A visit to a construction site reveals a country where golf course building is both banned and booming — and where hope competes with fear every day.
Read More“The China Syndrome”: My latest piece for Golf World
Darius Oliver: “The sad reality for China is … most of the golf is very disappointing”
I recently received an illuminating email from renowned golf course critic Darius Oliver — author of Planet Golf and Planet Golf USA — that I thought readers of this blog would find quite interesting. I am publishing a portion of that email here, with permission …
Read MorePresidents Cup coming to China in 2015?
Well, five-time British Open champion Peter Thomson would sure like to see it happen: Thomson, who captained the International team to its only victory over the Americans in The Presidents Cup, believes the time is right for the biennial series to be played in China …
Read More“You can’t have that many Mission Hills and have it make sense”
Golf Course Architecture magazine recently published a 2,600-word quote-packed story by Adam Lawrence that gives a nice overview of the whys and hows of China’s current boom in golf course development. Of course, no one seems to agree on what it all means or where …
Read More“We had to explain to him what all those little balls in the backyard were”
In the September 13 issue of Forbes Asia Ron Gluckman files a profile of the Chus — dubbed the “first family” of golf in China by the magazine for their massive resorts in Shenzhen and Hainan. Gluckman even managed to score an interview with patriarch …
Read MoreCindy Reid: China “not the panacea that people think”
The current issue of Global Golf Post1 features a refreshingly candid interview with China-based golf instructor Cindy Reid, which may help temper some of the more pie-in-the-sky beliefs about the growth of golf here. A couple choice quotes: GGP: What is the biggest misconception about …
Read MoreCNN.com zeros in on Mission Hills Hainan (and quotes me)
“Green fury over China’s golfing Hawaii” looks at golf development on Hainan Island — especially massive Mission Hills — from an environmental angle.
Read MoreWhere’s the other Pebble Beach golf club? China, of course
You’d think it’s just another in a long line of Chinese golf courses choosing to “borrow” the name of a well known course in the United States (see Pine Valley, Mission Hills, et al.), but according to the most recent issue of China International Business, …
Read MoreA different look at Hainan (er, “Southern China”)
Sorry for the silence here recently. I just got out from under a variety of deadlines, including my latest story for Golf World. That piece, like several of my recent efforts, features China’s Hainan Island, perhaps the busiest place in the world in terms of …
Read MoreNorman and Woods headed to China
That’s Greg Norman and Elin Woods, mind you. A couple days ago, Australia’s Daily Telegraph reported that the country’s highest-earning sportsman was closing his only office in Australia to “chase the Asian golfing dollar through China.” The paper continued, “[T]he design company has opened a …
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