From The Fairways: Future of golf lies in working together

Golf is a game of numbers and statistics - whether it is the total number of shots on the scorecard of the golfer, the yardage of a hole, the stroke index of a hole, the standard scratch score of a course and the computer calculation of a competition standard scratch that no one really understands, handicaps both exact and playing, the designation of equipment and even the rules of golf are categorised numerically.

The industry of golf, although a sport played for leisure with, in the UAE quality and service stressed by the clubs as a priority, is also reliant on the numbers game and the appropriate analysis and reaction to these figures.

Did you know that there are currently 4,992 registered golfers with the UAE Golf Association, 3,273 who are members of golf clubs and 1,719 who are non members of golf clubs and over the past 12 months up to 30th June this year, 183,472 rounds of 18 holes of golf or the equivalent were played over the seven golf courses of Dubai - Dubai Creek Golf and Yacht Club, Dubai Country Club, Emirates Golf Club (Wadi and Majlis), Jebel Ali Hotel and Golf Resort, Nad Al Sheba Club and The Montgomerie Dubai.

With the prospect of The Montgomerie Dubai opening officially in October 2002 and three further 18-hole golf courses proposed to open in Dubai within a further 24 months, the statistics issue must be addressed.

These three new facilities will result in a 46% increase in the number of golf holes in Dubai.

If the 183,472 rounds of golf in 2001 - 2002 are shared, over the existing seven and three new facilities, no one will be happy - the existing facilities will naturally have reduced play and the new facilities will not have the play they perhaps had anticipated.

Statistics for golf in Dubai are now being collated by independent auditors BDO Patel, and circulated to the clubs. This is a healthy scenario encouraged by the UGA that can be developed.

It can go nationwide to a UAE survey of rounds that for proper analysis must be broken down into members' rounds, domestic UAE rounds, and international rounds.

Ambitious though it may seem it can go even further and be regionalised to include Qatar and Bahrain, the other two key GCC golfing countries.

The growth of golf in the UAE and the region needs to be focussed on key markets. To know these markets we need to know the history of these markets and analyse their potential.

These statistics and the state of golf in the UAE have a significant impact on closely -related industries such as golf equipment and apparel suppliers and hotel rooms. These significant related area are golf's partners and should be embraced into the family.

A significant investment has been made by both Government and the private sector in the past, present and will be made in the future. It requires a concerted team effort by all parties, bodies as well as individuals.

The future provides, arguably the greatest challenge, for golf in Dubai and the UAE in its 25-year history and more especially for the past 15 years. It has come a long way in this time but in the next 24 months, it needs to go further.