IN FOCUS: With all public courses set to close, what is golf's future in Singapore?

28 Apr 2024

According to the R&A Global Golf Participation Report 2023, the total number of golfers in Singapore was 120,000 in 2022 compared to 80,000 four years before. But whether this interest can be sustained remains a key question, as access to public courses dwindles. Such courses are seen as a way of getting into the sport as playing on them does not require the high membership fees needed to play at private clubs. They are also seen as helping to change the perception that golf is a rich person’s pastime in Singapore. Mr Chow Kim Nam, deputy director of SP School of Architecture & the Built Environment, said that it is “highly likely” that more golf courses will be repurposed in the future. “Many viable urban solutions are already at play, including land reclamation, innovative adaptive repurposing of older buildings, mixed-use developments, and intensifying land use,” he said. “However, these have limits in our city-state. Existing golf courses can open more land to be used equitably by the greater population.”

[CNA]