We're terribly sorry to report this, but there are some people on Earth who don't have the highest regard for golf. They say it's an elitist pastime for fancy people and garden-party intellectuals—more of a leisure pursuit than the sort of activity that cultivates one's muscles.In China, where the sport hardly existed a quarter of a century ago, this stereotype has persisted. It was the nation's wealthiest classes that first adopted the game, building exclusive private courses like Shenzhen's sprawling Mission Hills Golf Club, which has 12 courses of 18 holes each, making it the world's largest golf club.
The popular ranks of the nation's athletes, however—the ones who are ambitious about leveraging their talent—don't pay the sport much attention. The government, which controls the sports scene here with its lavish spending on development programs, has anointed tennis, soccer, basketball and table tennis as the mandatory school sports. In the past four years alone, about 800,000 basketball courts have been built in China, pushing the estimated number of players to about 400 million.
But what the promise of a green jacket can't accomplish, a gold medal just might.
After last month's announcement by the International Olympic Committee that golf will be a medal sport starting in 2016, China's golf leaders are bursting with optimism. They have started pushing Beijing to begin building public driving ranges and courses in hopes of incubating talent.
Earlier this month, Mission Hills wrapped up its first-ever Asian Amateur Championship tournament—which was held in conjunction with Augusta National Golf Club and Scotland's Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews. Thanks to those relationships, the winner was given an automatic invitation to next year's Masters.
Mission Hills also announced plans to launch its own Chinese junior tour in January, with bi-weekly 18-hole tournaments and an affordable annual membership fee of 500 Chinese yuan, or about $73.
"These stepping stones are crucial to our mission of nurturing the next Tiger Woods," says Tenniel Chu, Mission Hills' executive director. After the Olympics announcement, Mr. Chu said, "golf is no longer an elitist sport—it's an official sport in the Chinese world."
Prior to the IOC's announcement, one of the most ambitious things the China Golf Association had said was that the country could have 20 million recreational golfers by 2020 (the U.S. has about 26 million).
But since the Olympic vote, the sport's backers in China seem to have raised their sights a bit. At the announcement of the Chinese junior tour, Xu Deli, chairman of the provincial-level Guangdong Golf Association, said, "We want to produce not just one Tiger Woods, but many Tiger Woods. In 2016, I hope that some of these golfers will be part of that competition."
For golf to prosper here, it will need more public facilities and a stronger amateur circuit to cultivate young talent. Mr. Chu says China still has less than 100 amateur tournaments a year, compared to the U.S.'s 600-plus tournaments each year. China will also need more and better golf instruction (Mission Hills has three golf academies) and, eventually, some domestic stars. "All we need is a local hero—a Yao Ming of golf would be tremendous for the sport," Mr. Chu says.
One of the great hopes so far in Chinese golf is a 21-year-old named Han Ren, who shot a few holes with Tiger Woods when the U.S. star visited in 2001. Without an ecosystem to thrive in back home, Mr. Han was sent overseas to take his game to the next level—first to Canada in 2003 and then to Indiana University, where he is a junior.
Last month, Mr. Han returned to Shenzhen for the Asian amateur tournament. After shooting a 65, he took a quick lead ahead of his South Korean and Australian rivals, only to cede his position on day two. In the end, the top Chinese finisher placed 11th in the tournament, with competitors from Australia, New Zealand and golf-crazy South Korea sweeping the top six spots
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