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Q&A – Interview by ESCAPE magazine
Interviewee:Mr.Ken Chu – Vice Chairman, Miion Hills Group
Interviewer:Mr.Craig Stephen – golf writer in ESCAPE magazine
Date:February 16, 2007
Time:10:00
Venue:Property show house V3C22
1.What does hosting this event mean to Miion Hills and can you tell us
something about what went into securing such a major event?How would you rate this event versus other big events held in China to date?
• Historical significance: world’s top level golf tournament, labeled as “The
Olympics of Golf” , returning to MH after 12 years and staying for next 12 years • Uniquene of event: the only world team stroke play event with prize purse
of US$5 million(high prize money)
• High exposure of MH and golf in China: broadcasted in 148 countries and
regions, bringing eyes on China
• China’s road to the international: from Beijing Olympics, F1 in Shanghai to
World Cup in Miion Hills
• Recently announced Omega as 12-year title sponsor, showing large firms
like Omega, their interests and confidence in China market in whole, golf in China, and also to Miion Hills
• International goodwill through golf:two-man teams from as many as 28
nations, World Cup was founded by John Jay Hopkins to promote goodwill between nations around the world(matches with MH’s miion “promote international goodwill through golf”)
• Economical effects of international events in China:economic benefits of
World Cup being hosted in China at MH
• first time for World Cup to stay in one country for more than 1 year, reinforcing
Miion Hills’ influence in China’s golf history
Bridge effect: door for the world to China, window for China to the world
through golf – Miion Hills’ strategic location between Shenzhen and
Dongguan, and its proximity to Hong Kong
Education in Miion Hills – David Leadbetter Golf Academy, Chinese Athletes
Educational Foundation.Helps bring Chinese golfers to the historical world of golf in the western world through hosting of World Cup in MH;watching World Cup at MH = participating in historical turning point of China golf, witneing how World Cup changes the landscape the golf development in China
Synergy: the world’s largest golf club(216 holes), to host the most prestigious
golf event(World Cup of Golf)in China, the fastest growing country in the world
Page 1 of 5
Prepared by Communications-Winky Wong on Feb 7, 2007
Experience in hosting international events and tournaments –Tiger Woods
China Challenge in 2001, first Dynasty Cup in 2003 and the second in 2005;last year’s the inaugural Goodwill Trophy, Miion Hills Asia Pacific Open
Amateur Championship, and last week’s Faldo Series Asia
2.What kind of preparations will be involved?
• Advertising and promotion – promote the World Cup of Golf in Miion Hills,build awarene and public praise of World Cup’s presence
• Regular course maintenance and inspection for the tournament itself,spectators, and TV broadcast
• New hotel in Dongguan
• Opening of our new Dongguan Clubhouse to cater visitors from all over the
world.The Clubhouse, at 630,000 square-feet in size, situated at the heart of Dongguan courses, combining conferencing, recreational, and F&B together in a location surrounded by greenery and the excitement of golf
3.How many visitors, media and players might be attending?
• Media: around 200 with the consideration of TV broadcasting in 148 countries.Inaugural Goodwill Trophy: over 120 media
• Players: 2-man teams from 28 countries
• Visitors: depends on our capacity to cater all the visitors.Expecting more than
20,000.4.How did you come to choose the Olazabal course?
• One of our 10 existing championship courses situated in Dongguan
• Apart from World Cup Course and Faldo Course where the other international
tournaments took place, a good opportunity to have other courses to have
more exposure, together with the newly open Dongguan Clubhouse
• One of our most challenging courses with 155 bunkers altogether and 24 in
hole 15, the signature hole of the course
5.Will it rotate around courses in the future?
1.How many members do you have?
Miion Hills is a member-club.However, we usually do not disclose the number of members.2.How big is your mainland/ Hong Kong membership?
We have 60% of Hong Kong members and 40% of mainland.3.How many games of golf are played each year?
On a normal weekday, 1,500 rounds are played at MH on average, and 2,500 rounds on weekends.We have a record of 3,000 rounds on a peak day.There were 450,000 rounds of golf played in year 2005, last figure showed in mid of December 2006 projection for year 2006 was 500,000, i.e.growth rate at about 10% pa.4.Any interesting celebrity members?
To protect the privacy of our members, we are not able to provide this piece of information.1.How big do you intend to get after 216 holes?
