Sprawling courses in China: Golf heads to China
Since China opened the gates for golf, the game has experienced a significant growth, tapping the true potential of the sport from the masses.
With massive funding, amateur golf is gaining grounds, which will certainly help boost pro golf in the future. Patrons of the sport in the country have already pledged to make golf "game for the rich" with the full backing of the government.
The introduction of golf in China came quite late, compared to other parts of the world, like the United States and European countries.
However, golf has now found strong foothold in China and there is rapid development of the game in the country.
During recent years, golf courses have been sprung up like mushrooms all across the country and the number is increasing every year.
China is not focusing on the numbers only. In fact, the country boasts hundreds of international standard golf courses, in terms of their design, construction, location, greens and availability of state-of-the-art facilities.
Most of the golf courses in China are capable of hosting events of international standards. The high profile tournament, World Golf Championships-HSBC Champions, will attract large crownds to gather at Mission Hills Golf Club in China
Mission Hills Golf Club is now one of the top rated golf clubs of the world. According to Guinness Book of World Records, Mission Hills Golf Club is the largest golf club of the world with 216 holes.
The number of holes does not explain the whole story. To have a complete understanding of great Mission Hills Golf Club, one must look at the list of designers who took part in making the golf club prestigious.
Various 18-hole courses at Mission Hills were designed by Jack Nicklaus, Greg Norman, Ernie Els, Vijay Singh, Annika Sorenstam, Nick Faldo, David Daval, Jose Maria Olazabal, David Leadbetter and Jumbo Ozaki.
All these names have a great reputation in developing international standard golf courses. Therefore, courses at Mission Hills are rated as one of the best in the entire world.
There are many other golf courses that are built on same standards by other high profile designers, attracting different tournament officials to organize their events on the Chinese soil.
Among the eight European Tour tournaments that are hosted by Asian countries, China alone organizes three of them, including HSBC WGC Championship and Omega Mission Hills World Cup. Both these events are hosted by Mission Hills Golf Club.
While looking at all these developments, it is quite clear that game of golf has a bright future in China. It is quickly gaining popularity among the youth of the country.
Commonly, it is known that when Chinese people start liking something, they make it their own in a short span of time.
May be that is the reason that China has started producing top notch players. On the whole, China is contributing towards the development and promotion of golf in Asia.
Chinese players are now seen working hard on the golf courses to improve their rankings in the Official World Golf Rankings, to participate in high profile tournaments.
The booming golf industry in the country has helped them watch their favourite players display their skills in front of them.
This helps Chinese players to learn several skills and techniques, and allows the subdued potential of aspiring golfers to emerge with a great force.
If China keeps on developing high standard golf courses and organises more events in future, a time will come when Asians, especially Chinese, will be giving a tough time to the US and European players.
The views expressed in this article are the writer's own and in no way represent Bettor.com's official editorial policy.
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