believe this is the start of something really incredible. This facility will redefine the art of practice and raise the bar for what’s available to golfers, not just here in Vietnam but ultimately with EPGAs right across Asia and at handpicked sites around the world.” 18

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roon®, the leader in upscale golf course management, development and marketing has been selected to manage Ernie Els’ first Golf Academy, The Els Performance Golf Academy. F i the t centerpiece of the master planned Ecopark Forming residential community near Vietnam’s vibrant capital, Hanoi, the four-time Major champion’s academy represents a collaboration between Troon’s International Division and the Els brand. Commenting on the collaboration, Ernie Els said, “We believe this is the start of something really incredible. This facility will redefine the art of practice and raise the bar for what’s available to golfers, not just here in Vietnam but ultimately with EPGAs right across Asia and at handpicked sites around the world.” Located just 10km from Hanoi’s city centre, the Ecopark community integrates over 150 hectares of parks and lakes with carefully planned infrastructure and will feature 30,000 homes, shopping amenities, international medical centres, business and commercial districts, a University District comprised of 3 international campuses and the Sports complex home to The Els Performance Golf Academy.



SPECIAL FEATURE The China Factor

Over the last year or so, the spotlight on golf in China has become somewhat fuzzy and this has been primarily due to the Beijing government’s crackdown on golf courses. Last year alone, over 60 golf courses throughout the country were destroyed as these courses were found to be in violation of a 2004 moratorium which effectively banned the construction of golf courses on scarce arable land. Although this ban has been in force, some 600 golf courses were built, and a good percentage of these courses were constructed without obtaining the required statutory approvals thus making them illegal. The destruction of the illegal courses was misinterpreted by many to mean that the game of golf was on its death-bed in China. Although golf is generally viewed as an “elitist” sport by the communist regime, there has been no overt attempt to stifle the playing of golf. It must be understood that there is a disconnect between the construction of golf courses and the playing of golf in China. Construction of courses by and large is an illegal act unless and if proper permission is obtained. However, the game of golf is in a healthy state in the Middle Kingdom and all signs on the ground point to golf growing and becoming a major sport in the years ahead. For this special report, Asian Golf interviewed two of golf’s most powerful men – Dr. Ken Chu, chairman of the Mission Hills Group and Tenniel Chu, vice-chairman. The Chu’s, besides having invested more than US$10 billion on their multi-faceted golf resorts in Shenzhen on the Chinese mainland and in Haikou on the island of Hainan have their hands firmly on the golf pulse of China.

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henever the giant Mission Hills Group of China is involved in a project, one can rest assured that the scale and scope of the undertaking will always be big. If it is golf related, you can bet your bottom dollar that the group will back it up to the hilt and taking the lead role in growing the game in China is no exception. A classic example of the huge investment Mission Hills is making to bring golf to children throughout China 20

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can be seen in its schools programme. “We’re promoting golf to local schools and we’ve signed contracts with the education bureau to introduce golf into the physical education periods of schools – we will be doing some 20,000 hours of teaching to school children and this is massive,” Dr. Chu revealed with pride. He continued, “I see this ambitious programme snowballing very quickly; I mean who would have ever thought that golf could make it into the PE classes of domestic schools in China – this is huge for the growth of golf in China!”

To this, Tenniel Chu declared, “Mission Hills views its junior golf initiative as an investment in our future. We always provide international platforms for the young, helping to open doors to what could no doubt be a glittering career for them. We are giving back to the sport and to China, because by so doing, we are helping the whole industry to thrive which in turn will help foster a healthy and prospering golf industry.” In conjunction with this programme, Mission Hills organises some forty-six junior


ISSUE 188

TENNIEL CHU

DR. KEN CHU

tournaments a year. Dr Chu pointed out, “We are doing a lot for children in China and we work with golf celebrities like Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Annika Sorenstam and Greg Norman to stage these junior tournaments and clinics which bring the juniors into direct contact with the stars.” These tournaments are taken seriously because there is a ranking system for the players to accumulate points. “These points help them to get wildcards into tournaments and many of our juniors have gone on to participate in major international tournaments,” said Dr. Chu Besides juniors, Mission Hills is also focused on growing women’s golf. “We’ve been hosting a lot of professional ladies tournaments which are televised throughout China and Korea and it is our hope that this will help bring golf to the attention of more Chinese ladies,” explained Dr. Chu. According to him, the promotional efforts are already having a big impact especially amongst female juniors and Dr. Chu jokingly added, “We’re trying to get them hooked young!” In appraising the programmes designed to grow the ladies game, Tenniel Chu said, “I think we’re starting to see some promising results come through. China’s golf poster girl Feng Shanshan has made a very impressive breakthrough on the world stage and she will have a big effect on how the game grows amongst women in China.” Mission Hills is host to the ANNIKA Invitational which is the first junior girlsonly tournament in China and Asia and the first ANNIKA Invitational event outside the

United States. It is also counted as part of the World Amateur Golf Ranking System and China Golf Association Junior Ranking System. “We do this with an eye on supporting the further development of ladies golf in China and the overall champion will secure unique opportunities to test herself against other elite women golfers in professional tournaments like the Xiamen Open International,” according to Tenniel Chu. Integral to Mission Hills commitment to grow golf in China is a very ambitious coaching programme for juniors. “We run a number of golf development academies at our resorts which include the PGA Golf Academy, the Iain Roberts Golf School, the Short Game School, the Putting Institute, and a fully operational TaylorMade select-fit custom fitting centre and all of these facilities are staffed by qualified and certified golf instructors drawn from all over the world,” disclosed Tenniel Chu. This is unmatched anywhere in Asia and besides this major investment in coaching, Mission Hills helps conduct private golf lessons, golf clinics, boot camps and fun days. For more than 20 years, Mission Hills has been the pioneering force in China’s golf development and in that time, the Chinese economy has boomed and so too has interest in many lifestyle choices, including golf. “The number of courses has grown significantly and China now hosts some of the biggest golfing events in the world and junior and grass-roots programmes have developed and we now have a sport of genuine

MAY 2016

popularity, while also still having massive potential for growth,” Dr. Chu pointed out. Expanding on the potential for the growth of golf in China, Dr. Chu went on to explain, “It won’t take a century to make golf more of a laymen’s game because the pace that we’re growing, it will become a more accessible game going forward.” Tenniel Chu chipped in by stating, “Mission Hills’ success recipe is based on its vision to make golf in China easily available and accessible, affordable and acceptable and we are driven to place ourselves as the leading force in the world when it comes to the promotion of golf.” The facts speak for themselves. Besides making massive financial investments in infrastructure, Mission Hills led by Dr. Chu and his sibling, Tenniel, are on a mission to grow golf in China at an exponential rate, a rate that perhaps the world has never seen before. Given their incredible vision, tenacity and drive, China is well on its way to becoming a major golfing nation and there’s no two ways about it! Last year, Mission Hills generated one million rounds of golf. As a parting shot, Tenniel Chu proclaimed, “China’s golf industry – perhaps more so than any other country – will benefit tremendously from golf’s entry into the Olympics. China’s government puts a lot of resources behind promoting Olympic sport disciplines evidenced by the country’s success at many of them during the Beijing Games and we have no reason to doubt that golf will stand to benefit going forward.”


SPECIAL FEATURE A Major In Waiting

China is ready to become the venue for a women’s major and the event that has all of the credentials and track record to qualify is the highly popular Mission Hills World Ladies Championship.

