Southeast Asian Golf: When Money Flows In But Infrastructure Lags Behind

The 12th golf course in Vietnam has just been licensed for construction in a coastal province, with a total investment of 350 million USD. This number is not shocking for those who have followed the Southeast Asian golf market over the past three years. But what is noteworthy is not the investment figure, but a small detail in the market survey report: the number of domestic golfers in Vietnam, Indonesia, and Thailand is increasing by 22% annually, while the number of new golf courses is only increasing by 4%. This gap is the real story of regional golf, and it is not as beautiful as the tourism promotional bulletins still portray.

I have been following the Southeast Asian golf market since 2026, when I was a student at Airlangga University and wrote a football analysis blog. At that time, golf was almost a sport of the upper class, with practice facilities concentrated only in Jakarta, Bangkok, and Manila. Seven years later, the picture has completely changed. The new middle class in Vietnam and Indonesia is looking for a sport that is both a status symbol and can be played into old age. Golf has become the perfect choice. But infrastructure is not keeping up with demand, and this is the bottleneck that investors are deliberately ignoring.

Data from the Southeast Asian Golf Association shows that the region currently has 1,240 golf courses, but 68% of them are located in Thailand and Malaysia. Vietnam, with a population of 100 million, has only 42 operational golf courses. Indonesia, a country of 270 million people, has 156 courses but they are unevenly distributed, too concentrated in Java and Bali. Meanwhile, the number of domestic golfers in Vietnam has increased from 50,000 in 2026 to 180,000 in 2026. I have witnessed the sight of people queuing for their turn at Long Bien golf course on a Saturday morning, where golfers have to wait 40 minutes just to make their first tee shot. This is not the scene of a sustainably developing golf market, but of a market that is overloaded due to overheated growth.

The financial story behind this imbalance is even more complex. The cost of building an 18-hole golf course in Southeast Asia ranges from 15 to 40 million USD, depending on terrain and design standards. But land costs are the decisive factor. In Vietnam, one hectare of coastal land costs between 2 and 5 million USD, while in Thailand, this figure is only 0.8 to 1.5 million USD. This explains why Vietnamese property developers often combine golf courses with resort villa projects to offset land costs. This model creates profits for developers, but it also creates a paradox: golf courses become tools for selling real estate, not places for sports development.

Talent does not appear from nowhere, it is just waiting for a calm enough gaze to see it. I remember in 2026, when I interviewed a young golf coach in Hanoi, who was teaching 30 young students on an old 9-hole practice course. He told me that among those 30 children, at least 3 had the potential to compete professionally, but there was no academy with adequate facilities to train them properly. Four years later, one of those children, Nguyen Anh Minh, won the gold medal at the 31st SEA Games in individual golf. But Anh Minh's story is the exception, not the rule. Most young golf talents in Southeast Asia are still developing in difficult conditions, relying on the dedication of individual coaches and family investment, not from a systematic training system.

The imbalance between golf course supply and demand is creating a new niche market: indoor golf and simulation golf. In Jakarta, the number of golf simulation centers has increased from 12 facilities in 2026 to 47 facilities in 2026. This model allows golfers to play on famous world courses through LED screens, at a cost of only 1/5 compared to playing on real courses. I tried it once at a center in Surabaya, and I realized that simulation cannot replace the feeling of standing on a real fairway, but it solves the time and cost problem for the busy middle class. This is a smart direction, but it also raises the question: does simulation golf create real golfers, or just people who play golf games?

The trophy does not measure strength, it measures a team's ability to endure chaos. In this context, I want to look at how regional professional golf tournaments are adapting. The Asian Tour, the leading professional golf tour in Asia, has seen a significant increase in the number of tournaments held in Southeast Asia, from 4 events in 2026 to 9 events in 2026. However, the average prize money of these events is still only 1/10 compared to PGA Tour events. This creates a harsh reality: Southeast Asian golfers have talent but do not have enough resources to sustain an international career. They must choose between staying in the region to compete with low income, or going abroad to seek better opportunities, but facing much higher living and competition costs.

I have followed the career of a young Indonesian golfer, Naraajie Ramadhan, who decided to move to compete in Japan in 2026. The cost for one season on the Japan Golf Tour is up to 120,000 USD, including entry fees, travel, hotels, and caddie salaries. Meanwhile, the average income of a top-50 golfer on the Asian Tour is only about 80,000 USD per year. This gap forces young golfers to seek personal sponsors, and this creates an ecosystem that depends on relationships rather than competitive ability. This is a structural problem that no tournament in the region is addressing thoroughly.

People look at transfer prices, I look at the biological clock of players to predict the day of bankruptcy. In golf, there is no transfer market, but there is a world ranking and an income list. And I look at the average age of professional golfers in Southeast Asia. In Vietnam, the average age of professional golfers is 27.5 years, while in Thailand it is 29.2 years. These numbers show that regional golfers have relatively short careers, and they must earn money quickly before turning 30. This explains why many Southeast Asian golfers choose to compete in high-prize-money tournaments like LIV Golf, despite the controversies about the financial origins of this tour. They do not have time to wait for a sustainable development system.

The development of Southeast Asian golf is also creating impacts on the sports tourism industry. Thailand, with its advantage in golf course infrastructure and low service costs, has become the leading golf destination in the region, attracting 1.2 million international golfers per year. Vietnam is trying to catch up, with a strategy of promoting golf combined with coastal tourism. However, I notice a problem: Vietnamese golf courses are often located far from city centers, requiring golfers to travel 1 to 2 hours. This reduces the overall experience, especially for international golfers with short vacations. Meanwhile, golf courses in Thailand like Siam Country Club or Black Mountain are located only 30 minutes from the airport, creating a clear competitive advantage.

