Money

Swinging into business for Irish entrepreneur

By Lara Farrar (China Daily)
Updated: 2010-03-23 10:25

There are those working to cultivate China's taste for fine French wines. Others introduce the country to luxury cars. And then there is Mick Quaid, whose goal it is to teach as many Chinese as he can, not only to play golf, but how to play it well.

In 2006, Quaid established his first golf academy, Mick Quaid Irish Golf, at the National Training Center in Beijing where he has since been teaching mostly wealthy businessmen and government officials how to swing a club.

"There are certain things you can buy and there are certain things you can't buy," said Quaid. "Golf is one of the very few sports you can't just replicate even if all of the money in the world is thrown at it. It is about the environment. It is about feel and touch."

In China, a lot of money is, in fact, thrown at golf. Even though it is technically illegal to build golf courses here, hundreds, perhaps even thousands of greens are projected to open across the country in the next few years.

Banned until the mid-1980s, golf's popularity has been steadily increasing alongside China's steadily growing GDP: You have to be rich to play it here and there is no shortage of Chinese growing richer.

Joining a club would cost an average $53,000 in 2008, according to consulting firm KPMG. Quaid charges 1,000 yuan per hour for those who want to work with a Western golf pro. For Chinese instructors, rates range from 300 yuan to 700 yuan for a 60-minute lesson.

However, there are indications that the hobby enjoyed by the wealthy might soon become more accessible to the mainstream. Last year's decision to add golf to the 2012 Olympics ignited State interest in developing the sport along with speculation China will debut its first professional team at the next summer games. This means it is finally time for Quaid to tee off, so to speak, with his plans to establish professional golf training academies anywhere and everywhere he can.

"My business is only starting," said Quaid, a dapper 52-year-old from no other country than Ireland, where golf is more a religion than a sport. "I have sacrificed five or six years preparing for and investing in this."

Quaid landed in China nearly a decade ago with the intention of setting up a business to sell artificial putting greens to hotels and leisure centers. At that time, the industry was still relatively immature, which meant demand for expensive fake grass to hit golf balls on was below par, to say the least.

To boost brand recognition of the imitation putting green venture, Quaid decided to return to what he knows best: coaching.

Back in Ireland, Quaid ran a professional golf training company, Mick Quaid Golf, at some of the world's premier courses, including Glenlo Abbey Golf Club in Galway and Ashford Castle Golf Club in County Mayo in eastern Ireland.

Before that, he spent time training for the PGA Tour (though he never made the Tour, he played in a number of PGA satellite tournaments across Europe). On several occasions, he placed second in the world in World Golf Teachers Cup tournaments in Europe and the United States.

Through some lucky connections and a donation of a $300,000 putting green to the National Training Center in Beijing, Quaid established Mick Quaid Irish Golf.

Around that time, the Idaho-based Jack Nicklaus Academies of Golf approached Quaid to help set up their training operations here.

Nicklaus Academies has since launched its first pilot program in partnership with the Kingrun Nanshan Golf Club in Chongqing.

And there are plans for many more golf schools. This year, Quaid says programs will be launched in Shanghai and Xiamen, among other locales.

"No doubt, there will be great golfers coming out of here," said Quaid. "But it will just take time. There is an awful lot to teach about hitting golf balls."