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his world class tournament was started in 2012 as a collaborative effort involving Mission Hills China, the Chinese LPGA and the Ladies European Tour (LET). Since its inception, the tournament’s support base has grown with the powerful Korean LPGA aligning itself with its sanctioning of the event. “It is very nice to see more tours working together for the benefit of the game in Asia and for our 2016 tournament, we saw for the first time 40 players from the three sanctioning bodies – Korea, Europe and China coming together in the same field,” said Tenniel Chu, vice-chairman of the Mission Hills Group. Elaborating, Chu pointed out, “We are very pleased to see the tournament grow from strength-to-strength attracting more 22

23 ASIAN GOLF

of the world’s leading players and greater global exposure. For more than 20 years, Mission Hills has been at the forefront of promoting and developing golf in China and the World Ladies Championship is one of the jewels in the crown of our tournament portfolio.” The description of the tournament being a “jewel in Mission Hills crown” says a great deal as it illustrates the organisation’s aspirations to grow the tournament into a highly pedigreed tournament with its roots firmly and permanently entrenched in Asia. “Currently, three of the existing five Majors – ANA Inspiration; Women’s PGA Championship; US Women’s Open – are staged in America with the other two in Europe - the Women’s British Open and The Evian Championship in France and none of them are in

Asia,” revealed Chu. Getting the Mission Hills World Ladies Championship accepted as a major is already in the gunsight of Chu and he speaks out confidently about eventually getting the event on the majors’ calendar: “The long-term vision for us is to have this championship recognised as the sixth Major event on the women’s international calendar and the first in Asia.” As part of the push, Mission Hills ongoing focus will be to support the development of team golf in Asia with the view towards attracting more Asian countries to participate in the tournament. The tournament was originally designed to showcase and promote elite women’s golf in China and throughout the region, as well as to provide elite women golfers with an opportunity to compete in a team event as well as individual competition. “In years to come we’d love to see more of the best players competing in this event and for it to firmly establish itself in the tour calendars so that people can look back at it and say that we had a significant influence on the development of professional women’s golf in China and the region,” Chu said. “I think we’re starting to see some promising results come through from our initiatives and we are now at a stage where our ladies are already able to compete on level terms with the rest of the world,” Chu explained and continued, “Feng Shanshan has made the break-through and she has retained her top ten world ranking for four years and I expect to see her performance have a very strong effect and impact both on Chinese and Asian women golfers.” Mission Hills has most definitely presented a strong case for the Mission Hills World Ladies Championship and being China-based and supported by leading tours, the time is right to seriously consider the tournament to be granted the status as a major. Not only would it be a positive development in growing the game of golf in Asia but it will be a solid endorsement of the achievements of Asian women on golf’s professional circuits.


SPECIAL FEATURE Boom Not Doom!

By Iain Roberts (Group Executive Director of Mission Hills and a PGA-accredited Master Professional)

The news that Chinese golf is “in crisis” would come as a surprise to the thousands of youngsters who pour through the gates of Mission Hills each year to learn the game.

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t would provoke puzzled looks from Major winners such as Nick Faldo and Annika Sörenstam, who both make annual visits to the giant Mission Hills resort at Shenzhen-Dongguan to host their signature junior tournaments. And there would be raised eyebrows, as well, among the hundreds of players on the country’s two domestic professional tours – one for men, the other for women – which are experiencing solid growth amid strong sponsorship support. While owners of illegal golf courses across China are, quite rightly, being brought to account for their actions, the game continues to thrive at every level, from juniors picking up a club for the first time to elite professionals making their mark on the world stage. This year, Mission Hills is holding some 50 junior tournaments. Its teaching professionals will log tens of thousands of coach-

ing hours at the various academies. Together with a schools outreach programme that sees coaches go into city centre educational establishments to introduce kids to golf. The Mission Hills view is simple. How do you get youngsters to try golf if you put up barriers to them playing? At Mission Hills,

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three of its 22 courses across its two resorts – Shenzhen-Dongguan and Haikou – are kept open all year around, free of charge, to players aged 16 and under. Mission Hills also understands that young players need to be encouraged and inspired by their heroes, so the services of top stars is sought to pitch in and help whenever they visit. Over the past three years, in addition to Faldo and Sörenstam, young golfers have been given clinics or had first-hand advice from Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy, Greg Norman, Inbee Park, Suzann Pettersen, So Yeon Ryu, Justin Rose and Ian Poulter to name just a few. This pattern is being repeated across the country, where even the smallest clubs have an open-door policy towards youngsters and an inclusive teaching programme for beginners. Golf’s rapid growth at grassroots level is reflected in the professional game. The PGA Tour China, now in its third year, is growing from strength to strength with quality competition, great courses, excellent media exposure and good value for sponsors. It all adds up to a fantastic experience for the players. The overseas professionals have helped rising Chinese players raise their game. Li Haotong was the first to gain notoriety with his excellent 2014 season, but now some of his compatriots are coming to the fore. The final four events of 2015 were won by a quartet of Chinese players – Zhang Xinjun, Chao Haimeng, Zhang Huilin and He Zeyu. The China LPGA Tour is more firmly established – some 17 tournaments this year including two at Mission Hills – and the ladies are ahead of the men in terms of world standards. Mission Hills is delighted by the global success of Feng Shanshan who, in 2012, became the first mainlander to win a Major when she captured the LPGA Championship. There are now 15 Chinese players in the top 500 of the Women’s World Golf Rankings. It is only a matter of time before a young Chinese male player comes along to replicate Feng’s global achievements. From beginners to world beaters, Chinese golf is booming.


SPECIAL FEATURE Asia PaciďŹ c Golf Summit 2016

The golf industry as we know it today is pretty much the making of the “baby boomersâ€? – a generation born just after the Second World War. This is the generation that helped grow the game of golf and it was the generation that basically kept the country club culture alive and kicking. However, it best years are rapidly coming to an end and a whole new generation is coming into clear focus. This generation is [OL ¸TPSSLUUPHSZš Âś KLĂ„ULK HZ [OVZL IL[^LLU HNLZ [V 0[ PZ VUL VM [OL SHYNLZ[ generations in history and it is now moving into its prime spending years.

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illennials are poised to reshape the world’s economy; their unique experiences will change the ways we entertain and recreate, buy and sell, forcing companies to examine how they do business for decades to come. It is a generation that is projected to surpass the outsized Baby Boom generation as the largest living generation. The market is changing and the change is seismic. This poses some serious challenges especially to the golf club industry. Up till now, its membership base has been made up of predominantly baby boomers who are becoming less

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SPECIAL FEATURE Asia Pacific Golf Summit 2016 active due to a number of factors, age being the greatest challenge. While clubs and club management are steadily becoming aware of the demographic shift, many are at a loss as to how to reach out to new demographics, especially millennials. Who are they? It’s a different world with a different worldview. Millennials have grown up in a time of rapid change, giving them a set of priorities and expectations sharply different from previous generations. It is a generation that is reluctant to buy items such as cars, music and luxury goods. Instead, they’re turning to a new set of services that provide access to products without the burdens of ownership, giving rise to what’s being called a “sharing economy.” They’re also the first generation of digital natives, and their affinity for technology helps shape how they shop. They are used to instant access to price comparisons, product

information and peer reviews. Finally, they are dedicated to wellness, devoting time and money to exercising and eating right. Their active lifestyle influences trends in everything from food and drink to fashion. The standards and tastes of the millennial generation have often proven challenging, even mystifying, and this is what the club industry in Asia needs to understand and try catch up with trends. To help with this, the 2016 Asia Pacific Golf Summit aims to help the club management industry to better understand millennials and seek out the best ways to reach and engage with this very important segment of Asia’s population. To start the education process, APGS 2016 has signed up Gabriel Aluisy, an internationally recognized expert on marketing to millennials. The Tampa-based expert is the founder of Shake Creative, a Florida based branding and design agency focused

on helping private clubs and luxury lifestyle brands build revenue and connect with consumers. He is the author of the bestselling book, Moving Targets: Creating Engaging Brands in an On-Demand World and the host of Private Club Radio. He has designed and developed marketing campaigns and brand collateral for over 1,000 companies including national franchises and brands. His work has won international awards, but more importantly, has generated millions of dollars of revenue for his clients. Gabriel has been featured on in Entrepreneur® and other leading publications and is a graduate of American University’s School of Communication. The 2016 Asia Pacific Golf Summit will be staged in the Royal Thai city of Hua Hin. The venue for the event is the five-star Hyatt Regency Hotel in Hua Hin and the show dates are October 29-30. Delegate registration is now open at

https://secure.golfconference.org/event/asia-pacific-golf-summit-2016

The 2016 Asia Pacific Golf Summit aims to help the club management industry to better understand millennials and seek out the best ways to reach and engage with this very important segment of Asia’s population.

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A

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Owned and managed by The Peninsula Hotels and often voted as possessing the “Best Clubhouse in Asia” and “Best Course in Thailand”, Thai Country Club is less than 45 minutes from KV^U[V^U HUK PZ YLUV^ULK MVY OH]PUN [OL MYPLUKSPLZ[ Z[HɈ VM WYVMLZZPVUHSZ PU [OL 2PUNKVT JVTTP[[LK [V WYV]PKPUN [OL <S[PTH[L .VSÄUN ,_WLYPLUJL For registered guests of The Peninsula Bangkok, >L HYL OHWW` [V HYYHUNL H [LL [PTL H[ H Z\IZ[HU[PHS YLK\J[PVU MYVT V\Y UVYTHS ]PZP[VY»Z YH[L ,_[LUK `V\Y I\ZPULZZ [YPW PU )HUNRVR VY IVVR H NL[ H^H` NVSÄUN WHJRHNL >OLU P[ JVTLZ [V L_JS\ZP]L NVSÄUN ^P[O PTWLJJHISL OVZWP[HSP[` ¶ ^L WSH` VɈ ZJYH[JO

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SPECIAL FEATURE Cobra Golf

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Late last year the golf industry witnessed the return of a once powerful brand. It was the King Cobra driver which reigned supreme when the “great white shark” aka Greg Norman was the best golfer on Planet Earth. It was Norman’s driver of choice and in fact, if one took the trouble to check golf’s archives, a certain Tiger Woods also used the King Cobra driver at one point in time. Its reign continued until 2009 before it was cast aside. But last year, it was resuscitated and given a new life by COBRA, now a steadily resurgent company under the guidance of new ownership led by a youthful and dynamic results oriented president who answers to the name of Bob Philion.

