Making His Mark

The HKGA is funded through a variety of ways, including by the subscription fees that readers of this magazine pay each year. Presumably you’re now working on generating new revenue streams?

Yes, that’s one of the areas that I think there is a definite opportunity to explore. The more revenue streams we have, the more we can do for golf in Hong Kong. We are fortunate to have support from a number of corporate partners, but none more so than EFG Bank, which has supported our junior development programme over the past few years. The results of that support speak for themselves.

So yes, we are looking at bringing in a number of other major partners in different categories. We have a sponsorship programme that we’ve put in place and are talking to a number of blue-chip brands. Watch this space.

All being well and other revenue streams are found, what will the funds be spent on?

Junior development is always going to be a major part of what we do, and one area we are looking to expand in 2014 is at the grassroots level. Our current development programme starts with the EFG Bank Junior Golf Series, which is for kids aged seven and upwards who already play the game to a certain standard. What we really want to do is take golf to kids who may not otherwise have the opportunity to play; to really spread golf, to cast a wider net. Those who show interest and are keen to pursue it would then be given access to courses and coaching in Hong Kong. Once they’ve attained a certain level they would then graduate to the existing development programme.

In many ways we’ve become a victim of our own success. We ‘lose’ a number of our international squad players every year to colleges in the United States, who thanks to their performances for Hong Kong have been given golf scholarships. This in itself is wonderful but it does mean we need to continually rebuild our teams. Starting a grassroots programme will, in the long term, help to this end.

And what about new initiatives for the HKGA’s core group of subscribers?

Absolutely. With increased funding and close cooperation with venues in Hong Kong we are looking at creating more opportunities for golfers of all abilities, genders and ages. We’re also looking at opportunities outside of Hong Kong. We want to develop an attractive package of benefits to our subscribers. The more corporate partners we have, the more benefits we can feed to subscribers.