Golf coaching is on the rise in China as the U. S. instruction leader opens up shop on the mainland following success in Hong Kong
On the surface, China’s stance on golf can be as hard to read on as a triple breaking 21-foot putt. Mao found golf too bougie and decadent and there was a golf embargo during the Cultural Revolution which lasted into the 1980s. When it lifted Chung Shan Hot Spring, an Arnold Palmer design in Zhongshan south of the pearl river delta in Guangdong province sprung up and the game began to take root and grow like kudzu. But then that green light from Beijing turned yellow. A golf course construction permit moratorium was issued in 2004 and in the ensuing half decade the country’s course count tripled with developers with good “guanxi” finding workarounds. In more recent years the Chinese government has made a show of cracking down on golf, warning communist party members not to play the addictive sport as part of an anti-corruption campaign and shuttering over 100 courses citing groundwater extraction violations and other environmental abuses. But the long-term trajectory of the game in China remains on the upswing and the country’s complicated on-off relationship with golf has recently returned to the getting back together phase.
“Following the high-profile closure of a large number of golf courses that were developed and operated without proper land-use licenses and with the central government frowning upon officials playing the game as part of the nationwide anti-corruption drive, there was definitely a decline in the overall participation in the sport,” explains GOLFTEC ceo Joe Assell.
“After several years of ‘clean-up’ the government stance on golf has softened recently. There are no government restrictions on golf lessons or even private golf take up.”
China’s Golf Epicenter
Tech hub Shenzhen, home of the headquarters of Tencent, Huawei and DJI Technology (the world’s largest drone maker), sports a higher per capita GDP than neighboring Hong Kong.
Now GOLFTEC, the golf instruction goliath that accounts for 25% of lessons given in America has joined the fray opening up shop in the city’s Nanshan district within chipping distance of the doors of dozens of high-tech company offices. The newly minted, nearly 5000 sq foot facility, sports an indoor putting green and seven bays for big data driven swing analysis, coaching, and club fitting. It occupies half of the 13th floor of tower one in the newly built Q-plex overlooking an outdoor driving range and adjoining par 3 golf course.
“Shenzhen was a natural choice to our entry into the Chinese mainland,” says Assell. “It has a strong golfing tradition and boasts the largest number of golf courses compared to any other city in China, as well as the largest golf club in the world – the 216 hole, 12-course, Mission Hills Golf Club.”
And it doesn’t hurt that the number one performing GOFLTEC, of the company’s 205 locations, is just an hour away in Hong Kong.
Green Shoots in the Addressable Market
According to the International Golf Federation, there are 358,000 members of the China Golf Association, but as is the case in countries around the world the number of golfers registered with their respective nation’s sporting body tends to represent a mere fraction of the overall player count.