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hilion is the top honcho and the “big cheese” at COBRA and under his helmsmanship, the KING is back! In a short time span, the KING COBRA has brought success to the company’s top brand ambassadors, namely Rickie Fowler and Lexi Thompson. As one reviewer put it, the KING COBRA “will inundate with technology right before it surprises with performance, in a package that is both subtle and intriguing.” There’s no denying that the KING COBRA driver and its family of products has been very well received in the global market-

place. In fact, an ebullient Philion, president and CEO told Asian Golf in an exclusive interview: “The return of the KING products to the COBRA line up has been great. The feedback has been phenomenal thus far and the KING family of products have been selling really well. We have gained huge market shares with KING metals and irons and have continued to receive rave reviews from leading writers and testing panels.” Although COBRA is an old brand, it comes across as a very “with it” company that is in step with younger golfers. This “millennial” mindset is reflected in many of its products especially its apparel and acces-

sories which have a tendency to push bold designs and colours normally not seen in golf. In fact, it was daring enough to recently send out its poster boy Rickie Fowler laced up in a pair of “high tops”. Commenting on this move, Philion said, “Rickie is the hallmark of the new generation of golf – he certainly moves the needle in golf and is helping to draw more young people to the game ….. he adds a level of credibility to our brand and our products when he puts them in play and goes out and wins.” He continued, “We will sell a lot of hats and a lot of IGNITE hi-tops, but more importantly Rickie and our other pro’s


SPECIAL FEATURE Cobra Golf The return of the KING products to the COBRA line up has been great. The feedback has been phenomenal thus far and the KING family of products have been selling really well. We have gained huge market shares with KING metals and irons and have continued to receive rave reviews from leading writers and testing panels.” connect our consumers to the COBRA and PUMA Golf brands.” It’s confidence like this and the derringdo to keep pushing the envelope that has brought phenomenal success to COBRA Golf. Asian Golf is proud to present excerpts from the discussion we had with the man who is driving the company, Bob Philion:

ASIAN GOLF: The KING series does not just represent new golf clubs. It is more about technology and how it impacts the way the game of golf is played. For the better player, this family of clubs seems to have helped them dial up a better game while for the rest of most recreational players, it seems to have jacked up the FUN FACTOR in playing golf. Would you agree? BOB PHILION: Definitely – at COBRA Golf and PUMA Golf we are focused on innovation and providing game-changing equipment, footwear and apparel to golfers – helping them play better and enjoy the game. This year we are focused on our KING family of clubs, our PUMA Golf apparel and accessories and IGNITE family of footwear – our most comfortable collection of golf shoes to date! Along with that, we are always looking for ways to make the game more fun and inclusive for golfers of all levels. We are trying 30

31 ASIAN GOLF

to be the best Game Enjoyment company in the game and technology will continue to play a major part in achieving that.

AG: You launched the KING series of clubs in quick succession and some in the industry doubted your ^PZKVT PU ¸ÅVVKPUN¹ [OL THYRL[ ^P[O too many products too soon. With [OL ILULÄ[ VM OPUKZPNO[ KV `V\ UV^ believe that you did the right thing? PHILION: Absolutely. The reality is that we have stayed true to our game plan to launch product only when it’s truly innovative and can help the golfer enjoy the game more. We are doing that with all the new KING clubs, our PUMA Golf apparel and our new IGNITE family of golf footwear.

AG: Speaking about multiproduct launches at shorter intervals – do you see this trend continuing or do you see a more spaced-out cycle for new products going forward? PHILION: We see the industry moving toward longer lifecycles on products. It’s a delicate balance of making sure you bring continued freshness to the market while understanding the buying cycles of your core consumers.

AG: Your brand ambassadors, especially Rickie Fowler and Lexi

Thompson have contributed towards COBRA-PUMA’s youthful and fun identity in a big way. Talk about the contributions that these dynamic players have made towards the growth of your business?

PHILION: Our Tour players provide a window into our company. They are our ‘face’. Both Lexi and Rickie are off to a fast start this year already – Rickie winning in Abu Dhabi and Lexi in Thailand. They each bombed their way to victory with their new KING LTD Drivers – and rocking the latest in PUMA gear and footwear. That certainly helps to create buzz and excitement around our brands – with more to come as the year continues. AG: You must be ecstatic with Fowler’s meteoric rise to the ranks of some of the world’s best players – while he is a naturally gifted player, COBRA-PUMA equipment most KLÄUP[LS` OH]L WSH`LK H IPN YVSL PU OPZ success. Would you agree? PHILION: Certainly – Rickie is a dynamic, passionate golfer who has been an integral part of the COBRA PUMA GOLF family since he first turned pro. He definitely has seen some great success with COBRA PUMA GOLF products in the bag and on course. His ball striking since he put in play the KING products has been his best to date.


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par pa part rt of the renaissance of the KING family, COBRA has announced d th the la laun launch unch un ch o off th the he ne new w AsKIKKING ING F6 Baffler 4/5 Fairway. The iconic Baffler products, first introduced ING duce du ced in ce n some som ome e of the he original clubs more than 40 years ago, utilizes the revolutionaryy rail system blended brandss origi br rail sys stem b lend ded with witth today’s weighting technology to provide players with their orr to oda day’ y’ss F6 adjustable y’ ad heiir he ir choice cho hoic icce of a penetrating pen e ettra rati ting ti ng o towering and maximum forgiveness. to owe wering trajectory tra g The that provide golfer with and Th he KING KING G F6 Baffler Baffl Ba ffler features ffl featur ures rails ur rai ails tha hatt prov ha ovvide th the go olfer w ith improved it im mp ved turf mprov turrf interaction inte terractio te on an nd the ability exit divots more smoothly. KING Baffler will help golfers glide abil ab ililit ityy to it t e xit di divo votts m vo ore or e sm smoo oo oth thly ly.. “The ly he eK ING IN G F6 F B affl ffler ffl er w ill he h lp g olfe ol f rss g lilide de ssmoothly moothl mo hlyy ou hl out of o the he turf, helping he elp lping gett the th he ball up p in n the the air from from ro om anywhere anywhe he ere on thee golf g lf go l course, c e,” said sa Josee Miraflor, M raflor, senior Mi sen en nio ior director Product Marketing COBRA Golf. dire di rector re o off P rod oducct Ma ark rket e ing et g & Creation, Crea Cr eation ea on, CO on COBR BRA Go BR G lff. “This that Rickie Fowler has the Tour, changing back between “T Thi hiss is a key ey cclub lub th lu hat R icki ic k e Fo ki owler er h as in n th he ba bag on o Tou our,r,, cha ou ang ging in ng ba b ckk and nd fforth o th bet or twe ween e this Utility the provide when slidth his KING fairway faii wa fa w y and d his hiis KING U tiilil ty Iron. The The e front front off th he rails ls he help lp pp rovide e fforgiveness o giveness or ss w hen slid ding digging, while help smooth in ng through thro th roug ro ugh the ug th he turf turf and d preventing pre reve vent ve n in nt ng excess exce ex cess ce ss d iggi ging gi ng,, wh ng w hiile the th he e trailing trailiing eedge tr dge dg e off the he rrails ails ai ls hel e p sm smoo ooth oo th out anyy imperfections ou imp perfecti tions of his shot. shot. t..” new product launched at the same time iiss th the he KI KING ING Utility Utililility Iron, Iro ron, n, thee brand’s braand nd’’s Another first adjustable hollow body utility iron that offers multiple loft settings ers mu mult ltiple lt e lof oftt se of settin ngs iin na single club. The KING Utility is available in a 3-iron, featuring uring a large larg la r e sole with rg wit itth a hollow head, and is packed with COBRA Golf’s game-changing han angi an ging gi ng metalwood mettal alwo wood wo o technologies including MyFly8 that allows golfers to seamlessly e mles ea e slyy adjust ad t the loft to best fit their games. “This club is perfect for the golfer whose last iron stops top to ps att 4 ps and needs a 3i, or the golfer whose longest iron stops at 3i aand nd needs 2i distance somewhere throughout the round. TThe he KING Utility iron allows a player to perfectly gap his long g iron game and offers three draw settings to fine tune trajectory,” said Tom Olsavsky, vice president of R&D, COBRA Golf. “We designed this Utility iron with Rickie Fowler in mind – he currently uses this iron at courses he deems a match for this style of play.”


