THE PRIVILEGE OF MEMBERSHIP
Dragon Golf International offers its members in Singapore with access to top courses around the world. Founder and Managing Director Neil Douglas talks about why it may be the answer to the future of golf travel.
WHAT IS DRAGON GOLF INTERNATIONAL?
Dragon Golf International was created as a unique golf membership for Singapore golfers, expat golfers and new golfers who love to travel and create their own itineraries. We are increasing the network options almost weekly and now have over 70 top quality courses to choose from. Our main aim is to give our members easy access to booking golf tee times when they travel through our App and enjoy the feeling of being a member for the day at each of our network courses.
I came up with the idea due to 3 main factors – the loss of golf course options here in Singapore; the difficulty in booking tee times and; the cost of playing golf locally even as a member’s guest. Our aim is to allow easy access to golf courses in the region and keep the golfing community in Singapore growing.
WHY DO YOU THINK THERE IS A NEED FOR THIS SORT OF MEMBERSHIP PROGRAMME IN SINGAPORE?
Sadly as we all know, the rapid loss of golf courses to development in Singapore in recent times has taken its toll on options and driven up the cost and ability to own a private club membership, furthermore the closure of public golf options like Marina Bay has created a steady stream of regular golfers without golf memberships in Singapore to travel outside the country to play their golf, whether it be a day trip to Batam/Bintan or Johor or a multi-day day trip to Thailand, Vietnam or even further afield like Australia.
Other issues we are solving is giving members the ability to book tee times and travel and golf as a single golfer, husband and wife, regular four ball of friends who don’t fit into the category of a golf tour operator style holiday where there is usually restrictions like a minimum of eight people and a fixed itinerary. We believe our members want to choose their own accommodations and nowadays with booking apps for airlines, hotels and car hire at their fingertips it’s never been easier to create your own dream trips.
HOW DOES YOUR PROGRAMME COMPARE WITH OTHERS?
The idea is not new in itself, There are around 10 similar versions in the United States like Clubcorp and Troon and several similar memberships in Europe. However we are the first to launch the model in South East Asia.
HOW MUCH DOES IT COST?
The membership cost is SGD $6388, which can be split into three monthly payments when joining.
AND WHAT DO THEY GET FOR THIS?
Members receive 50 rounds of golf at any of our network courses over a three year period, also an official golf Handicap, access to our monthly medal events where you can play from any of our network courses and our yearly club championship. If after three years members have not used 50 rounds they may carry over the unused rounds to their next three years membership so they don’t lose out.
HOW FLEXIBLE ARE YOU WITH REGARDS TO MEMBERS’ REQUESTS FOR COURSES NOT IN YOUR LIST?
We are 100 per cent flexible, We ask our members to recommend clubs they would like to play in the future and we will certainly try to add them to our network as long as they fit within our fee structure. We do try to aim for destinations that are direct flights from Changi airport as golfers do not tend to transfer when flying with golf clubs too much. I have tried to base our network with 75 per cent of courses being within a two-hour flight from Singapore to allow easy travel to destinations.
WHAT OTHER BENEFITS ARE THERE FOR MEMBERS APART FROM TEE TIMES?
We have members entertainment evenings once a month that vary from Indoor golf events to business networking evenings. All our members receive a golf travel bag to transport their clubs when joining along with an official handicap if they require one. Our easy-to-use personal booking app is free once you become a member.
HOW DO YOU SEE THE DEMAND FOR THESE TYPES OF PROGRAMMES?
Singapore now has around 120,000 regular golfers and approximately 53,000 with golf club memberships. This has created a bottle neck of sorts at the courses. Golf is becoming harder to play here due to the lack of options and golfers will inevitably have to travel outbound more from Singapore. Dragon Golf International can book, confirm and pay all the green fees, buggy fees and caddy fees before you arrive. All our members have to do is tip their caddy after the round.
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