Golf News

SURVEY: GOLFERS IN INDONESIA

Author: GOLF PROMO INDONESIA - Dennis G. Kloeth

This report serves the purpose of giving estimation as to how many golfers we have in Indonesia without it wanting to claim to be giving an absolute accurate figure. Afraid of giving an insight to outsiders, golf course managements tend to hesitate revealing the exact amount of members they have on the books, resulting in the figure they are giving to vary from what the actual figure may be. However, and only due to a long standing relationship we have with the golf course owners and/or their general managers, we were able to get the information we needed to write this report and come up with numbers that are as accurate as they possible can be.
Therefore, we may assume that the figure we got from the various owners or their managers may as well be the official figure too, or, that whenever it differs, it only does so by not more than 5 to 10%.

In order to come to a relatively accurate picture on how many golfers we have in Indonesia, we have collected data in two specific areas;

1. ROUNDS PER MONTH
and
2. MEMBERSHIPS

1. ROUNDS PER MONTH

In comparison to membership figures, we feel a more accurate figure was given with respect to the amount of rounds a golf course may do on a monthly basis. By revealing these figures, we suspect however, that some courses may inflate this figure a little due to reasons of "image building" and safeguarding the image (or presumption if you will) of their course being a popular course.

The popularity of a course is measured by its "rounds per month" figure. The popularity of a course is the direct result of a combination of factors. First and foremost the price for a round of golf, the location of the course and how challenging the course is. Secondly, an important factor in the popularity of a course is the service and the amenities it offers its patrons. Soewarna (Cengkareng) has proven that the combination of an accessible, friendly and affordable course that offers a good F&B package and where patrons are served by sexy clad females guarantee a return of patrons by the thousands a month.

The figures in both the area of membership and that of rounds per month, again, are estimations, and once again, thanks to our long standing relationship with the better golf courses in Indonesia, we may assume that they are relatively accurate.

2. MEMBERSHIPS

The Jabotabek region boasts 35 golf courses. With the exception of the Jakarta Golf Club, Senayan, Ancol, Pangkalan Jati, Sawangan, Pondok Indah, Halim I & II and Jagorawi Golf & Country Club - the older courses and golf clubs - all of the Jabotabek courses were developed during the early 1990's and started operation around the mid nineties (we refer to the latter as the new courses and golf clubs).

The old courses basically have a membership that is made up from (older) Indonesian citizens who in the early days of golf in Indonesia (1950 till 1980) were privileged enough to play the game of golf. They were either a member of the so called establishment, or they were members of the armed forces (Halim I and Halim II and Pangkalan Jati are courses that are owned by the armed forces).

In comparison with today, in those early days a membership was often based on a "share" in the course or club. These shares were either bought by a golfer, or given to a golfer as an incentive or as a friendly "exchange in kind" of sorts for services rendered.
Shares in those days were costing about Rp.5 million (then equivalent to approximately $2500 to $3000). Today, these shares may be worth up to Rp.150 million or about $15,000. Up till about the mid 80-ties, golf in Indonesia was considered to be a "rich men's" game.

In the early nineties, the new Jabotabek courses (27 in total) opened up the game of golf to a much wider audience and basically they were responsible for the expansive growth of golf in the greater area of Jakarta. The new courses also embarked on expensive marketing campaigns to sell their memberships (no shares). Prices for these memberships were ranging from $25,000 up to $75,000 or more, but, in a booming Indonesian economy the sky was the limit. So much so, that numerous golfers purchased a membership for even more than one course or golf club spending membership fees in excess of $150,000 up to $200,000.

In the days of "milk & honey" (1995-1998) however, not everybody was able (or willing) to spend that much money on memberships and soon after starting operation, stagnation in membership sales occurred forcing the new courses to open up their greens and fairways to even non-members. A large contingent of expatriates working in Indonesia became the new target market for either short-term memberships or, (and mostly during weekdays only) "show-up" play without even holding any kind of membership.

Towards the end of the nineties Indonesia was hit by the financial melt down and sales of memberships came to a grinding halt. The fore mentioned expatriate- and "show-up" golfers (more or less) saved the new courses from going down completely. Today, the majority of golfers in Indonesia are from the expat community, with the Koreans and the Japanese leading the pack. Today, golf in Indonesia is the fastest growing sport.
In spite of a rapidly growing golf market, however, due to a combination of factors like poor financial management of owning companies during construction and start-up period, plus the financial melt down result in troublesome pay-back (ratio 1 : 4) of US dollar based loans from rupiah based income. Approximately 17 new courses in Indonesia today fall under the responsibility of IBRA (Indonesian Bank Restructuring Agency).

Buying of memberships in Indonesia today, can be considered "a good bargain" if one takes into consideration that a full fledged membership currently is offered for Rp.40,000,000 for the lesser reputed courses, up to Rp.100,000,000 for the better reputed courses (against a rate of Rp.10,000 for one dollar). Of late, even a vivid second hand membership market is emerging based on the fact that golfers try to sell off multiple memberships of less popular courses and purchased during the days of "milk & honey".

JABOTABEK (Jakarta, Bogor, Tangerang & Bekasi) GOLF

Based on our information, we can safely assume that the majority of the 27 new Jabotabek courses have a membership of between 800 and 1200 members. Some of Indonesia's most reputed and prestigious courses are known to have between 2000 and 2500 members.
To stay on the safe side, we put the average membership number of a new course in the Jabotabek region on 900 members making up for a total figure for the 27 new courses of about 25,000 active members (3 rounds or more per month - locals and long staying expatriates with own businesses in Indonesia and corporate memberships). Including the older courses this figure may be even as high as 31,500 (for all of the 35 Jabotabek courses).