SPECIAL FEATURE Young Gun | Bryson DeChambeau

COBRA-PUMA GOLF – you’ve done it again! You’ve got the eye for young talent and you’ve picked up a hot one in the form of 22-year old Bryson DeChambeau. He came to the attention of Asian Golf when he showed up for the desert swing in Dubai earlier this year. Like many, we were struck by his golf clubs HSS Ă„[[LK ^P[O ZHTL SLUN[O ZOHM[Z HUK his unorthodox swing. What’s most fascinating about this young player is that he is able to produce great golf by just ILPUN [V[HSS` KPɈLYLU[ 32

33 ASIAN GOLF

N

ote that he already has a very creditable amateur track record in that he is the 2015 U.S. Amateur champion and finished tied 21st in the 2016 U.S. Masters (highest amateur rank). He describes himself as an “artist. “I love creating things and that’s ultimately why I’ve become so scientific.� Golf’s hottest property right now, DeChambeau was a physics major at SMU and became obsessed with infusing science into his golf swing. That led him to a controversial physics-heavy golf instruction book, The Golf Machine, and that provides the basis for the way he swings a golf club. The trademark move of DeChambeau is his swing. Unlike most golfers, he tries to swing the golf club in one straight line which is contrary to common belief that this is not possible. According to DeChambeau he tries to never leave that line in the first place which resulted in him building a special set of golf clubs that are all of the same length. DeChambeau isn’t about change. He is the absolute living embodiment of change and he is going to be great for golf. Does he care? Apparently not because as he says, “I don’t really worry about it too much because they really don’t know me.� He added, “Scientists out there are artists and they go out there and are imagining things that people aren’t ever even thinking of. Coming up with these equations, that’s an art.� Welcome aboard DeChambeau! Make change happen!


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I love creating things and that’s ultimately why I’ve become so scientific.”


his is the new paradigm for golf. It is the beacon that will drive the growth of golf in Asia in the years to come. It is all Asian – conceived, conceptualized, implemented and working like a dream in Asia. *ROI $QG 0RUH LV WKH WKHPH IRU WKH $VLD 3DFLʖF Golf Summit. It is a theme that is tried and tested and it’s all about helping to make golf clubs in the region successful. It draws from the success of the world’s largest golf complex in the world – Mission Hills China. Over one million rounds of golf played a year. A sensational

blueprint on how to operate a golf club that will keep members and guests coming back for more. Come and listen to Dr. Ken Chu, chairman of the Mission Hills Group share his thoughts about how Golf And More keeps twenty-two golf clubs in his complex humming like a precision machine. Never before has anyone been given a look at the inner workings RI 0LVVLRQ +LOOV ɇ QRW XQWLO WKH $VLD 3DFLʖF Golf Summit. If you are a golf course owner, operator or general manager, this is a once in a life-time opportunity to learn from one of the world’s most powerful men in golf.

ASIA PACIFIC GOLF SUMMIT

Asia Takes The Lead In Golf October 29-30, 2016

Hyatt Regency Hotel | Hua Hin | Thailand PRESENTED AND PRODUCED BY

STRATEGIC BUSINESS SPONSORSHIP

STAGING AND CONCEPT BY

OFFICIAL VENUE & HOTEL

ALBATROSS SPONSORSHIP


BIRDIE SPONSORSHIP


SPECIAL FEATURE Asian Tours

BY JAMES PRUSA

R

ather than look upon the PGA TOUR and the European Tour with envy or awe, prudence suggests that those engaged in developing a professional tour in Asia do their homework and study the mistakes made by the two big tours. The defining moment for the PGA TOUR came when the professional tour players finally put their collective feet down and united to separate from the PGA of America teaching professionals. The PGA TOUR can trace its success to this revolt in the 1970s. The tour players rebelled en masse lead by tour players Deane Beman, Jack Nicklaus, and others (Beman, Golf’s Driving Force, 2011). It was recreated 36

37 ASIAN GOLF

as a player-member-driven, non-profit tour for the benefit of the pros, local charities, and event sponsors – and legions of event volunteers. In Asia, tours lack transparency with little information available about their charters or corporate ownership. The Asian Tour and OneAsia are the two primary tours, with numerous smaller tours such as the Japan Golf Tour Organization (JGTO) and other tiny national tours in Korea, China and Australia. Each employ executives and staffs while competitively vying for inadequate sponsor money. It’s hard to see how the talented tour

players are a priority or have much say. This begs the questions: Just how do the professional tour players benefit from the nobrand, multiple tours? Are the professional Asian tours committing business suicide? Some uncontroverted facts can be listed about regional golf tours in Asia:

1 There’s great duplication and redundancy of operating expenses with each Asia ‘tour’ having its own executives, staffs, offices, travel and administrative overhead. It’s wasteful with none having enough funds to


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operate well. A unified Asia tour would have only one set of these big expenses. It’s why large companies amalgamate to synergize and gain economies of scale – and improve market share!

2 With so many tours competing (begging) in Asia for miniscule purses, sponsors hold all the negotiating leverage and dictate controls over every aspect of tournaments – even

to the point of prohibiting and removing the sanctioning tour’s logo from display in tournament identity so they can continually shop for the next sanctioning tour for their (the sponsor’s) event.

3 The plethora of no-brand tours in Asia causes not only confusion amongst the golf fans, but it also spawns disinterest. The conflicting tours do not generate any serious excitement with the public.

4 Without an excited public audience, the

MAY 2016

big television royalties that would potentially be a major source of revenue for a brand name tour are simply not realized. Television, like the commercial sponsors, also ‘plays’ the many competing tours against one another in negotiations, dictates the terms, and totally sets meager royalties. And just how is the golf–sports media in general supposed to focus any excitement when they have to cover so many clashing tours? Impossible! Only an all-Asia tour will draw serious consumer-fan interest and open up the mega-corporate money sponsorships and big TV royalties.

5 Finally, and not the least of the issues at


SPECIAL FEATURE Asian Tours

MARDAN MAMAT

JIMMY MASRIN – CHAIRMAN, ASIAN TOUR

hand, one must also concede that without a strong Asia tour brand, the big guys of the PGA TOUR and PGA European Tour surely can continue to freely conduct events in the Asia golf market at-will, because they do much better at all the aforementioned matters. Instead of a bunch of conflicted tours in Asia competing for scraps, a single Asia brand tour could compete on par with the two big boys’ tours – rather than formalizing occidental encroachments to rein over Asia. The worst offense is that the tour players in Asia, mostly young and in need of business savvy, get the short end of the golf stick! The product is the players’ – but it’s others who profit. With the no-brand tours in Asia, the players themselves have little influence and control – especially average players who must struggle to stay in competition. Fact: there’s no tour without ALL the tour players, fans and golf courses. Tour players need each other to compete and hone their edge. After all, one cannot be ranked ‘The Best’ unless there are other great players to best! It does not take an advanced education in nuclear physics to understand that by having so darn many no-brand tours, Asia greatly dilutes the tour players. The tour glut in Asia prohibits meaningful input and control by the players themselves (divide and conquer?). Both players and fans remain in the dark. Recall the 1970’s rebirth of the PGA TOUR and its explosive growth since – because players took control and their interests finally became #1 priority. Talk to any retired, average PGA TOUR player and you will find that ‘their’ PGA TOUR has provided them with the best retirement package and income in all sports! 38

39 ASIAN GOLF

ANIRBAN LAHIRI

THONGCHAI JAIDEE

A vision for Asia tour golf, by Asian players is needed. Immediate pressure from players must bring all other tours into a single, Asia men’s tour rather than pursuing neocolonialism of occidental-tour alliances.” Developing a successful professional golf tour means more than just coming up with a sponsor and a purse for a week. Where are the player governing boards in the no-brand Asian tours? Where are the player retirement funds investments and other good benefits for the players? The first step toward resolving these many issues involves establishing a playerowned, significant Asian brand tour – governance controlled by the tour players themselves with captains of industry as outside corporate directors. Much as the PGA TOUR does. Of late, the Asian Tour seems to be taking visionary steps in this direction. A vision for Asia tour golf, by Asian players is needed. Immediate pressure from players must bring all other tours into a single, Asia men’s tour rather than pursuing neocolonialism of occidental-tour alliances. The next step should be to retain a dynamic executive commissioner (Asian) to develop a strategic plan approved by player governance with objectives of: (1) immediately bringing everyone into a single Asia brand tour; (2) better treatment and respect for all players; (3) better, bigger purses; (4) better tour member benefits for all players; (5) better consistent playing conditions – by having the resources to hire

an agronomy staff of greenkeepers (Asian) to coordinate with tournament officials and courses in order to insure players’ standards of championship condition preparation. Surely the many smaller, national tours in Asia could benevolently focus on supporting player development with local competitions – just as hundreds of colleges provide competition experience in North America or organized competitions take place in Europe, Australia and other regions. However, they should not try to enviously carve out a tour territory with misguided cultural pride or nationalism. It is past the time for the active professional tour players from each country to unite all across Asia. It is past time for the tour players to tell all the existing, fractured tours in Asia just how the cow ate the cabbage – to get in a room by themselves without all their caretakers, take a vote and then stick with the majority. It will likely take a revolt, some sacrifice and maybe some risk – just as it took a player revolt in the 1970s to create the modern PGA TOUR. In the end it will benefit everyone in Asian golf and purge greedy self-promoters parasitizing tour golf. Isn’t it time for all Asian professional tour players to unite for the common good of golf in Asia?



