Mulpha swings at golf with new $60m development fund
Property and tourism company Mulpha Australia has established a $60 million fund to secure long-term leases of at least 20 years on under-performing golf courses or driving ranges and redevelop them into sport entertainment zones.
The Australian arm of Kuala Lumpur-listed Mulpha International is providing the equity and partnering with Avid Sports Management and Golf Australia on the PlayGolf Fund, a turnaround play designed to bring new people into the sport, chief executive Greg Shaw said.
Modernisation, technology, hospitality, inclusivity and time savings are key themes for the new venture at a time when the game is enjoying a pandemic-led resurgence with player numbers on the rise after years of decline.
Despite the bump in popularity, many council-owned courses and driving ranges, in particular, were struggling financially, Mr Shaw said.
“We see a real untapped potential to revitalise those facilities,” he said.
“I think golf is moving on. It’s still obviously a very strong game in the traditional sense, but more and more there’s an opportunity to introduce golf to a much broader audience and adding an entertainment and hospitality element to that.”
He did not give numbers of courses likely to be part of the fund, but said Mulpha was open to expanding the fund if there was sufficient demand.
The company would provide capital and take on the operational risk, offering a revenue stream for owners of existing facilities that had been under-performing and only appealing to a traditional golfing audience, Mr Shaw said.
“That’s becoming a big issue for councils, particularly where these more traditional golf courses are becoming a cash flow burden in many cases and not contributing earnings,” he said.
In other cases, ratepayers are agitating for the land to be released.
James Cooper, managing director of Avid Sports, which runs Golf Central in Brisbane and will handle the operational element of the venture, said the sport must evolve to attract new participants and that “entertainment-based golf” was part of the game’s future.
“I think the days of walking into the pro shop and ducking because the door is falling down, getting a half-warm pie out of the pie warmer, those days are gone. You’ve got to move forward,” Mr Cooper said.
The pitch to councils, which are being invited to apply for the scheme, is that they can still provide locals with a golf experience and generate revenue while using less land through technology.
For example, a new golf driving range need only be 60 metres long and 60 metres wide.
“We do that with netting but also substitute hitting the ball 250 metres with ball tracking technology so when you’re practising you can see the distance of the ball, but then you’ll continue to see it travel and see if it hooks or slices,” he said.
“Some councils are talking about getting rid of golf,” Mr Cooper said. “This is a great compromise.”
