Wondering...

Guys and Gals, a serious questions for the Business people or anyone in Marketing...

Just wondering why it is so difficult for the Singapore Pro Golf circut to get sponsorship.

India has 20 events, minimum purse SGD 30k. And produces Champions

Thailand has 2 Tours, and produces Champions.

Malaysia even has 16 events minimum purse 160k RM. No champions yet but on the right track, so I wonder why Singapore cannot even manage 4 events this year.

What are sponsors looking for?

How is it they can get more value in these Countries than here?

Sponsors can get TV coverage, print coverage, Radio time.

We have a lot of talent in Singapore but how to develop it with no tournaments.

I would love (real) feedback as to how to grow the circut and produce a Champ, it is one of my goals...

Thanks...

Yo mate,

From a layman perspective, methinks the entry barrier or access to tv/press coverage is way too high in terms of $$$. Hence sponsors think twice about coming in.

International names/brands have signed up with tour games.
Local companies don't see the need to spend such marketing dollars.
And most importantly, local govt is not standing behind the sport.

This happens to almost every other sport in Singapore.
If they want to excel, they just have to import.

asahi wrote:

Yo mate,

From a layman perspective, methinks the entry barrier or access to tv/press coverage is way too high in terms of $$$. Hence sponsors think twice about coming in.

Hey bro, ok I understand, but then how (no offence) but in a 3rd World Country they can see the value?

Also the average Corporate Golf Day costs $20+K for one day, when a Pro event is 3-4 days plus Pro Am all covererd by media... surely that is more value for $$$$.

The Corporate golf day, yes your clients get to play, but in a Pro event they still get to play with top Pro's..

if you compare the size of singapore among those countries mentioned, you will have the answer.

2008 wrote:

if you compare the size of singapore among those countries mentioned, you will have the answer.

How can that possibly make a difference.

Hong kong for example has less courses than Singapore and more events.

Corporations will only look at ROI for hosting such an event.

I also wonder... esp when the corp head honchos and the elite class in this country seem to think a country club golf membership is very desirable. Even pap leaders play golf...

Let's compare with running!

We got adidas sundown, great eastern run, stanchart, jpmorgan, aviva, every woman magazine has its own run etc etc. There are so many.

Not enough golf fans in Spore? As sponsors, they want max exposure/audience for their advertising dollar.

Or is it chicken and egg? ie. Sponsors want to see proven world class sg player that draws fans before committing dollars?

There is simply no demand for a golf
Champion. Golf does not appeal to the majority of singaporeans , you d have better luck trying to groom a swimmer/bowler maybe even a
Soccer player. Ping pong no need to say...

There used to be a local tour called OAAG Tour. Justin won one of the tournaments under this tour, I believe.

http://golftour.oaag.com/index.php?pid=home

What happened to the tour? I suspect it also died due to the lack of sponsorship. Perhaps someone here who was involved in this project can give his/her insight.

pushslice wrote:

Or is it chicken and egg? ie. Sponsors want to see proven world class sg player that draws fans before committing dollars?

hmmm.....panji, you could be onto something here i.e. the mindset of the to-be-sponsors.

They have the moolah.....but when they think about the golfers turning up at their sponsored event, they worry about exposure for their branding hence holding back.

My sense is that someone need to be convinced to really dump some serious $$$ into a golf tourney without thinking of ROI.

Who and how that convincing is to be done......it is anybody's guess. But I figure if Sports Council can be roped in to give a push...maybe, just maybe.....

if our S-league teams have problem getting good sponsor, it will not be easy for the other sports to get sponsors... What will the companies get out of sponsoring a golf tour event in Singapore?

it could be that no one have a comprehensive plan for the companies or there is no interest in such events. Media will help if they is alot of coverage on our tour players but sadly, media only report what the public wants to know.

shorthitter wrote:

2008 wrote:

if you compare the size of singapore among those countries mentioned, you will have the answer.

How can that possibly make a difference.

Hong kong for example has less courses than Singapore and more events.

Its all about the population, number of supporters will translate to merchandise sale and brand exposure. Hong kong has chinese people going from mainland china.

Which is why LKY had from the start argued for a Malaysia because it is tough for us to survive without a large hinterland which is a large source of manpower as well as a huge market just like how China is to HK.

Well... it boils down to 2 major factors (imho)...

1) what's in it for the sponsprs to part $$$ for the event.
Many event organisers had great ideas to engage the correct "target audience" with the consumers that these sponsors want. The novalty of the event would also make sponsors picks up the idea, like how samsung picked up the roller-blade or OCBC picked up the Cycling event. The fact has already been correctly pointed out, majority of the brands do their own corporate golf event without to fight for "space' with competing brands. Unless you have tonnes of marketing dollars like barclay's.

2) What kind of backing you have to push for sponsorship $$$
S League is being push by the govt, while some charity sponsorship enable certain tax rebate on corporate.

Lets face the fact, in a corporate world, its all about "what's in for me"... ultimately, the person signing for the sponsorship agreement needs to report to higher authority or even shareholders...