SPECIAL FEATURE Golf Renaissance

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For the past decade, Asian Golf has had the opportunity of visiting hundreds of golf courses within the Southeast Asian catchment area and we have seen it all. Spectacular golf courses (largely in the minority), generally well-maintained golf courses and golf courses that have been damned to live out their lives in golf’s hell! We kid you not because the Southeast Asian landscape is dotted with golf courses that have fallen into disarray and neglect and have become goat yards. We think that this is a matter that needs to be addressed if the decline in golf is to be arrested and we also don’t believe that it is a challenge that can be swept under the rug and forgotten!

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or a better understanding on why there are so many golf courses that have fallen into a state of neglect and hard times, it would help to re-visit the era which spawned a plethora of golf courses to be built. The late 80’s and early 90’s witnessed a golf boom that ushered in a period during which developers went crazy on opening up new golf courses. Many of these were first timers who had aspirations to own and operate prestigious five-star facilities – but who were totally

oblivious of what was needed to achieve the grandiose goals. In their blind obsession to compete to build bigger clubhouses and signature golf courses, the economic assessment of long term profitability was ignored. And then came the mid-1997 financial crash and economic meltdown which caught many of these developers with their pants down. Recovery from this collapse has been a tough challenge with many golf courses still mired in a bog of challenges that they can’t extricate themselves from.

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SPECIAL FEATURE Golf Renaissance The challenges faced by these clubs have included escalating cost of hiring professionals, recurrent maintenance cost, regular equipment replacement, fixed operating costs which collectively have placed a massive burden on their finances which in turn have resulted in owners having to re-think their priorities. The final outcome leaves very little to the imagination because many decided to bale themselves out of golf and instead focus on other more lucrative investment pursuits. Put simply, the flow of funds for a good percentage of clubs just dried up. Hence the start of the gradual decline of the golf industry. The doom and gloom was not limited only to the owners of golf clubs. It also had a dramatic effect on members who had invested good sums of money on exclusive club memberships only to stand by and watch helplessly as their once valuable investments become virtually worthless like junk bonds. Today, many of these clubs are in operation and what they have on offer is sub-standard across the board. Service is appalling. Club and course conditions are deplorable and the club atmosphere is non-existent! It all sounds very harsh but when the truth has to be told, warts and all, it is never an easy undertaking. The objective of this industry report is not to ridicule the state of affairs that prevails with many clubs in the region but to look for solutions – workable solutions that can help snap these clubs from their current state of malaise and get them on the right track to become viable again. ASIAN GOLF has selected one example where a once popular club was left for dead but is now being primed and brought back to health again. That club is Daiman Golf Club, located in the heart of the southern Malaysian city of Johor Baru. It is owned by a well-established Malaysian real estate developer who engaged the services of the veteran Malaysian golf club manager, B. Rajakulasingham to help breathe new life into the once popular golf club. Until recently, Raja was the general manager of the award winning

The objective of this industry report is not to ridicule the state of affairs that prevails with many clubs in the region but to look for solutions – workable solutions that can help snap these clubs from their current state of malaise and get them on the right track to become viable again.” New Kuta Golf Club in Bali, Indonesia. “When I took over the management of Daiman 18 in September 2015, the state of affairs was poor. Almost all the basic clubhouse amenities were damaged or run down, through sheer neglect. The locker rooms, public toilets, the bag drop, reluctant front office service staff, poor housekeeping and a whole host of other basic golfer’s needs were non-existent.” What about the golf course? “The golf course, once a favourite amongst golfers especially from Singapore, has witnessed a rapid decline due to the lack of good maintenance procedures and the frequent changing of course superintendents has led to poor quality greens, damaged equipment, poor upkeep of bunkers etc,” Raja explained. How was this allowed to happen? To this, Raja said, “It was certainly not due to lack of funds. The golf course dropped off the owner’s priority list 42

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I often hear our staff mention that they see new faces and old faces coming back! If anyone has doubts about the power of word of mouth, think again. In fact this has been our main marketing tool. There has been a 30% increase in the numbers. Our current average is 2,350 players per month and we expect to hit our target of 2,800 once all our work has been completed in the next 6 months.”

and given the mounting operational problems, it went dry on funds.” Raja has since embarked on a remedial campaign designed to get the club up to scratch and this is being carried out in stages. It is all being carried out on a very tight budget. The first point of attack are the greens and this was an area that received a lot of praise from golfers before the rot set in. “I was lucky to have a good golf superintendent who understands how critically important it is to have good greens and together with his staff, they have taken great pride in improving the overall standard of greens maintenance – as part of our empowerment programme, we encourage them to play to appreciate and enjoy the fruits of their labour,” Raja pointed out. This turnaround has been noticed by golfers and they are passing the good news around. The condition of the fairways were affected by the lack of a proper irrigation system and overgrown trees and foliage along the fairways. “There are far too many trees, with over hanging branches, which resulted in shady areas that impeded the growth of turf – these have since been pruned and trimmed and the overall aesthetics of the fairways has been greatly enhanced,” according to Raja. Although the irrigation system is not functioning, hand watering is the order of the day. “The workers have all been trained to go about this activity on a daily basis and we expect to have a basic manual irrigation system up and running soon,” Raja revealed. There is no denying that the golf course is being brought back to good health and Raja attributes the turn-around to a highly committed and motivated team. How large a team has he got in place? Would you believe a total of 33 workers, including himself and as Raja declares, “They are an inspired lot who are driven by the results they see from their hard work.” Most importantly, there are no expensive expatriate managers and consultants on the team – it is a totally Malaysian crew!

is 2,350 players per month and we expect to hit our target of 2,800 once all our work has been completed in the next 6 months.” Besides the physical renovation works, Raja has also spearheaded a juniors and seniors programme where juniors play for free and seniors play at a specially discounted price. “Our goal is to offer an enjoyable, interesting and challenging golf experience to the broadest market which will bring us an operating profit at a reasonable

The positive results have become apparent in a relatively short time span and the question that many would have is how much money was invested in getting the course operational again. The answer is very little! “Our focus was to make do with whatever little funds we had for renovation work but the main thrust was focused on offering a good golfing experience played on a golf course that is affordable, accessible and available - golfers are beginning to notice the many changes we are making and the playing numbers are gradually increasing,” Raja pointed out. “I often hear our staff mention that they see new faces and old faces coming back! If anyone has doubts about the power of word of mouth, think again. In fact this has been our main marketing tool. There has been a 30% increase in the numbers. Our current average

cost to play for the end user,” is Raja’s mission. All the good work that has been put in has not missed the attention of the owners. In fact Asian Golf understands that the owners are very encouraged by what they have seen so far and have decided to embark on a major renovation of the clubhouse to re-locate the facilities to the benefit of both the golf operation and F&B. Daiman 18 is well on its way to becoming a great city public golf course again. Its glory days have been brought back by the steadfast focus, drive, passion and initiative of a team of 33 dedicated employees and the vision and belief of a manager that all hope was not lost. Daiman 18 is a shining example of how a golf course can be brought back from hell. Well done Raja and your team of heroes!