Short term memberships make up for a second and additional market in membership sales and especially the expats, of late, have taken up these memberships by the hundreds.
NOTE: The above mentioned figure of 31,500 is excluding the short term membership count. A term membership is a membership for a period of one year and has to be renewed every year while the average price tag for a term membership is between 10 and 15 million rupiah ($1,000 to $1,500).

Popular courses in Jabotabek are Pondok Indah, Pangkalan Jati, Soewarna, Jagorawi and Klub Golf Bogor Raya to name but a few. A popular course can easily do between 4 and 6000 rounds per month.
Based on our information, we put the average figure for rounds per month on the Jabotabek courses on 2800 per course. Multiply that figure by 35 and we may put the total amount of rounds per month in the Jabotabek region on 98,000.

More than the membership figure, however, the "rounds per month" figure has tremendous significance since this figure gives us an insight on how many people play golf on a regular basis resulting in generating of income on green fees, but more importantly so, on F&B.

Membership and "rounds per month" numbers outside of Jabotabek is a different cup of tea all together.

BANDUNG GOLF

Bandung golf, due to its close proximity to Jakarta (only a three hour car or train ride) is very popular with weekend golfers and business people from Jakarta. With four courses (Giri Gahana, Bandung Indah, Dago and Arcamanik Golf Club), Bandung offers a perfect golf environment and that is very affordable too.
Bandung's most popular course is Giri Gahana and mainly with golfer's families due to the quality of its "on course" hotel facility that offers many amenities and entertainment for the family.
Membership at the four courses totals to about 2500 while rounds per month to about 10,000.

YOGYAKARTA GOLF

Yogyakarta only has two and a half courses; Merapi Golf and Adisutjipto (both 18 holes) and the 9 holes Hyatt course (that is more of a recreational course). Golf in Yogya is predominantly played by locals and sometimes by visitors who come to Yogya for reasons of business or holidaying.
Merapi is by far the most popular course and generates an average of about 2500 rounds per month. Adisitjipto does about 2000 rounds per month and is mainly used by the armed forces and local government people. The total amount of club members does not exceed 800.

SURABAYA GOLF

Surabaya is Java's second most important golfer's hub and with six quality courses it's attracting not only golfers from the region, but of late certainly also golfers from Jakarta and Bali. An active promotional cooperation by the combined Surabaya courses during foreign travel fairs made this golf city known particularly to golfers in Australia, Malaysia and Singapore.

In comparison with Bali, Surabaya golf is very affordable and like Bali it offers golf of high quality too. Especially Finna and Taman Dayu are popular courses with Jakarta based golfers and not in the least because of their location in the mountainous region 40 km south of Surabaya. Both courses are challenging and offer an attractive lodging package.

In town, the Ciputra, Bukit Darmo and Graha Famili golf triangle is popular with the Surabaya based golfers as well as with the visiting business men and women. These three courses are located all within a wedge shot from each other and offer great accessibility to town and very affordable golf.

Yani Golf Club is Surabaya's oldest course and basically caters to local Surabayans, government officials and armed forces personnel.

The average membership figure per course in Surabaya is somewhat lower than in Jakarta and lies at around 500 per course making up for a total figure for the 6 courses of about 3000 active members.
The average figure for rounds per month is about 2800 and makes up for a total figure of about 16,800 rounds.

BALI GOLF

Golf in Bali mainly is played by visitors and tourists. With Bali Golf & Country Club, Bali Handara Kosaido and Nirwana Golf & Spa Resort, Bali offers three great courses. The 9 holes course near Sanur is a fourth course that can be played. Although the Bali courses (except from Handara Kosaido) have a membership list, this list is not nearly as important as the rounds per month generated which can be set on about 3000 rounds per month for Bali Golf & Country Club, 3000 for Nirwana and about 1500 for Bali Handara, totaling to about 7000 rounds per month for the three courses. This figure is very low, but due to the price for golf in Bali (between $125 and $150 for a round) the bottom line is that it generates more hard cash in comparison with most of the courses in the rest of the country that do many more rounds per month.

SUMMARY

In spite of the economic crisis, golf in Indonesia is a fast growing sport. Especially in Jakarta the amount of people that are flocking the driving ranges (with peak hours between 4 and 8pm) and that are eager to be introduced to the game of golf is stunning. All of these people, at one point in time, will be going on to the course and will be buying better equipment, if they haven't done that already.

Indonesia's golf environment is relatively healthy, but would be served with a much higher influx of foreign golfers. Indonesia's fabulous world of golf & leisure could easily be the country's biggest money maker in tourism. Thailand brings in some 250,000 foreign golfers annually. Indonesia's turbulent past years and its poor safety record (reputation if you will) abroad, however, has not been of much help in turning the coin for its tourism industry, including its golf environment that is not only of extremely high quality, but even more importantly so, that is so very, very affordable.

Tourist promotion for Indonesia abroad, so far, has not put the country's fabulous world of golf & leisure in the right spotlight and a more focused and tangible effort should be made in that direction. But before that can be done, the government has an important role to play by creating a more stabile society including a safe environment for foreign visitors. Sweeping of Americans in the city of Solo has created a lot of bad press abroad and has called to a halt (at least for a couple of years) the slowly rising figures in foreign tourism.

The government needs to play a more active role in policing radical minority groups who put their own agenda over and above that of the government and the people of this great nation. As long as that does not happen, high hopes will for ever remain high hopes for the return of foreign tourism, notably an industry that once, with 6 million visitors annually, generated an income second only to oil & gas.

NOTE: We personally have called the golf managers (or course managements) in the various regions (cities) for information on membership numbers and "rounds per month" numbers. With them we have agreed to keep all information on memberships given to us "confidential" and therefore we are not able to reveal membership figures related to an individual club to any third party.