KEY POINTS:
There's an indisputable maxim about golf resorts: the courses will not survive on golfers' money alone. In time, a course's operation may be covered by green fees but it will usually be subsidised by hotel and other income.
But before that, a course's construction must be paid for.
It costs about a million dollars a hole to build a quality course. That investment will never be repaid by green fees or club membership, so developers have to get their money back by selling adjacent real estate.
New Zealand was deemed too small to attempt such a project until the late 1980s. Millbrook, near Queenstown, was the first. It opened in late 1992. Last month, majority owners Eiichi and Gota Ishii were reported to have taken their first dividends from the development.
Put in that context, the news that Kinloch Resort is on the market in a mortgagee sale and Gulf Harbour is in receivership is hardly surprising. Millbrook started a veritable boom in resort course building - Clearwater, Carrington, Formosa, Gulf Harbour, Terrace Downs, Lakes Resort, Cape Kidnappers, Kauri Cliffs, Jack's Point.
But let's be honest. For a country this size, we have far too many such developments.
Some of these courses are, for now, immune to sluggish property sales. The owners of Kauri Cliffs, Cape Kidnappers and Wairakei have deep pockets and a love of golf to ensure these high quality courses keep going.
The finance company sector's demise and the property market slump means Kinloch and Gulf Harbour may not be the only resorts under pressure. But while I'm interested in the outcome of property projects, my real concern is for the future of the golf courses themselves. Some are among the country's best. They are the courses on which we need to play Charles Tour and top amateur tournaments.
Next year, New Zealand Golf planned to play the North Island Championships at Kinloch, the South Island Strokeplay at Terrace Downs and the national Interclub final at Lakes Resort. Sadly, Kinloch's future is so uncertain, that tournament has been shifted to Muriwai.
But the game here needs quality modern courses to produce better and more imaginative players, especially on and around the greens.
But when phrases such as "mortgagee sale" and "receivership" are bandied about, there can only be questions about the sector's future.
Maybe New Zealand's golf resort developers can take heart from a story in Depression-era America. A couple of businessmen built a new layout in Georgia in the early 1930s.
They couldn't sell sections and struggled to attract members. The club went into receivership and only survived through the generosity of wealthy friends. But within 20 years, it was one of the world's most famous courses - Augusta National.