Chinese cuts leave golfers out of bounds
Communist Party closes 70 golf courses in an attempt to keep officials in touch with the masses and reduce excesses
BEIJING // China’s Communist rulers have turned against the exclusive sport of golf, with the government saying nearly 70 “illegal” courses had been closed, enforcing a decade-old ban for the first time. The announcement by the ministry of land and resources came amid a high- profile anti- graft campaign led by president Xi Jinping, which has resulted in crackdowns on banquets, lavish gift-giving and other official excesses. The ruling Communist Party has long had an ambivalent relationship with golf, which is a lucrative opportunity for local authorities and a favoured pastime of some officials, but is also closely associated with wealth and western elites. On Monday the ministry’s website declared: “Local governments have shut down illegally built golf courses, and preliminary results have been achieved in clean-up and rectification work.”
News of the closures was soon followed by a commerce ministry announcement that senior official Wang Shenyang was being investigated for playing golf in breach of Mr Xi’s “eight rules” on official behaviour. With an eye on containing public anger over China’s widening wealth gap, authorities have in recent years banned a range of “extravagances”, such as private clubs – often frequented by officials – in historic buildings and parks. But such orders are often flouted.
Last year the ruling party’s anti- graft commission in Guangdong announced that provincial Communist officials would face punishment if they engaged in any of nine golf-related activities, which includ- ed joining a golf club. The notice urged the public to report any suspected golf offences through a telephone hotline.
The commission’s website declared that “all over the world, golf is synonymous with extravagant spending, and even in developed western countries it is considered a ‘noble’ sport”. Golf club memberships in China typically cost “far above the normal annual income level of officials and the general public”, it said, and office holders who become enamoured of the sport “risk losing touch with the masses”.
Government officials keen on joining golf clubs often do so under false names, wary of being perceived as corrupt or out of touch, according to Dan
Washburn, author of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream. Washburn said on Twitter that the closure announcement came days after news that US star Tiger Woods was to be paid US$16.5 million (Dh60.6m) to redesign a course in the capital.
Three of the 66 illegal golf courses listed are in Beijing. Eight are in the eastern province of Shandong, while the southern and south- western provinces of Guangdong and Yunnan are home to six each.
Even the tropical island province of Hainan, considered the capital of the sport in China, has had three unsanctioned courses shut down.
Central authorities ordered a nationwide moratorium on new golf courses in 2004, but development continued as revenue-minded local officials went their own way.
The number of courses in China has grown from fewer than 200 at the time of the ban to more than 600, according to the official Xinhua news agency.
China is home to the world’s largest golf resort – the Mission Hills Golf Club in the southern industrial hub of Shenzhen, which borders Hong Kong. The 20-square-kilometre complex was founded in 1994 and has 12 18-hole courses.
As golf facilities have multiplied, so too has the Asian giant’s clout on the professional golf stage.
Last November the World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, a tournament known as “Asia’s Major”, teed off in Shanghai with 40 of the world’s top 50 players present for the second consecutive year.
A spokeswoman for the China Golf Association said she could not comment on the latest move.