Golf: A Chinese Conundrum
There’s no question that China celebrates her athletes and their accomplishments, but when we start talking about golf in China, whether it’s recreational, business-related play or professional competition, I’m becoming increasingly confused about the mixed signals I’m receiving. Despite Mao’s 1949 condemnation of golf as “bourgeois” the emerging Chinese economic elite seem to love the game. So why is the government putting the kibosh on it?
Let’s take a deeper look at the golfing situation in China, starting with the forces driving golf course development, which is where the current Chinese regime has focussed its efforts to restrict the game.
Tiger Woods and Jack Nickalus are probably the most prominent figures in the Chinese golf course development initiative, and the industry in general sees China as a fertile new opportunity for economic (read: profit) growth. But that growth has come at a huge cost: the reallocation of arable land in a country that’s struggling to stay above the food security red line.
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A round of golf doesn’t come cheap in China. Absent the beloved munis that dot the United States golf landscape and open the game to an economically diverse population, the Chinese must fork over an average $150 for a round of golf. That’s a big chunk of disposable income in a nation where the median annual household income is $10,220 (compared to $84,300 in the United States).
Mao may have been right about golf in China. The Chinese golf course is a place where men in positions of power and influence go to make deals that will net them more power, influence and money.
But there’s another side to golf, a side that generates capital. The four major pro tours all site at least one annual event in China (PGA TOUR: WGC HSBC Champions, Shanghai; European Tour: Shenzhen International, Shenzhen; Volvo China Open, Shanghai; UBS Hong Kong Open; LPGA: Reignwood Classic, Beijeng (cancelled in 2015); Blue Bay LPGA, Hainan Island; Ladies European Tour: World Ladies Championship, Hainan; Buick Championship, Shanghai; Xiamen International Ladies Open, Xiamen; Sanya Ladies Open, Sanya). The PGA TOUR Q-School has a China Series, and the European Tour and LET also hold Q-School events in China.
And judging from Jessica Korda’s Facebook post on the eve of the Blue Bay LPGA on Hainan Island, popularized as the “Hawaii of China,” the touring pros enjoy the elite golfing ambience they find at China-based events:
So how do we square China’s enduring celebration of sport, the Chinese commitment to internal economic development and self-sufficiency, the golf and larger recreation/tourism industry’s insatiable search for new and novel venues, and pro golf’s globalization — on the right side of the equation — with President Xi Jinping’s decree this week that government officials could no longer belong to private clubs and gyms, including golf clubs, and making use of such facilities will jeopardize Communist Party membership and position — on the left side of the equation.
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Does this mean China, Inc. is no longer going to embrace the sport? Does it put an end to the possibility of a Chinese golf team competing in Rio in 2016? Are the PGA, LPGA, European and Ladies European Tours going to be forced to reschedule their Chinese events to other Asian venues? Does is mean the end of mega-resorts like Mission Hills?
Let’s not jump to premature and perhaps unnecessarily gloomy conclusions. It means that President Xi Jinping is trying to put an end to endemic corruption, to bribery as a common strategy to circumvent government land use planning, to construction projects that ignore building codes, to the kind of back-room political deals that I associate as much with Tammany Hall as with Beijing.
All is not lost: Looking forward, President Xi Jinping’s decree could be a first step toward opening the door for “peoples’ golf courses” — China munis!