FASHION TREND FootJoy VersaLuxe

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FASHION TREND FootJoy VersaLuxe uick to recognise this trend, FootJoy, the world’s number one shoe in golf has rushed to market with a stylish new range of golf shoes that it has tagged as “VersaLuxe”, footwear, that embodies versatility and comes loaded with high-end luxurious materials and details. FootJoy reports that VersaLuxe shoes were designed to provide luxurious comfort on and off the golf course by utilizing golf’s finest leathers, stunning details and a fashionable yet versatile spikeless outsole. “For this assignment, our design team was challenged with creating a shoe that featured the ‘best-of the best” so a player could experience luxurious looks and feel on and off the golf course,” said FootJoy’s Timothy Yoong, Southeast Asia brand manager. “Our inspiration here was that timeless, super soft, supple leather chair that fits you perfectly after years of wear. These shoes were created with a similar commitment to exquisite materials, superb craftsmanship and the highest quality,” Yoong explained. “We want this shoe to be something you look forward to wearing for years as it molds to your foot over time and becomes more comfortable with every wear.” From the rich, super-soft premium SuppleLuxe™ leather by Pittards® of England and fine-grade stitching to the cork covered

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We want this shoe to be something you look forward to wearing for years as it molds to your foot over time and becomes more comfortable with every wear.” fit-bed and suede inner heel pocket, every detail has been meticulously considered in order to deliver a shoe that is the pinnacle of style, comfort and craftsmanship. Among the features and benefits of the VersaLuxe shoes are: Premium super soft SuppleLuxe waterproof leather by Pittards of England Suede inner-heel pocket, no slip comfort fit Full leather linings for mold-to-feet custom fit

Genuine cork-covered soft, ultra-comfortable fit-bed Versatile spikeless outsole New Lane last features a rounded toe character, full fit across the forefoot allows toes to spread and grip Contrasting and Tonal lace options included The shoes are now available in stores throughout Asia and the colours offered include off white, antique grey, brown and black. So, what are you waiting for – step out in style in the new FootJoy VersaLuxe – the all-purpose golf shoe!



SPECIAL FEATURE PING

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he man who took over the pioneering baton from Karsten Soheim was John Solheim, chairman and chief executive officer of PING. He is a fascinating man, who comes across as a very understated and humble corporate leader. However, don’t let this seemingly quiet persona deceive you because beneath this façade is a man who is driven by an intense passion to keep the cycle of innovation and change constantly in motion. For a taste of this passion, this quote perhaps will provide an insight to how Solheim runs his empire: “Sometimes at two or three in the morning my mind is

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supposed to be asleep but it is spinning so I’ll put a note together to the team. I send them emails because I know if I text them it will likely wake them up and I’m not trying to wake them up. If I want to wake them up I’ll send them a text. I’ve got a lot of employees with an awful lot of smarts. It’s a great group of young people but there’s a few of us older guys around to keep them online.” In the years that Asian Golf has covered PING, we have come to accept the company as an organization with its foundations firmly anchored on “patience” and “technology”. PING has never been known to get drawn into a battle just because

everyone else has done so. “Being private not having to publish everything is huge. We’re an unknown to our competition because they don’t know how we’re going to move or how we’re going to react. We want to beat them with product and we do that. And it frustrates them to all get out,” is how competitive Solheim can get. This is testimony to how PING operates. An example of how Solheim attaches the importance of patience to everything he does can be seen in how brand ambassador Bubba Watson has evolved since he signed on with PING. According to Solheim, my people said, “Why in the world are you hanging on to Bubba Wat-


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SPECIAL FEATURE PING son?” Then I said, just give him time. It takes golfers time.” He went on to add, “All of a sudden he makes it on the tour and he wins a tournament. OK, now they understand. Then he wins the Masters. He’s one of the biggest phenoms out there.” On technology, Solheim adopts a very hands on approach to new product development. He takes on an inspirational role and an excellent example of this can be seen in the company’s new range of “G” series clubs. Influenced by Solheim’s guidance, the new line employs a diverse array of technologies, including unique-to-Ping elements that borrow from transportation aerodynamics, biomimicry and materials science. The end result are drivers, metalwoods and irons that break new ground for the company. Solheim is a one-of-a-kind leader – a very special man and a true golf visionary. Asian Golf was accorded an exclusive interview with Solheim and the following are excerpts from that discussion:

ASIAN GOLF: The last 18 months have witnessed tremendous momentum at PING largely generated by the trend-setting pace of the revolutionary G30 “Turbulator” driver. It’s been quite a game changer for PING and the equipment industry – would you agree? JOHN SOLHEIM: We’ve been very pleased with our business for the last couple of years. The entire G30 Series and specifically the turbulators certainly played a role in that success.

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The benefit of the turbulators helped make the G30 driver the top selling driver around the world for the last year. It’s certainly been noticed by the entire industry as we’re seeing a greater emphasis on aerodynamics in driver design.

AG: As the old adage goes, after the G30 what do you do for an encore? We ask this question not because we doubt the depth of technological know-how that exists in PING but more in expectation and anticipation – what does the company plan to do to push the envelope that much further to come up with the next big thing at PING? JS: PING is built on always improving on its product. We don’t introduce new products until we’ve proven to ourselves they are better than before. We do a lot of research and testing to build our knowledge base so we can consistently predict a product’s performance well before we bring it to market. The recently launched G Series is a perfect example of that. In all categories, we have brought measurable performance improvements which is helping golfers play better and enjoy the game more. AG: In the “battle cage” for dominance in the club equipment world,

we have witnessed the various combatants try to get the edge over each other by pushing the limit on MOI, COR etc. How much more room is there, working within the constraints of being compliant with the rules laid down by the USGA and the R&A, to bring about more change?

JS: We’re confident there is a lot of room for improvement. We continually tweak our designs, look for new materials and manufacturing methods which will allow our design engineers to develop better products. Fitting is another area that offers significant opportunities to help golfers hit the golf ball farther, straighter and more consistently and the tools are just coming of age. AG: When we speak about change in technology insofar as club equipment is concerned, do you see major paradigm shifts that break away from being essentially “iterations” of older technologies? JS: We have an extensive knowledge base that we rely on throughout our design process. We know what works in club design and what doesn’t. Our long-term approach to our business keeps us focused on developing products that perform. We

Our approach to product development ensures we’re consid considering all these variables as we look to improve perfor performance. It’s an endless and rewarding effort to uncover areas that lead to technological ad advancements that help golfers play better.”


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don’t chase fads or other trends that don’t lead to improved performance.

AG: In what area do you see technological change being most pronounced and paramount? Will it be in the area of materials and weight? JS: Technology moves fast, so we can’t just pinpoint one area as being more important than another because we may lose our focus. Our approach to product development ensures we’re considering all these variables as we look to improve performance. It’s an endless and rewarding effort to uncover areas that lead to technological advancements that help golfers play better. AG: As drivers, woods and irons evolve, we notice that the biggest change is taking place in the hybrid category of clubs. Rather than being just an extension to fairway woods, hybrids seem to be making a bold and assertive move to breaking out and establishing a whole new category of clubs. What are your thoughts on this evolution and given the playability and power of these clubs, do you see hybrids becoming the club of choice over irons for many players? JS: Hybrids have been an important category for many years as we have looked to help golfers create the proper set make up. While easier to hit for many golfers when compared to long irons, we continue to promote their role in the fitting process to ensure golfers have the proper distance gaps throughout their sets. We don’t expect them to replace irons but we do see some set make-ups that might include a few more hybrids than in the past.

AG: Shifting gears, PING continues to be a privately held company and holding its own in what is generally described as a very “turbulent” industry. We have seen some of the major players pare down their operation while there is talk of further cut-backs in 2016. What is your outlook for PING against this backdrop? Looking at the innovations that the company is working VU [OL TVVK PZ KLÄnitely looking bullish! JS: We’re very fortunate to work in a wonderful industry and to be part of a great game. We choose to look positively on the game’s

future and will continue our efforts at growing its popularity by designing products that help make the game more rewarding and enjoyable.

AG: As PING continues to grow and expand under your leadership, are there any plans in place for the handing over of the baton to the next generation of leaders? JS: We have a strong group of leaders at PING that includes members of our family’s third generation who play a key role in the day-to-day operations and are taking on more and more responsibility. My three sons and my niece lead that group. I really enjoy working with them and plan to do so for the foreseeable future. AG: PING has come a long way since Karsten Solheim established this legendary brand working out off the family ack over the home. How do you look back years – share with us your thoughts on e company, its the spirit that has driven the d its most improducts, its technology and portant stock, its invaluable human capital. JS: Those were very special timess that I often think about. I learned so much from m Dad. His approach to problem-solving was genius enius and his work ethic and determination on had a tremendous impact on me. Working g side-by-side with him prepared me to o lead the company as I do today. We place tremendous value on our employees as they carry on his vision for making PING the leader in golf equipment design, innovation, quality and service.

