Wide fairway with a cart path, forest on both sides and mountains on the horizon

China Amateur Golf: Tournaments and Courses

Golf in China is shaped by regulation more than by demand. Any honest guide for an amateur planning to play or compete there has to start with that, because it explains the course supply, the cost and the shape of the competitive calendar.

The regulatory background

China banned the construction of new golf courses in 2004, when the country had fewer than 200 courses, citing pressure on land and water. A crackdown that began in 2011 then worked through the courses built in spite of that ban. In January 2017 the National Development and Reform Commission said 111 of the country's 683 courses had been ordered shut, 18 were told to return illegally occupied land and 47 were told to halt construction or business activity, while the remaining 507 were subject to rectification; eleven had closed voluntarily. The stated grounds were illegal use of arable land or nature reserves and groundwater extraction in prohibited areas (Xinhua, South China Morning Post).

Published estimates of how many courses operate today vary widely and disagree with each other, so we do not quote a current total. If you need one for planning, ask the China Golf Association directly rather than relying on secondary summaries.

What this means for a visiting amateur

  • Supply is concentrated. Courses cluster around the larger cities and resort areas rather than being spread through the regions.
  • Access is usually through clubs and resorts rather than through municipal golf, which barely exists at scale.
  • Costs are high relative to local incomes, which keeps the player base small and the standard at the top of it unusually strong.
  • Calendars are set by the federation and by resort operators, so published schedules are shorter than in Europe or North America.

Competing: the two things to establish first

First, status. Whether an event counts towards the World Amateur Golf Ranking is decided by the WAGR Committee against its published criteria, and regional championships in Asia are a normal part of that system. Ask the organiser which events are Counting Events by name, and remember that points count at full value for 52 weeks before decaying and leaving the record at 104 weeks.

Second, handicap. Entry conditions are written as a Handicap Index because the index is portable: under the World Handicap System it is the average of the best 8 Score Differentials from a player's most recent 20 rounds, with a maximum of 54.0 for all players. A visiting player with a documented index from their own federation can satisfy a Chinese event's entry condition without any local record.

Conditions, by region

  • South, including Hainan and Guangdong. Humid, playable year round, soft turf and heavy afternoon rain in summer.
  • East, around Shanghai. Four distinct seasons, best golf in spring and autumn, courses often parkland with water.
  • North, around Beijing. Cold winters close courses; summers are hot, with firmer ground than the south.
  • Altitude in the southwest. Yunnan courses sit high enough for carry distances to be noticeably longer, which changes club selection rather than skill.

Practical notes

  1. Bring a copy of your handicap record and your club affiliation in writing.
  2. Arrange transport to the course in advance; many clubs are an hour or more from a city centre.
  3. Caddies are standard at many Chinese clubs and are usually assigned, not optional.
  4. For scratch events, read the prize terms against Rule 3 of the Rules of Amateur Status: non-cash prizes are limited to £700 or US$1,000 per competition, and prize money is allowed only in scratch competitions within that limit.

Sources

Related