Miion Hills does not only aim at being the largest but also the best.Apart from 216 holes, we have been hosting a number of profeional and amateur
tournaments and visits: •hosted the inaugural Goodwill Trophy co-organized with our reciprocal club, theCeltic Manor Resort, in last November.• Hosted 41st World Cup of Golf in 1995, which was the first international golf tournament being held in China
• Host venue of World Cup of Golf for 12 years beginning from November 2007 • Host venue of the 1st and 2nd editions of Dynasty Cup
• Apart from the visits paid by our golf courses designers, Miion Hills hosted Tiger Woods’ first visit to China in 2001 • The inaugural edition of the Miion Hills Asia Pacific Open Amateur
Championship was played in November
2.What is the secret to achieve such scale and still offer high service quality?
Miion Hills is the world’s most desirable golf environment bringing people and communities together;we continue to provide world-cla, unique and exhilarating recreational, conference, and residential experiences.We aim to be not only the largest, but also the best.With two more new courses opening later this year, a new spa boutique hotel and the Dongguan Clubhouse, we aim at maintaining and upgrading our existing facilities and golf course services and standards all at the same time.3.With so many courses springing up in China, what keeps MH ahead?
As the Miion Hills golf experience grew to include residential properties, we were
also envisioning the idea of communities and a way of life built around the premise of healthy living, leisure and wellne.We hope to be on the forefront of this emerging trend of residential communities built around the premise of wellne.We have the benefit of the leisure component with the golf and other leisure/resort facilities onsite plus nature, which adds a far richer experience.Staying here for a weekend is a great getaway from the busy city life.1.Do you get many overseas visitors, encourage destination packages?
Miion Hills welcomes overseas visitors and very often they come in a group.We do work with travel agents on arrangement.2.Can I ask about your ability to cater for family groups?
Miion Hills is a golf community rather than a simple golf club – Country Club
which houses Asia’s largest tennis center, among the largest in Asia’s Miion Hills Spa, resort, recreational facility, children’s playground
1.How do you select profeionals to design courses?
In order to bring the best elements from the world, designers come from all the five continents.The designers have won many international golf championships, and some are the most influential golf course architects.The courses wholly reflect the style, skills and design philosophies of each designer, offering a unique challenge found nowhere else in the world.2.Are all the courses championship level standards or some more resort golf?
Apart from one of the new courses, all the other are championship golf courses.Zhang LianWei’s par 3 course is a great complement to the existing championship courses and caters to both young and experienced golfers.3.How much involvement does the designer have?
From choosing the turf to the whole architecture, the designers are highly involved in the course development.They also come back to Miion Hills to inspect on
their designs.E.g.Annika Sorenstam paid her second visit last December and Nick Faldo also checked his course when he was here last week for the inaugural Faldo Series Asia grand final.4.How long do they typically take to build?
It used to take a year to build the first five courses in Shenzhen.The five courses in Dongguan were built in 2003-2004 all at the same time.1.MH has grown very fast, is golf’s popularity in China becoming similarly big?
When we look at China’s golf history, the first and most important factor that helped shape its path was the developing progre of various economic regions.As
indicated by the geographic distribution of golf courses in China, 57% of them are located in 3 of the major economically vibrant regions: the Pearl River Delta, the Yangtze River Delta, and the Huan Bo Hai Region.If we draw a comparison
between golf, GDP and foreign investment in local markets, it is evident that golf in China is developed following the market prospects rather than random allocation.It is totally in par with the speed of local economic development.Especially in the three economic regions where a high concentration of foreign investment is located, golf facilities have become one of the compulsory factors for investment
consideration.In that way, as long as the economy grows in the Pearl River Delta, there are a lot of rooms for golf to grow also, which we believe will be on an upward steady trend.2.Gra roots golf.What is MH’s doing to encourage young golfers?
•Miion Hills has linked up with the Chinese Athletes Educational Foundation
(CAEF)to establish and co-sponsor a programme to develop young athletes as the next generation of top golfers in China, and the world
• MH has also become the Home of Faldo Series Asia, which is aimed at
identifying and nurturing the next generations of players in Asia
• Miion Hills David Leadbetter Golf Academy continues to offer youngsters the
chance to experience and learn about golf through a series of summer and
winter camps