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SPECIAL FEATURE PING Custom Fittingg

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lmost everyday at our fitting centres we have golfers coming in to seek help with their driver. I’m sure you know someone that fits the description. Driver problems are very common but can also be easily solved in many cases. Driver problems can generally be classified into the following categories: 1. Distance issues 2. Consistency issues 3. Swing issues More often than not, golfers with driver problems display two or all three types of issues. How do we diagnose these issues accurately and systematically? Perhaps more importantly, how can we help the golfer displaying these issues with their driver? Following is a general guide we use. It will give you a rough idea how proper

fitting can help your driving game if it is an area you struggle with. It is by no means exhaustive as there are more complicated cases. My best advice is to see a qualified clubfitter for an accurate assessment and recommendation.

1 Distance Issues

Although every golfer would like to hit the ball further, the laws of physics dictate that each one of us will have a maximum distance we are able to hit a golf ball. Our maximum driving distances tend to correspond with our individual clubhead speed at impact. We define distance issues as instances where a golfer could realistically be hitting further given his/her clubhead speed at impact. We can easily determine clubhead speed and maximum potential distance with the help of modern fitting tools like launch monitors and fitting software.


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Maximum distance is achieved with proper carry and roll

Correct Flex

Low trajectory

Shaft too stiff

‘Ballooning’ trajectory

6KDIW WRR ÁH[LEOH Note: Consider impact position on the clubface.

Inconsistent Impact Pattern .oss of average distance & accuracy May benefit from a shorter driver

Consistent Impact Pattern Increased avarage distance & accuracy

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With the right ball flight data like clubhead speed, launch angle, spin rate, clubfitters can advise golfers where they may be losing potential distance. By optimizing each golfer’s individual launch angle and spin rate, clubfitters can help golfers gain additional distance with their drivers and hit more fairways at the same time. While this may be a simplified description of the process, the relationship between optimal ball flight and maximum driving distance holds true for all golfers.

2 Consistency Issues No matter how long a golfer hits his drive, the ball must be in play for it to be useful. The ideal driver is one that maximizes distance and finds the fairway consistently. For this reason, manufacturers are constantly researching and developing ways to increase the Moment Of Inertia (MOI) in drivers. MOI measures the clubhead’s resistance to twisting on off-center hits. It is sometimes referred to as forgiveness. Even top Tour professionals choose drivers with very high MOI factors. For the rest of us, it is a nobrainer. The higher the MOI of a driver, the more fairways we are going to hit, period. Good clubfitters know this and help each golfer find the right type of driver that not only maximizes distance but also the accuracy and consistency for the golfer. For this reason, PING not only produces drivers with the highest MOI factors in the industry, it offers three versions catering to golfers with different issues and needs:


SPECIAL FEATURE PING Custom Fitting lower excessive spin rates with extremely low CG placements and unique high-friction finishes. Although many golfers may think they can benefit from lower spin rates, it is actually possible to have insufficient spin and lose distance. For example, a golfer with an average clubhead speed of 85mph needs between 2,300rpm and 3,000rpm of spin to maximize the overall distance he/she will get from a driver. Any less spin will cause the ball to begin descending too early, resulting in a loss of carry distance.

3 Swing Issues

Tour professionals like Bubba Watson know the key to long, consistent drives lies in getting the right fit by working with PING Tour Representatives who are qualified clubfitters.

TRAJECTORY ANALYSIS HIGH SPIN Try less loft, firmer shaft, higher flexpoint Optimum launch window

LAUNCH ANGLE

LOW SPIN Try more loft, more flexible shaft, lower flexpoint

PING Clubfitters use state-of-the-art fitting equipment to determine and provide the optimum spinning drivers for the golfers they fit.

Standard The standard version offers maximum MOI with high-launch and low-spin characteristics for the majority of golfers in the market. About 65% of golfers we fit in Asia find this version the best for them.

Straight Flight Technology (SF Tec)

Even though distance and consistency issues can be overcome with the help of properly fitted drivers, a large percentage of driving woes are actually caused by mechanical or swing issues. This is precisely why the best players in the world spend countless hours under the tutelage of the best swing coaches in the industry. This principle applies to golfers of all skill levels. Identifying swing issues with the help of a competent swing coach and working on improving our golf swings should be a lifelong pursuit for all golfers, even if we have been playing the game for decades. So which should come first, proper driver fitting or swing lessons? It’s the proverbial chicken or egg dilemma. There are differences in opinion but the facts are clear. Even after undergoing lessons OPTIMUM SPIN and swing improvements, very few golfers’ swings ever change so dramatically that they need to change drivers. Many premium drivers today have adjustable features to fine tune ball flight even after swing changes have been effected. You can therefore get fitted for a new driver before, during or after swing lessons without worrying about having to change the driver midstream. So, wait no more. Go visit your nearest clubfitter and be on your way to longer, straighter and more consistent drives!

This version is designed for golfers with a natural fade of slice in their ball flight. The Centre of Gravity (CG) in this version is located closer to the heel to help golfers square up the driver face to reduce sidespin and promote a straighter ball flight. About 25% of the golfers here in Asia will add yardage and hit more fairways with this version.

Low Spin Technology (LS Tec) About 10% of the golfers we fit generate excessively high spin rates, even with stiffer, lower torque shafts. LS Tec drivers are designed to

Centre of Gravity in PING drivers are located low and towards the back of the driver for maximum Moment Of Inertia.

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Adjustable hosel technology in PING drivers allows the golfer to set or change to five different settings


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Thai Country Club www.thaicountryclub.com Tel: +66 (38) 570-234 inquiry@thaicountryclub.com The Peninsula Bangkok www.peninsula.com Tel: +66 (2) 861-2888 pbk@peninsula.com


GAME IMPROVEMENT

We are now well into 2016 and in many parts of the word, the weather is becoming more favourable towards playing golf. This being the case, there will be THU` HTVUNZ[ `V\ ^OV HYL ISV^PUN VɈ [OL K\Z[ from your golf clubs and hitting the fairways again. Keeping this in mind, ASIAN GOLF’s resident golf guru would like to get everything “back to square”. So, regardless of where you are, if you are having KPɉJ\S[` ^P[O ÄUKPUN `V\Y Z^PUN VY ^VYYPLK HIV\[ getting your game back in shape, just remember one simple thought…Get “Back to Square!”

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like sharing a simple lesson with students to get them “Back to Square” - both in their golf game and with their lives. Alumni students who know me very well, always send me a message which reads: “Pro Tony, I’m getting back to square!” It’s a really good feeling to hear that. We often get bombarded with so many golf tips on how to hit it farther. It’s best to get back to the basics, focus on the fundamentals, and keep things simple. When we over-analyze or ‘think too much’ the brain gets overloaded. In golf, you’ll get many tips and advice, but the bottom line is that when the clubface contacts the ball in the centre and the clubface is square, the ball will travel to the target. We have all seen people with really different backswings and follow-throughs who somehow manage to hit it long and straight despite defying every conventional theory on the proper golf swing. It’s about keeping it simple and returning the club ‘back to square!” Many golfers are prevented from playing as well as they could because of a misunderstanding about the golf swing. In fact, the path of the golf swing is one of the most commonly misunderstood aspects of the game. With the many years of experience in teaching and coaching, there is one main factor that I always make sure students understand and learn in order to make their golf game simpler and better. It’s clubface contact. Centre contact to be exact! If you hold any club and tap against its toe with your fingernail, you can feel the grip twisting in the thumb and finger with which you are holding the club. Continue tapping closer and closer to the centre of the club-

MAY 2016


GAME IMPROVEMENT face, and you will find the twisting diminishes and eventually ceases at which time the contact feels very solid. When you make a shot and contact the club toward the toe or heel, the club twists. When it does, rather than being fully compressed, the ball is allowed to escape some compression and therefore will travel a shorter distance. You can safely assume that for every quarter inch (.6 cm) the contact is off-centre, you will lose 5 yards of distance. Assuming that your setup is correct, a principle factor in achieving centre contact is balance. If the player has the clubface centered on the ball and his weight is balanced in his feet at address, maintaining that balance ensures that the distance between the centre of the player’s swing and the ball remain constant and the path of the clubhead can return centered on the ball.

So remember, the shaft of the golf club tracks the target line on the backswing and the forward swing. The clubhead is square to the target line only at impact. At any other point in the swing the clubhead is never square to the target line. Instead the clubhead is always perpendicular to your arm line.” Square Contact – When the clubface arrives square to the target line during contact, the ball will receive the greatest compression and have the potential to travel the furthest. Having the club arrive square is a result of the club being square to the target line at address position, the player being centered on the club, the grip being correct, and the use of a swinging motion. So remember, the shaft of the golf club tracks the target line on the backswing and the forward swing. The clubhead is square to the target line only at impact. At any other point in the swing the clubhead is never square to the target line. Instead the clubhead is always perpendicular to your arm line.

