Golf clubs experience contrasting fortunes in membership prices after land lease announcements

SINGAPORE — Despite the news that the Government will take back about 10ha of land from Tanah Merah Country Club (TMCC) when its lease expires in 2021, the value of the club’s membership has increased by at least 15 per cent since the announcement was made less than three weeks ago.

Membership prices currently range between S$125,000 and S$140,000, compared with S$108,000 previously, said membership brokers.

“The damage to TMCC is not much, with just their backyard taken away by the Government,” said golf membership broker Ms Fion Phua from Tee Up Marketing.

“It is a positive sign for the club, with its leases otherwise extended and the Government compensating it with a sum of money to reconfigure and renovate its premises.”

TMCC is one of five golf clubs whose leases expire between December 2021 and December 2023 that were affected by the Government’s announcement on golf club land leases on Feb 16. Even though its leases for its Garden and Tampines courses will be extended to 2035 and 2040 respectively, the club will need to give up about 10ha of its 18-hole Garden Course. This means that it will lose six holes, three tennis courts and two storage sheds.

A TMCC member, who only wanted to be known as Mr Ng, said he did not think members were in a rush to sell their memberships. “In fact, I think with the new developments expected, that there will be compensation from the Government and potentially some land in return from the Singapore Land Authority, we will be even better.”

TMCC is not the only club to experience a rise in club membership prices. The value of memberships for Changi Golf Club (CGC) and Seletar Golf Club (SGC) has also gone up. Both clubs will have their land leases extended to 2040. Ms Phua said the price for CGC’s membership has gone up the most — by up to 60 per cent from S$5,000 to S$8,000. SGC has also seen a 20 per cent rise, from S$38,000 to S$45,000.

However, it is a different story for the price of a Singapore Island Country Club (SICC) membership. Membership brokers told TODAY that the price has fallen about 9 per cent from S$208,000 to S$190,000, and is expected to fall further.

Although SICC will have the leases of its two Island courses extended to 2040 when the current leases expire in 2021, one of its two Bukit courses will be run as a public course by the labour movement. The lease extension for the other Bukit course — to 2030 — is conditional on the club working with the labour movement on how the courses will be reconfigured to share facilities. An agreement must be reached by February next year.

“Some golfers are taking advantage of the situation, and even asking as much as half of SICC’s price of S$208,000 before the announcement,” said Ms Phua.

Ms Madeline Choo, membership broker and Director at Active Golf, agreed. “I expect the prices to fall further too, if SICC fails to work out a plan to share its other 18-hole course with the public by next year. The fate of its other golf course is still hanging,” she explained.

Meanwhile, membership brokers also told TODAY that they have seen an increase in enquiries on Malaysian golf club memberships from Singaporeans, although none have been sold yet. In the past month, there have been about 10 inquiries, said Ms Phua and Ms Choo. Previously, they would get only one or two inquiries per month.

However, Ms Choo noted: “Because the prices are already so cheap, there is no need to be a member and enjoy a discounted rate.” It is understood that it costs about S$40 for a round of golf in Malaysia on a weekday for members of the public, and double that price for weekends.