CHINA The Mission Hills Shenzhen Clubhouse.
Many Chinese golf resorts are built to appeal to tourists.
United States, is flocking to China, including Jack Nicklaus, Tom Weiskopf, Michael Hurzdan, Ben Crenshaw and his partner, Bill Coore, Tom Doak, Tom Fazio, Robert Trent Jones II, who has been playing the Pacific Rim for decades, and his brother Rees. The influx of American-design firms has created a rift with Australian designers, who traditionally did most of the golf- course design work in the Pacific, and reflects dramatically how golf-course design and development have changed over recent decades. “The Australians traditionally did pretty low-key, basic courses
at very reasonable costs,” explains Whitten. “The Americans come over with their design associates and shapers and produce $20-million designs. It is two different mentalities.”
Government support is the key Clearly, one reason for all this development is the fact that the Chinese economy is going gangbusters when most of the world is still trying to dig out from the worst economic collapse since the Great Depression. But make no mistake about it: none of this phenomenal growth would be remotely possible without the support of the government both on the national level but also— and more importantly—locally. “First of all, there’s a big land grab going on that helps make this
development possible,” says Whitten. “The decisions concerning what courses and developments are going to be built and where are made by local political leaders. Once local leaders commit to a project, they simply take the land by eminent domain, which is almost impossible to do in the United States.” Another important consideration is the almost total lack of
red tape involved. In the United States, developers and course architects have to make their way through a vast and complicated mosaic of local, state and federal regulations—a process which becomes infinitely more complicated if water, wetlands or oceanfront property is involved, since that brings a myriad of environmental agencies into play. The permitting process can easily take years, and there are no guarantees that approvals will ever be granted. In China, however, such reviews are relatively simple matters, which might be explained by understanding that in some
268 PGA TOUR OFFICIAL ANNUAL 2011
regions as much as 50 percent of the revenues taken in by local governments comes from the sale of land-use rights. Another reason for the construction boom, both in golf-course
development and in China’s economy overall, is the enormous labor force. It is not uncommon, for example, for a force of 300 people—usually women—to work on a course on any given day, usually for less than $10 a day. This would be unthinkable in the United States.
The challenges are sometimes daunting All this isn’t to say that there are considerable challenges that building in China can present. For starters, in most cases things like timetables and schedules
exist as concepts only. In practical terms, the Chinese tend to move at their own pace. Still, most developers and architects have come to accept all this and have adopted a “When in Rome, do as the Romans do” attitude. There is also the problem of bringing in—and maintaining—
the necessary heavy equipment, much of which is designed specifically for golf course work. Then there is the matter of negotiating. Discussions concerning
a seemingly simple matter can drag out interminably, no matter the resulting costs or delays. As they say, the Chinese tend to take the long view of things, witness this story concerning U.S. National Security Advisor Henry Kissinger and Chinese Premier Zhou Enlai. The two met in 1971 to lay the groundwork for President Richard M. Nixon’s historic trip to China. During one of their preliminary discussions, Kissinger asked Zhou what he considered were the consequences of the 1789 French Revolution. “It’s too early to say,” was the reply.
Hainan Island is the focus of development No place captures the essence of China’s golf boom better than the island province of Hainan, which the national and local governments are determined to transform into a major tourist golf destination by 2020. To that end, plans have been approved for between 100 and 300 courses, with much of the attention
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