10 | siGn OF tHe times
richard Chamberlain, david Burrup, Graham Papworth
Sign of the times or business as usual?
By david newbery
the recent closure of Palm meadows Golf
Course on the Gold Coast sent a shiver
through Australia’s golfing community, but it
was a relatively minor tremor on golf’s richter
scale. At least, that’s how Australian golf course
architects and designers Graham Papworth,
david Burrup and richard Chamberlain see it
despite the closure of other courses including
Queensland’s Kooralbyn resort, sorrento
downs (victoria) and samford valley Golf Club
in Brisbane. it’s been a challenging couple
of years for many resorts and golf clubs as
witnessed by the rise in the number of “FOr
sALe” signs that have popped up around the
country. Both st Andrews Beach in victoria and
Kennedy Bay in West Australia were closed
before being reopened by new owners and
members saved the Cut (WA) from uncertainty
when they purchased the club. And despite
a number of new projects being put on hold,
Papworth, Burrup and Chamberlain believe
there won’t be a Palm meadows aftershock
and that golf’s sky isn’t about to fall in.
instead, they say, it’s business as usual.
Golf industry Central caught up with the trio at
a recent Golf managers’ Australia (Queensland)
meeting and posed the following questions.
Golf Industry Central: How is the golf
industry travelling and how has the global
financial crisis affected your business?
Graham Papworth: it’s hard to assess. it’s been
pretty flat for the whole of the financial crisis
– about 18 months or so – but since the start
of the financial year i have had more interest.
it’s looking a bit more positive from my point
of view, but i am not representative of some
of the larger guys (golf architects) who work
internationally more often.
David Burrup: Personally i am going okay
in redesign and reconstruction. there’s still
interest there but it’s not as great as a couple
of years ago. Clubs are definitely looking at
their expenditure and money is not as freely
available. i have had some ongoing clients
over the years that are loyal to me and they are
keeping me active. Generally the enquiries are
less and people are not pushing the button on
the bigger jobs as they might.
Richard Chamberlain: it’s been quiet, which
isn’t a surprise. i am getting a pretty good
feeling at the moment that there’s a little bit of
life coming back into it. since i went solo about
a year ago, i have got the Wembley course
in Perth where i have done a few bits and
pieces. i did some follow up work and went to
some trade shows, but it hasn’t kicked on like
i thought. they (West Australia) are doing it
tough and just haven’t got the money to fork
out for architects.
GIC: Did the closure of Palm Meadows come
as a shock and what could have been done
to avoid it?
GP: i think that happened because they
probably didn’t do a feasibility study in the first
place. i was involved there when it was being
built and the Japanese didn’t really care how
much they spent and that’s being reflected
now that it doesn’t support itself. so, when it
gets to that point someone decides it’s better
off closing it rather than continuing to lose
money. if it had been properly thought out
and designed to a budget they’d have enough
clientele to make them viable and they’d have
a far better chance of survival even though it is
hard to turn a profit on any golf course, really.
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