25 years ago golf was banned in China for being associated with western colonialism and decadent bourgeoisie. The golf boom began after the Cultural Revolution in China, and started when Hong Kong golf players ran out of space and hired Arnold Palmer to design a course just across the border near Zhuhai, with several other courses to follow.
Currently golf in China is one of the country's fastest growing industries, with thousands of courses expected to open in the next decade. At present the majority of golf courses in China are found along the south-east coast and courses in and around Beijing, Tiangjin, Shanghai, Guangzhou, Zhuhai and other places as well as Shenzhen. The epicenter of the growth is China's tropical island province of Hainan, which is being transformed into a tourist paradise, with golf playing a major role in this transformation. Between 100 and 300 courses are expected to be built here.
Opened in 1992 near Shenzhen, the Mission Hills Golf Club is China's only international-standard golf resort and the largest golf complex in the world. It covers 2,300 acres with ten courses and has a 500-room hotel, a country club with 51 tennis courts, fairway-side mansions, a clubhouse with an 800-square meter palace including a cascading waterfall, and Asia’s largest golf shop.
