International Course-Construction Capital

Matthew Erley & Evan Roosevelt | Old Tom Capital

A large share of new golf construction is happening outside the United States. The National Golf Foundation reported in 2024 that about half of the more than 500 course projects in development worldwide were outside the U.S., with Vietnam the most active, and in Saudi Arabia the Public Investment Fund and Golf Saudi expect the number of courses to more than triple by 2030.

The common thread is that these courses are rarely built as golf businesses. Developers use golf to raise the value of the homes, hotels and land around it. The more useful questions for investors are who funds these projects and why, how the opportunity changes as a project matures, and which participants capture the value a course creates. The answers suggest that the most attractive risk-adjusted positions in international golf development may not be in building the courses themselves.

Golf Is a Value-Creation Tool

Developers’ own disclosures show golf working as a sales tool for real estate. In India, the property developer DLF reported in January 2025 Rs 11,816 crore of new bookings in the first quarter of sales at The Dahlias, a luxury residential project in its golf-anchored DLF5 district of Gurugram, near New Delhi. In South Africa, the developer of Zimbali Lakes, where an Ernie Els course opened in April 2025, reported in October 2025 that its 57 Ernie Els Suites were 80 percent sold.

Research on U.S. golf communities explains where the value lands. A 2020 review by John Crompton and Sarah Nicholls in the Journal of Park and Recreation Administration found that premiums for vacant lots on the course were much higher than those for developed lots, and that premiums fell rapidly for homes one or two blocks from the fairway. That implies the premium is captured mainly when land is first sold, typically by the developer.

Developers may also sell golf assets they no longer consider core. Aldar described its 2020 sale of the Abu Dhabi Golf Club complex, including its hotel and residential development land, for AED 180 million as part of a strategy to pursue profitable investment exits and redeploy capital into growth opportunities.

Sovereign and Private Capital Build for Different Reasons

Who funds a project shapes what it needs to earn. In sovereign-backed markets, golf serves broader economic goals. Tourism contributes about 5 percent of Saudi GDP and the government targets 10 percent by 2030, according to the Saudi Press Agency, and PIF describes Red Sea Global’s mission as diversifying the economy through tourism. Projects with those objectives can be built on longer horizons and judged on destination-level outcomes rather than course-level returns.

Sovereign projects still bring in outside capital through bank financing and long-term contracts. The Red Sea project closed SAR 14.12 billion of green-accredited term loan and revolving credit facilities with four Saudi banks in 2021, and its utilities were designed, built and operated by a consortium led by ACWA Power, financed with bank debt, under a 25-year offtake agreement guaranteed by PIF. PIF’s 2026 to 2030 strategy, approved in April, “focuses on maximizing financial returns, strengthening investment efficiency and increasing private sector participation.”

In privately financed markets, golf has to support a direct return. In Mexico, RLH Properties, which is listed on the Mexican Stock Exchange and whose resorts include Mayakoba on the Caribbean coast and Cabo del Sol in Los Cabos, describes itself as an owner of luxury hotels and associated residences, with the hotels run by international brands under management agreements. Even there, the public sector funds bottlenecks: Los Cabos’ new desalination plant was procured as a 25-year concession with a capital subsidy from Mexico’s National Infrastructure Fund, according to the IFC. Morocco sits between the two models. As of 2022, state-linked investors held 75 percent of the developer of Taghazout Bay, a resort with an 18-hole course, alongside a private Moroccan partner, according to the project, in support of a national strategy that targets 26 million tourist arrivals by 2030, according to the tourism ministry.

The distinction matters because the two models create different entry points. In sovereign-backed markets, opportunities tend to emerge through infrastructure financing, hospitality partnerships and long-term operating contracts. In privately financed markets, returns are tied more directly to residential sales, hotel performance and the timing of asset sales.

Regulation Shapes the Buyer Pool

In many emerging golf destinations, developers are betting less on golf demand than on international buyers paying a premium for resort real estate. That makes ownership rules, residency programs and tax incentives as important to asset values as the appetite for the game.

