Unlike a tennis court or soccer field, which is nearly same all over the globe, none of the approximately 40,000 golf courses worldwide can be identical to another. There are mountain courses and seaside courses which look particularly attractive based on scenery and elevation changes. Then there are desert courses and courses that have been carved out of dense forests. The constant change and challenge for players generates billions of dollars of golf travel dollars worldwide. Being an outdoor sport which last for 4-5 hours per 18 hole round, golfers also travel in search of ideal weather. In the winter they leave the cold northern climates in search of the sun which makes the northern winter the season of highest revenues for tropical courses.

Asian countries have been quick to capitalize on golfers’ search for the winter sun. Besides their sun kissed beaches, our ASEAN neighbors have also developed world class courses which complement top quality hotels, restaurants and shopping. Thailand and Malaysia have cashed in on this opportunity better than anyone else through extensive facility development and global marketing efforts.

Perhaps lesser known but in no way inferior is Indonesia and Bali in particular. On the island of Bali, the Nusa Dua area is an example of a government planned community fueled by private funding — an example of public private partnership and a perfect example of how a cluster of hotels, restaurants and shopping with a world class championship course and some savvy marketing has created a successful business model.

The Bali Golf & Country Club in Nusa Dua, built in 1990 is surrounded by five top class five star resort hotels which include well known chains like St Regis and Novotel. The famous Nusa Dua beach is close by. A well laid out gated complex controls access to this master-planned resort area. Within the master-planned area is a complex known simply as the Bali collection — an assortment of restaurants, boutique and a supermarket laid out in a picturesque open air plaza — the entrance reminds you of an amusement park.

When the complex was ready, the Bali government decided to market and advertise the course through a series of world class golf tournaments. In 1994, 1995 and 1996 they hosted the Alfred Dunhill Masters which attracted worldwide TV audiences through the participation of top stars Nick Faldo, Vijay Singh, Colin Montgomerie and others. This quickly established the region’s attraction to golfing tourists in Europe, Asia and Australia.

Since traveling golfers expect a choice of more than one golf course, the Nirwana Bali Resort, less than an hour drive away is another world class facility with three spectacular cliff top holes where golfers have to tee off across the surf. As developers in India examine business models and make revenue assumptions based on golf tourism revenues, successful cluster models such as this one in Nusa Dua, Bali should be considered strongly.

Today in India, only Gurgaon presents a cluster of three world class golf courses which could be complemented by the old world charm of the Delhi Golf Club and Greater Noida’s Jaypee Greens. With the new international airport and new Gurgaon hotels scheduled to be completed by 2010, winter season golf tourism in Delhi should be ready to go. Combined with day excursions to Agra and Jaipur and one day sightseeing of the capital, the package should be complete.

The next two cities which might offer a package are Kolkata and Bangalore. Kolkata because it offers the experience of playing Royal Calcutta Golf Club, the oldest golf club in the world outside the British Isles along with the quaint Tollygunge Club, if combined with the Victoria Memorial, old world ambience of Bengal Club, could be particularly attractive for British Tourists looking to connect with the days of the British Raj.

Bangalore might attract new age businessmen who could combine visits to offices of Microsoft, Genpact, SAP, Infosys and Wipro with golf at the Eagleton Golf Resort, the Karnataka Golf Association (KGA) club and the 150 year old Bangalore Golf Club. This could be called “The World is Flat Golf Tour” because the opening line of that best-selling book (The World is Flat) mentions the first hole of KGA where shots are aimed at the IBM office building located behind the first green.

Golf Tourism is available to any destination with a clear marketing and differentiation strategy. In Bali, the courses overlook the beaches and oceans and are well marketed. In India we can come up with our own unique selling points. If India can get a complete package, we too can make golf tourism work in our favor.

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