Blue Collars and Green Fees

While the growth of golf in China is unlikely to be inhibited by a lack of courses, it will undoubtedly be coloured by the game’s expense. Golf may be more expensive in China, on average, than anywhere else in the world.

According to the KPMG study, the average price for a golf membership here is RMB 240,000, which is “far higher than in any of our surveyed countries in Europe, the Middle East and Africa, and is four to five times higher than the initiation fee in the most expensive European golf markets: Spain and Switzerland.” Annual fees and green fees per round are also some of the most expensive in the world, ranging from RMB 10,240-27,300 and RMB 340-1,365 respectively.

Contrary to what you might expect, despite these prohibitive prices, many of China’s top players have come from blue collar backgrounds.

Former kung fu experts, soldiers, security guards and sushi chefs are all now full time golfers in China. “Many players from that generation were doing something totally unrelated to golf into their 20s,” Washburn says. “Zhang Lianwei, the trailblazer of golf in China, grew up on a farm near Zhuhai in Guangdong province. His parents were rice farmers.” 

Zhang, the first Chinese player to win on the European Tour, and the first to compete in the Masters Tournament, fully acknowledges the role that fate played in his golfing career.

“Chance led me to golf,” Zhang says. “I was selected by Zhuhai Sports School to receive javelin training, because I did very well in softball in junior high. In order to stay in Zhuhai, I found a job as a golf caddy at Zhuhai International Golf Club. Someone saw me hit a ball far and straight with an iron, and so I got the chance to practice golf after 3pm each day. That’s how my golf career began.”

We asked him what he would be doing if he weren’t playing golf. “I was destined for golf,” he replies.