Established channels for foreign buyers widen the market. Mexico allows foreigners to hold residential property within 50 kilometers of its coastline through bank trusts of up to 50 years that can be extended, under its Foreign Investment Law. Mauritius grants a residence permit to non-citizens who buy qualifying residential property worth at least US$375,000, for as long as they own it, according to its Economic Development Board. Tax incentives can improve development economics in the same way: the Dominican Republic’s CONFOTUR law names golf courses among tourism projects eligible for a 15-year exemption, counted from completion of construction, from income tax, real estate tax and real estate transfer tax.

The same rules create downside risk. Portugal’s 2023 housing law ended the real estate investment route for new residence permits, removing one way foreign buyers had obtained residence through property purchases. For projects that depend on foreign buyers, a policy change can alter the investment case faster than any shift in golf demand.

Where Golf Creates Value and Who Captures It

If golf creates value mainly through land, the next question is who captures it. The master developer takes the land premium through lot and home sales, but carries the heaviest capital requirement and the most exposure to the property cycle. Hotel brands earn fees without owning the real estate: Four Seasons manages hotels, resorts and residences on behalf of third-party owners, according to the company, and Marriott earns a one-time branding fee on the sale of each branded residential unit, according to its annual report. Golf operators run courses on the owner’s behalf: Golf Saudi manages Shura Links for Red Sea Global and is the designated operator of Diriyah’s Wadi Safar course. Infrastructure providers earn long-term contracted revenue, as the 25-year utility concession at the Red Sea and the Los Cabos desalination concession show. Equipment suppliers sell into many projects at once.

These businesses differ in capital intensity, scalability, recurring revenue and exposure to real estate cycles. The developer’s return depends on one site selling well. Established operators, agronomy and technology providers, and equipment suppliers can extend a proven model across many sites with less capital and with revenue that continues after the land is sold. That suggests the growth of international golf construction may create more attractive opportunities in the businesses that support these developments than in the courses themselves. It is a hypothesis to test asset by asset rather than a conclusion: expansion into unfamiliar markets carries execution risk and does not guarantee profitable growth, and fee terms, contract length and counterparty strength vary widely.

The Opportunity Changes as Projects Mature

Transactions in these markets fall into three distinct stages, each with its own risks, and when capital enters can matter as much as what it buys. A business that arrives too early may wait on demand that has yet to form; one that enters as developments mature can build on established revenue.

Development stage. Financing at this stage funds land, infrastructure and construction, as in the Red Sea project’s 2021 bank facilities or India’s requirement that 70 percent of buyer payments be deposited in a separate account for construction and proportionate land costs. This is where capital needs are largest and the risks are physical and regulatory: permitting, cost and, in arid markets, water. Los Cabos needed a new desalination plant because the existing one could not ensure continuous service, according to the IFC.

Capital recycling. Developers monetize assets or inventory to fund further development. In December 2025 JHSF completed the sale of R$5.235 billion of inventories, land plots and real estate products, including part of its Boa Vista Estates golf community, to a real estate investment fund in which it holds subordinated shares representing about 24.9 percent. At this stage the main risk is commercial: whether homes sell and hotels fill at the pace the plan assumes.

Secondary ownership. This stage involves acquiring established assets after development risk has declined. RLH completed its acquisition of 51 percent of Cabo del Sol, including a Four Seasons hotel, residences and golf courses, in September 2025. In Japan, Fortress sold Accordia Golf to Heiwa for ¥510 billion on an enterprise value basis and said rounds rose by 300,000 and average play fees by almost 13 percent during its ownership. Secondary owners take on long-term ownership risk instead: maintenance, participation and supply. South Korea’s golf visits fell from about 50.58 million in 2022 to about 46.41 million in 2025, according to the Korea Golf Course Business Association. Their returns are not necessarily higher than a developer’s; their risk is different, and an attractive development market does not guarantee attractive returns for the course owner.‍

How the Opportunity Differs by Region

Geography matters mainly because it determines which entry points are open. In the Gulf, the scale of state-funded construction makes infrastructure, hospitality and operating contracts the most accessible positions, and PIF’s emphasis on private participation may widen them. In Mexico and the Caribbean, where private capital already owns the hotels and homes, the opportunity lies in assets as resorts mature. In India and Southeast Asia, listed developers fund projects largely with buyer payments, so outside capital is more likely to enter through partnerships and services than through ownership. South Korea and Japan are mature markets where most activity involves existing courses, so the opportunity lies in acquiring and improving them.

