Other sporting grounds making way for homes include the Singapore Turf Club track on the island, which is able to host its final race in October, ending greater than 180 years of horse racing in the town.
The club’s former site within the affluent central district was also reclaimed by authorities last 12 months to construct a brand new housing development. Singapore’s only Olympic ice rink closed last 12 months to make way for apartments, leaving hockey players and figure skaters with no place to go.
“Golf has never been a factor to visit in Singapore,” said Mohit Sagar, an Indian expat who works for a content platform. Still, the golfer, who has been playing in the town for 16 years, expressed regret on the closure of the Marina Bay area. “You can play golf in Singapore, but you will never see a backdrop like this again.”
Marina Bay has been the flagship public course since opening in 2006, the one 18-hole course open to the general public. Designed by Phil Jacobs, the course has won quite a few awards, with the island’s signature par-three hole and a rare par-six hole difficult experts and laymen alike. It offered night golf, giving players relief from the year-round tropical heat. The government announced in 2014 that it might not renew the club’s lease when it expires in 2024.
Golfers flocked to the course in the course of the pandemic, when much of the town was shut down, having fun with a round of tee time followed by spicy char kway teow noodles and espresso martinis while taking in the town skyline from the elevated outdoor restaurant.
At its peak, golfers were playing as much as 10,000 rounds a month, up from 7,800 pre-Covid. Demand was so high that players needed to go surfing to the location at midnight to get a slot to play when latest slots were available.
“It’s obviously disappointing, but not surprising because I knew from the moment I arrived that it was going to close,” said Tom Hawker, an expat who has lived in Singapore for greater than a decade. The 44-year-old business consultant was resulting from play his last round of golf on Saturday on the course he has visited once every week in the course of the pandemic.
It is common knowledge in Singapore that the federal government will seize land, especially golf courses, to construct other facilities which can be in demand
With Marina Bay currently closed and the general public nine-hole Champions course closed in December, the last fully public course in Singapore is at Mandai, a nine-hole mostly northern course that was scheduled to shut in late 2024. he was given a two-year leave of absence after the federal government decided that “continued access to sport is essential for society.”
Another club that relocated in 2022 to make room for housing, Keppel Club, currently runs a hybrid 18-hole course at Sime with 60% of playing time reserved for the general public.
While foreigners can join private clubs, the limited supply of memberships will push up prices, said Singolf owner Lee Lee Langdale.
“It’s common knowledge in Singapore that land, especially golf courses, will be taken by the government to build other facilities that are in demand,” said Langdale, who doesn’t think that can make Singapore less attractive to foreigners. “Most expats don’t have much time to play golf anyway.”
Many individuals who need to proceed playing decide to travel abroad to play matches, she added.
“The easy option is to leave,” said Hawker, a British expat whose visits to the Marina Bay Golf Course recently dwindled to once a month as he opted to play more rounds abroad. “I can’t even come close to justifying the cost of a private club.”