It would be interesting to see how we can develop this... looking at the local landscape, i am sure with the right developments, we can produce some stars from this little red dot of the world...

if u ask many of the local players...they only know Tiger Woods....even if he did come to Singapore, most of them are not interested in watching him play......

Plus most of the better Asian players are from South Korea, Thailand and China (and now India)..thus the big interest there...

Same as why Singapore is so interested in Table Tennis...a relatively low interest sport world wide.

it could be as simple as one Singaporean winning it big (PGA) and earning top dollars..... this will require more investments from Gov (not just $$, but support locally....just a simple question, can a Singaporean young golfer afford to play 3-4 times a week? hit 10,000 balls? golf 1st AND 2nd studies 3rd...? Will parents support their kids to play golf? Is there a good future (vs being a doctor or Lawyer etc) if the golfing career does work out?

tronos wrote:

if u ask many of the local players...they only know Tiger Woods....even if he did come to Singapore, most of them are not interested in watching him play......
...

Really? Remarkable.

Thanks guys, some good comments, I still think the population/size of Singapore is not a good argument.

Northern Ireland is not much bigger than Singapore, with a population of about 1.8 million, and they have 3 Major Champs in the last year or so.

Also, India about a Billion people, How many of them have heard of golf? lets say 3 million max, how many of them have heard of Hero Honda, probaly a Billion...

So this sponsor is still pumping $$$$$$$$ into the game, for what? The whole Country knows his product.

Do you not think a Company would get a better ROI from sponsoring a Pro event that gets 4 days of Media coverage, plus they still get a game with the staff and clients, than a half day event at a golf course that may get a quarter page in a magzine somewhere?

Mate. U not watching rugby?? Still got time to write such long post?? Blacks leading 5-0!!!

SH,

I think the blunt facts is just that as a whole, SG dont have the needed passion and love for sports enough to pour $$$ and time in it. In the end, it all about the selfless interest to grow talents and opportunities for kids. May be the answer that you are looking for is a stronger and selfless SPGA that want to do more for this country other than just playing golf or business as usual.

Its not that SG arent capable, may be they havent thought about future...and what they can do it. Instead, we are sitting idle pondering we can do for ourselves now.

Apologies if i offended anyone, it wasnt intended too...

Khorkar wrote:

SH,

I think the blunt facts is just that as a whole, SG dont have the needed passion and love for sports enough to pour $$$ and time in it. In the end, it all about the selfless interest to grow talents and opportunities for kids. May be the answer that you are looking for is a stronger and selfless SPGA that want to do more for this country other than just playing golf or business as usual.

Its not that SG arent capable, may be they havent thought about future...and what they can do it. Instead, we are sitting idle pondering we can do for ourselves now.

Apologies if i offended anyone, it wasnt intended too...

On the contrary, this is great feedback!

What do you think the SPGA could do to enhance itself and make it more attractive to Corporate Singapore?

Unlike lesser "Coaching Certifying" bodies, the actual attracation of the SPGA is their members can play the game.

Any PGA is a non profit organisation, they need tournament fees to survive, others are "businesses" where they have to pass a certain amount of coaches to maintain bottom line for investors. PGA you are not good enough you cannot join.

Khorkar, I would love an honest blunt opinion how we can change this view. If you want PM or email mate... love to hear from you. As I said, one of my goals in life is to get a circut going here. There is nothing in it for me I just want to do this....

Thanks.

Have a new leader to head the spga ! That person must have the "cloud" ... And a respected figure locally ! Period.

Hey Captain my Captain, ok, point taken, but that is from a point of view of "you can use my course". not a sponsor point of view correct?

I know there is an issue with old members, but there is a whole new batch coming through...

This is where I am looking...

Lee36328 wrote:

tronos wrote:

if u ask many of the local players...they only know Tiger Woods....even if he did come to Singapore, most of them are not interested in watching him play......
...

Really? Remarkable.

you will be surprised the number of players not really into the pro thing..... this forum is as fanatic as it gets...and still its considered mild (there are some big LPGA fans here though).

Singaporeans are not really that fanatic about pro sports anything EXCEPT English Soccer..... Even then its only the big 4

for a small country, singapore has so many golf courses. I didn't realize the awareness is that low. Having been playing for only a while I think the big events are raising the awareness specially some of the big names (Els, Vijay, Adam Scott).

As to what is holding golf to be come a popular sports, I don't think there is any. MBGC range is always full (it wasn't before at least when I started a good 4-5 years back), so there is popularity there from that limited observation.

From seriousness perpsective, if we want some champion from Singapore then yes that is hard. The range is cheap and if you play once or twice a month it might be manageable for middle income and above. But talking about serious golf where you play 4-5 times a week and hit 500-1000 ball a day, we're talking about serious cash here, which means sponsorship. And I think that is one of the wall where people bumped into. The other wall would be the perception of RoI of such effort. Do people perceive that they can live decently from being a pro player with the number of tournament and rewards available ?