Africa splits along the same lines rather than offering a different model. Morocco and Egypt follow the state-led pattern; in Egypt, ADQ acquired the development rights to Ras El Hekma. South Africa and Mauritius follow the private one. East Africa’s tourism is growing, with Tanzania’s international arrivals up about 7 percent in 2025, according to its official visitor survey, but golf-linked capital there remains limited, so opportunities are selective.

Our View

International golf construction is a real estate and hospitality investment with golf as the amenity that creates value. That value is created at different stages and captured by different participants, and the choice of participant matters more than the choice of market.

In our view, the businesses that serve many developments at once are the most distinctive part of this trend. Hotel brands, golf operators, infrastructure providers and equipment suppliers grow with international golf construction without carrying the land risk of any single project, which gives them exposure to the trend rather than to one site. Attractive characteristics are not the same as an attractive investment, however. Recurring revenue, scalability and low capital intensity describe a good business; the outcome still depends on entry valuation, execution and the durability of the demand behind it.

Each of the other positions in the chain carries its own balance of premium and risk. Partnerships with sovereign sponsors may widen as they invite private capital. Hospitality and residential assets carry the premium golf creates, along with the property cycle. Established assets change hands once development risk has passed, at prices that reflect it. Across all of them, three questions shape the outcome: who can buy the land and whether those rules will hold, at what stage capital enters a project, and which participant captures the premium the course creates.

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Source Note

National Golf Foundation, “Midyear Update: Worldwide Golf Course Development,” July 18, 2024; Public Investment Fund, PIF Future Fairways announcement, 2025, and giga-projects page.

DLF Limited, Annual Reports 2020-21 and 2024-25, and press release to NSE, January 24, 2025.

Zimbali Lakes (IFA Hotels & Resorts), “Zimbali Lakes Sets Historic Sales Record,” October 21, 2025; Ernie Els Group, April 30, 2025.

Crompton, J. and Nicholls, S., “The Impact on Property Values of Golf Courses in the United States,” Journal of Park and Recreation Administration, 38(2), 2020.

Aldar Properties, Abu Dhabi Golf Club sale announcement, December 31, 2020.

Saudi Press Agency, May 13, 2025, February 9, 2026, and April 27, 2021 (Red Sea Global financing); ACWA Power, Red Sea Project financial close, February 23, 2022; Public Investment Fund, 2026-2030 strategy, April 15, 2026.

RLH Properties, 2025 Annual Report and relevant event filing, September 2, 2025, Bolsa Mexicana de Valores; IFC, “Mexico: Los Cabos Water,” November 2023.

Taghazout Bay (SAPST), project brochure, February 2022; Ministry of Tourism, Handicrafts and Social and Solidarity Economy (Morocco), tourism roadmap.

Ley de Inversión Extranjera (Mexico); Economic Development Board Mauritius, real estate guidance; Dirección General de Impuestos Internos (Dominican Republic), May 2022; Lei n.º 56/2023 (Portugal).

Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts, 2024 Progress Report; Marriott International, Form 10-K for fiscal 2025; Red Sea Global, Shura Links release, September 30, 2025; Diriyah Company, December 15, 2024.

Real Estate (Regulation and Development) Act, 2016, Section 4(2)(l)(D); JHSF Participações, Material Fact, December 10, 2025, 4Q25 results release, and 2Q21 Earnings Release (Boa Vista Estates golf course); Fortress Investment Group, Accordia Golf sale, February 3, 2025; Korea Golf Course Business Association, annual releases, 2024 to 2026.

ADQ, February 23, 2024; Ministry of Natural Resources and Tourism and Bank of Tanzania, 2025 International Visitors’ Exit Survey.