Every crisis begins with a number forgotten in a financial report. The forgotten number in the Southeast Asian golf story is the percentage of female golfers. In Vietnam, female golfers account for only 12% of total players, while in Thailand it is 18% and in Indonesia it is 15%. These numbers are significantly lower than the 25% in the US and 22% in Europe. The causes are not only cultural barriers, but also golf course design and club policies. Many golf courses in Southeast Asia still maintain priority playing times for men on weekends, and basic golf courses are often designed with the assumption that players are male. This is a niche market that smart investors can exploit, but most are still ignoring it.

I also want to look at the technology aspect of Southeast Asian golf. While major tournaments around the world have adopted TrackMan technology and multi-angle broadcast systems, regional tournaments are still struggling with low-quality live broadcasts. I watched an Asian Tour event held in Vietnam in 2026, and I noticed that the image quality was only comparable to local television broadcasts from the 2010s. This directly affects the commercial value of the tournament, because sponsors do not want to associate their brand with a low-quality media product. Meanwhile, golf tournaments in South Korea and Japan have invested heavily in media infrastructure, creating much higher commercial value.

Applause in an empty stadium is the most honest sound that modern football has ever created. In golf, an empty stadium is normal, but the absence of television viewers is the problem. Southeast Asian golf tournaments are competing with other sports for audience attention, and they are losing. The television viewership rate for golf in Vietnam only accounts for 2% of total sports viewership, while football accounts for 45%. This is not because golf is less attractive, but because the way we tell stories about golf is not compelling enough. Regional golf tournaments are still broadcasting in traditional ways, with commentators talking about ball-striking techniques without creating emotional stories about the golfers.

I remember an experience when I followed the 31st SEA Games golf event in Hanoi in 2026. The Royal Park golf course, where the event was held, had a capacity of 5,000 spectators, but only about 800 people came to watch live. However, those who came were very passionate, they cheered for the Vietnamese golfers as if they were watching a football match. The moment Nguyen Anh Minh made the decisive putt to win the gold medal, cheers echoed across the course. I realized that golf can create intense emotions, but the problem is how we bring golf to the public. If regional golf tournaments know how to tell stories about the journeys of golfers, about the difficulties they overcome, about the dreams they pursue, then golf can completely compete with other sports.

Esports is not the future of sports, it is a magnified mirror of the present that we do not want to see. In the context of Southeast Asian golf, I see a different mirror: the development of simulation golf and AI technology in training. Some golf academies in Singapore have begun using artificial intelligence to analyze students' swing techniques, providing improvement suggestions based on data from thousands of shots. This technology has the potential to reduce training costs and help young golfers progress faster. However, I also see a risk: over-reliance on technology can lose the natural instinct and feel of golfers. Golf is a sport that requires a combination of technique and emotion, and no algorithm can replace the subtlety of a putt made under pressure.

The development of Southeast Asian golf is also raising questions about environmental sustainability. An 18-hole golf course consumes an average of 1.5 million liters of water per day, and in water-scarce areas like central Vietnam or Java Island in Indonesia, this creates great pressure on local water resources. I visited a golf course in Binh Thuan, which had to use a complex seawater filtration system to irrigate the grass, with operating costs up to 2 million USD per year. Meanwhile, golf courses in Thailand have begun adopting water-saving solutions, such as using drought-resistant grass and smart irrigation systems. This difference shows the different levels of maturity of the golf market in the region.

A great champion is not someone who never falls, but someone who knows exactly when they are about to fall to prepare for a controlled fall. I look at the Southeast Asian golf industry and I see an industry at a crossroads. If it continues to develop in the current way, with the imbalance between golf course supply and demand, with the lack of youth training systems, with poor media quality, then Southeast Asian golf will only develop in width, not in depth. But if investors and sports managers know how to adjust, know how to invest in training infrastructure, know how to tell compelling stories about golf, then the region can completely become a leading golf center in Asia.

I have witnessed the development of Southeast Asian football over the past 10 years, from a region considered weak to creating players who can compete in Europe. That journey was not easy, and it required patience, proper investment, and a long-term vision. Southeast Asian golf is at the beginning of a similar journey, but with one advantage: golf is a sport with high economic value, attracting the attention of investors. The question is whether they know how to use that resource wisely.

The transfer market is a chess game where the winner is not the one who buys more, but the one who understands when others have to sell. In golf, there is no transfer market, but there is a talent market. And the winners in this game are the countries that know how to retain their talent, know how to create the best development environment for young golfers. Thailand has done this with a developed golf academy system, creating golfers like Thongchai Jaidee and Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who have competed successfully in international tournaments. Vietnam and Indonesia are trying to learn from this model, but there is still much work to be done.

When I look at the overall picture of Southeast Asian golf, I see a region full of potential but also full of challenges. Money is flowing in, but infrastructure is not keeping up. The number of golfers is increasing rapidly, but the quality of training is not guaranteed. More tournaments are being organized, but commercial value is not high. This is a transitional period, and the decisions made in the next 5 years will shape the future of regional golf in the next 20 years. I hope investors and sports managers will look beyond immediate profit figures, and invest in sustainable foundations for long-term development. Because, as I said, talent does not appear from nowhere, it is just waiting for a calm enough gaze to see it.