Drill: Brush the grass. In order to understand the proper swinging motion, set up to an imaginary ball in some high grass. Assuming the address position and your setup is correct, begin making mini-swings and half swings. Notice the clubface getting back to square at centre. Do this brushing motion so you can better understand what must happen at impact to make sure the ball travels to the target. Trust me, get back to square in both your golf game and in your life, and you’ll have many happy moments!

ABOUT TONY MEECHAI Born and brought up in the United States, Tony Meechai won his first golf tournament at the age of nine. He began working in the golf industry when aged 15 and competed in various Mini-Tour and PGA Tour qualifiers after turning professional in 1994. Armed with a Bachelor’s degree in Business Administration from New Mexico State University and a degree in Marketing and Professional Golf Management, he has made a name for himself in Asia over the past decade, during which time he has served as Director of Instruction at Thailand’s Heartland Golf Schools and Springfield Royal Country Club as well as presenting tips on numerous region-wide golf television shows. His signature Black Hat Golf Camps and Schools offered at various clubs in Thailand, including Lotus Valley Golf Resort, portrays the unique curriculum and teaching philosophy. Recently, he co-founded the International Preparatory Golf Academy at The American School of Bangkok, which combines an academic and golf education program for junior golfers. Voted 2015 Top 3 Best Professional Golf Coach in Asia Pacific, he continues to strive to grow the game of golf in Asia. For further information, please visit www.tmggroupasia.com or email to tony@tmggroupasia.com.

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www.tmggroupasia.com



GAME IMPROVEMENT Pro Tour Golf College ´2XU GHĂ€QLWLRQ RI \RXU JROI DELOLW\ LV GHĂ€QHG DV WKH VXP WRWDO RI \RXU WHFKQLFDO SK\VLFDO DQG VWUDWHJLF JROI VNLOOV SOXV WKH NQRZOHGJH DQG H[SHULHQFH WKDW \RX SRVVHVV DW DQ\ JLYHQ WLPH RQ WKH JROI FRXUVH Âľ David Milne (left) and Lawrie Montague (right).

In our previous articles for Asian Golf we touched on how you can WYHJ[PJL TVYL LɈLJ[P]LS` VU [OL driving range to transfer your skills into better performances on the golf course. 64

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n this article we want to continue with this theme of practicing to improve your play on the golf course and to start with we want you to answer the following 5 questions, so we can help you to understand where potential roadblocks in your game come from, and how they could be sabotaging your ability to perform on the golf course. 1 Do you mostly hit your golf shots better on the golf range than you do on the golf course? 2 Do you hit many shots with the same club to the same target with the idea of grooving your golf swing? 3 Do you feel more relaxed when practicing on the range, but you feel quite nervous when you play?


ISSUE 188

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www.ProTourGolfCollege.com

book “The Inner Game of Golf” shared the following equation that explains to a great degree why golfers struggle to take their range game to the golf course.

PERFORMANCE (Golf Course) 4 Do you tend to spend at least 70 percent of your practice time practicing your long game? 5 Do you practice using random swing tips you have sourced from friends, the internet, magazines, books etc? If you have answered yes to at least 4 of the 5 questions, then you are very likely setting yourself to be a successful “golf range practicer,” rather than a successful “golf course performer”. Why? When you practice your golf skills on the golf range “scraping and firing” golf shots as golf mentalist Chuck Hogan would say, with a low level of intention, and a low level of focus, you are unknowingly conditioning your nervous system to associate your golf range practice with a low level pressure activity. Consequently, when you go and play on the golf course, and you have to hit shots in a totally different environment with different challenges, your level of intensity and commitment rises to a level well beyond the level where you practiced it, and your golf game goes into cardiac arrest and collapses! Tim Gallwey in his excellent golf

= POTENTIAL (Access > 70% of Golf Skills and Ability)

ï INTERFERENCE (Distractions on the Golf Course)

Golf Ability = Your Golf Course Proficiency: Our definition of your golf ability is defined as the sum total of your technical, physical and strategic golf skills, plus the knowledge and experience that you possess at any given time on the golf course. These areas of skill can be managed effectively on the golf course with the right type of golf practice program. Rather than working with information that is random in nature, and not specific enough for your particular needs, you should employ the services of a competent PGA / LPGA professional to help you to assess and then identify the skills and knowledge you require to help you play better on the golf course. Now it is absolutely critical that you arrange regular golf course lessons with your instructor to learn how to manage your thinking and behaviour in a golf course environment. The rule to remember here is 70 percent of your golf instruction should be golf course based, and 30 percent should be golf range based.

Golf Interference = The Lack of Ability to Focus on One Shot: This can be defined as anything that obstructs, interferes, or distracts you and your ability to perform on the golf course. This interference can be from an


GAME IMPROVEMENT Pro Tour Golf College

internal source, such as feelings of anxiety, fear, embarrassment or even fatigue. Or it can come from external sources such as your playing partners, the type or style of golf course, the weather (wind, rain, heat and cold), and also the pace of play. Gallwey’s simple equation Performance = Potential – Interference clarifies that your goal should be to manage interference at all costs if you are to perform closer to your potential on the golf course, and you can do this by learning coping skills that help you to keep interference as close to zero as possible.

The Tunnel Focus Practice Routine One simple practice routine that will help you to perform better on the golf course is to practice hitting sets of 5 golf balls with a complete and consistent pre-shot routine, and without looking at anything other than the ball that you are hitting and the target you are hitting towards. Imagine as you address your shot that you are in a narrow tunnel and you cannot see anything outside of it. You hit each shot within your set of 5 shots with the explicit goal of achieving perfect target focus from beginning to end. Now this is important. At the end of

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every shot you hit, stay in your finish position and watch the bounce of the ball until it comes to a stop. Keep your eyes on the ball despite the interference that is going on around you and maintain consistent composure or self-control at the same time. In our experience the majority of golfers we observe at driving ranges are practicing with continuous external distractions and an inconsistent pre-shot routine, so they never really learn how to get their practice routines down to zero interference, or at least manageable interference levels. As outlined in our previous articles, you should design your practice sessions specifically to simulate the way you want to play on the golf course by narrowing your focus down to a specific target with only one swing key or cue, this will help you to manage the different sources of interference you will face. “Every great player has learned the two Cs: how to concentrate and how to maintain composure.” – Byron Nelson Be mindful that your ability to compete successfully on the golf course must be developed before you reach the first tee, so it’s crucial that you learn how to keep your focus in the tunnel, and follow the flight of your ball all the way to the target.

So the next time you play on the golf course (especially in competition) start to take note of the things that distract you or pull your attention away from hitting your shot to the target. Mentally jot down what your main sources of interference (internal or external) are and make sure you read next month’s article in Asian Golf where we will show you how to implement simple to learn coping strategies that will help you to develop a champions level of focus and confidence. Until then, Good Golfing

DAVID MILNE AND LAWRIE MONTAGUE OWN AND OPERATE PRO TOUR GOLF COLLEGE’S IN PERTH WESTERN AUSTRALIA, AND JAKARTA, INDONESIA. THEY CAN BE CONTACTED AT PROTOURGOLFCOLLEGE@GMAIL.COM



ASIAN GOLF ISSUE 189

Annika Sorenstam – An Exclusive Chat

The Scourge Of The Millennials

Sorenstam, arguably one of the greatest female Annika golfers of all time gave up competition golf nearly

of the largest demographics in world population is made up Oneof Millennials – those between the ages of 18-35. Unlike previ-

ous generations, this is a group of young people who are changing the world in terms of how they think, how they consume and how they recreate. It is also a group that does not show the type of interest in golf that the game needs to keep it growing. Asian Golf takes a long hard look at the challenges that Millennials pose to the growth of the game of golf especially in Asia.

nine years ago. Since then, the women’s game has changed tremendously. It has heralded a new era, the “Asian Era” which continues to see more and more Asian players dominate at the highest level of women’s professional golf. Asian Golf had the opportunity of meeting with Sorenstam and to get her views on the state of the women’s game and how it is growing in Asia.

– New Experience

our special focus report on golf courses, we take a look at InLaguna Phuket, a golf course that was put through a thorough renovation exercise recently. But it was a renovation with a difference. The renovation was not contracted out. Instead, with the services of a golf course architect, Laguna Phuket undertook the renovation by utilizing in-house manpower and services. How ingenuous! This is what most golf clubs should be considering and Asian Golf applauds Laguna Phuket for taking things under its charge.

For all the latest news and views from the Asian golf scene, subscribe to Asian Golf – Asia’s most powerful golfing voice!

www.asiapacificgolfgroup.com




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