China GOLF Magazine – Darius Oliver column
Golf development in China is going through a turbulent period. Government and the mainstream media are not supportive of the sport, and the industry needs to address concerns over land and water usage if we are to ever reach a point where new course construction is permitted by the government
I’m reminded of the beginnings of our beautiful game, and how golf established itself in Scotland as the national sport. What some readers may not realise, is that back in 1457 golf was so popular in Scotland that it was banned by King James II. The King was concerned that golf was distracting his servants from the archery practice needed to repel English invaders. In towns like St Andrews the ban was ineffective. Hitting a pebble with a stick around the sand dunes and into a hole had become part of daily life, so residents largely ignored the ban.
In 1502 King James IV became the first royal golfer, when he signed the treaty of Glasgow, which effectively ended the war between Scotland and England and made golf legal on the links. The King himself became an avid player. A formal sport was born, but despite the breakthrough the game actually stagnated in Scotland for several centuries. It remained popular in St Andrews and in 11 other towns along the eastern seaboard, but the equipment needed to play ‘proper’ golf was prohibitively expensive for commoners and so growth was almost non-existent.
Everything changed in 1848 when the Gutta-Percha ball was invented. Made from the sap of a Malaysian rubber tree, the Guttie was more durable than previous balls and much easier to produce. Virtually overnight golf became affordable for the working class. As a result, from 12 links in Scotland in 1848 golf in the United Kingdom grew rapidly with more than 2,000 golf clubs established by 1900. As we all know, the rest is history with golf now firmly established and popular in countries all across the world.
There are many lessons to be learned from Scotland – both back then and now. The ban on golf development in China is naturally quite different to the ban on golf in Scotland back in the 1400s, but the rise of the game following its legalisation makes interesting analysis. The reason golf took off in the 19th century, was because the game was affordable and fun to play. Visit Scotland now and some of the best courses remain those built more than 100 years ago. Of course, old Scottish golf developers had a huge advantage over modern Chinese developers, as they were able to choose the best available land for their golf links. Modern development is totally different. Usually a course is built on degraded, reclaimed or rocky ground and often with the need for mass earthworks to make it playable and to keep the holes dry.
But the goal of inexpensive, fun golf remains a virtuous one, as every strong golf country has high quality public access golf to help attract new players to our game. In China we have mostly high-end resorts and exclusive private clubs. It would be nice to think that we can become the people’s game in China too someday, but it won’t happen unless more in the middle class access golf and fall in love with its charms. To that end we need better courses, and more affordable golf.
My earliest memory of golfing in Scotland was playing the West Links at North Berwick, a few miles east of Muirfield. One of golf’s oldest links, North Berwick plays away and back into town like St Andrews, with a number of holes set right against the sea. One of these is the famous Cape style 2nd hole, which bends right and favours golfers who can drive close to the beach. I recall pushing my drive a little here, and then having to hop down onto the beach to hit my second shot off the sand, whilst townsfolk walked their dogs and built sandcastles beside me.
Aside from the fact that hitting a ball from the beach back onto the links is great fun, it reminded me of how golf and the local community can interact and live harmoniously together. Even non-golfers in North Berwick look upon the links with great affection. This is also true of the other golf towns in Scotland.
In China there is very much an ‘us against them’ mentality developing. For golf to win the public relations battle with government and the media, therefore, we need more people to fall genuinely in love with hitting golf shots, and for the local communities where our courses are built to support the game and the benefits it brings. This means we need to change the way we build golf courses. We need more environmentally aware projects and more accessible and affordable golf for the middle classes. Like in Scotland, we need to start creating positive news stories about a game that is fun, beautiful, sustainable, environmentally sensitive and inclusive of all elements of the Chinese population.
Anyone interested in golf history or golf travel, and who hasn’t yet been to Scotland, should aim to get there at some stage to not only sample some of their charming, quirky links but also examine how local communities have benefited from being a popular golf destination. America probably has the best courses in the world, but Scotland certainly has the most important – and crucially, the most fun to play.
Darius Oliver is a golf design expert and course consultant. Find out more at www.planetgolf.com
