Australians Peter Moss (left), Geoff Barton (middle) and Mark Moss are optimistic about their golf business in China. Chris Hyde

 

Former jockey Geoff Barton was ensconced in the Australian thoroughbred scene when he received the telephone call that would be the opening chapter of his China story. It was an unexpected opportunity that came while Barton was dealing with tragedy, and one that saw him headed for a foreign land to be part of a bold venture that has been described as China's greatest gamble.

 

"I was handling the affairs of a friend of mine who was contacted to come here when they started racing in Beijing," says Barton, who worked as a race caller and media commentator after retiring as a jockey.

 

"He was supposed to come here and be the horse breaker. Unfortunately, the week before he was coming he had a car accident. He ended up as a paraplegic so I had to ring them and say, 'he can't come', and they needed him a month ago, and they asked, 'well, can you come?'

 

"So I jumped on a plane and was coming over here and said, 'Well, what am I doing? I'm on my way to China, my God!'"

 

Geoff Barton takes aim in the virtual golf simulator. File photo

 

Barton, originally from Darwin in Australia's Northern Territory, was starter and horse breaker for the Beijing Jockey Club, established in 2001 with a world-class racecourse over 160 hectares at Tongzhou, in eastern Beijing. Funded by Hong Kong toy magnate Chung Yun Pun, it was a $200 million venture that aimed to revive legal betting on horse racing in China.

 

But the Beijing racing operation shut down in late 2005, leaving 43-year-old Barton "in limbo". He became a partner in Avid Golf Management, a company organizing corporate tournaments founded by his friend and fellow sports-mad Australian expatriate, Mark Moss.

 

Moss' own China story began some years before an encounter with a former US president put his future on course with the development of golf in China. In 2001, the 28-year-old moved to Beijing, following his father Peter Moss, a builder who had based himself in the capital four years earlier.

 

He worked various jobs, including for the Kunlun Hotel, his father's construction company, BHDP, and as a sales rep at a financial firm, before finding his own footing in China's brave new world of business. A top football player as a Sydney teenager, Mark Moss is also a keen golfer and was approached by the Capital Club to organize a monthly golf tournament for its members in 2005.

 

Bill Clinton's September, 2005 China tour delivered Moss a major coup. He was engaged to organize the World Celebrity Golf tournament, a weekend charity event headlined by the former US president and featuring a slew of political, sporting and entertainment identities from China and abroad.

 

Avid Golf has since organized events for embassies, foreign chambers of commerce and corporations, including McDonald's, InterContinental Hotels, and South African media group MIH. The introduction of a state-of-the-art indoor simulator has been another business boon, allowing golfers to practice their strokes in the comfort of an indoor lounge area.

 

Housed in a bar suite painted with dark green walls and furnished with bright orange sofas, the simulator's centerpiece is a 10-sq-m screen displaying the player's choice of 27 courses from around the world. The player tees off and, once the ball hits the screen, computer sensors produce a virtual rendition of its journey through the green.

 

In a city where only the most die-hard of golfers brave the winter elements for a round, Avid Golf's indoor set-up has a "tremendous social aspect", Barton says. Clients range from "Chinese rock stars to overseas businessmen".

 

"We get guys down here, they have a few beers, we order in some pizzas, and we have a night of golf," Barton says. "It's just fantastic and there's a lot of ribbing going on, a lot of jokes, a lot of bagging. It's a lot of fun and you don't have to walk far to get a drink."

 

Despite the good times, Moss admits it was hard to return with his wife and 19-month-old daughter to Beijing's frigid winter after a recent holiday in Sydney.

 

"That's China, you know, who knows what's going to happen tomorrow?" he says, laughing. "Some days you want to get up and go right now. Just like anywhere you know, there's good days and bad days. But here, it just seems to happen that there's a lot more bad days than good days."

 

With a decade of Beijing experience behind him, Peter Moss has seen plenty of both. He was working in Sydney for a company contracted to work for the Australian Embassy here, and stayed upon the completion of the four-month job to open a local representative office. The company left in 2000, but Peter Moss, "could see the opportunities for work here".

 

He established his own business, BHDP, specializing in refurbishing foreign embassies, and has since completed jobs for the Australian, Canadian, British, Swiss, Norwegian, Swedish and German Embassies.

 

Mark Moss says "communication" is the biggest challenge for foreigners seeking success in China, joking that the best way to do business here is, "not to do it and go home".

 

"It's tough, you know. But you learn new things every day doing business in China," he says.

 

"The language barrier's difficult. I can get by - my wife's Chinese, so my Chinese is okay, but it's still a test every day. The advantage we have is that dealing with the clubs is difficult, but dealing with our clients is pretty easy because we have international clients."

 

The three friends would like to see golf in China evolve from "a rich man's sport" to one that is accessible at a grassroots level, for example through talent development programs at local schools.

 

"At the moment, it's the kids that have parents with money who are going to play golf. It's not like in Australia or America, where the average person can afford to go and play golf. Here, an average round's about $50," Mark Moss says.

 

Having hosted a community event in a suburban park in Beijing, Barton says: "A lot of kids were really interested in golf and there is a lot of talent out there."

 

"(But) it is not really accessible if you haven't got the funds and we want to change that - get involved in some youth programs, take it to schools," Barton says. "Whether you're rich or you're poor, if you've got a swing, you've got a swing."

 

Outside of golf, Barton is excited by next year's slated introduction of legal betting on races at Wuhan, capital of Central China's Hubei province. It would be the first official bet placed on a horse race since 1949.

 

"Basically, if racing kicks off here then I'd like to be involved in it in some way. But if not, well, we're going to try and build the golf up regardless. This is something that's going to grow. It's not a short term fix - we're here for the long haul," Barton says.

 

"I enjoy living over here. It's difficult at times but, hey, it's not our country, it's theirs, so if you don't adapt either you go mad or you get out."

 

(China Daily January 25, 2008)