Austin Ramzy writes: HONG KONG — President Xi Jinping’s crackdown on vice and corruption in China has gone after drugs, gambling, prostitution, ill-gotten wealth and overflowing banquet tables. Now it has turned to a less obvious target: golf. In a flurry of recent reports, …
Read MoreListen: BBC World Service’s ‘Business Matters’ program on golf in China
BBC’s Roger Hearing talks to Dan Washburn, author of The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream, about China’s complicated relationship with golf. This segment aired on April 9, 2015.
Read MoreMy story for CNN Money: China declares war on ‘forbidden game’ of golf
There are no Chinese golfers participating in The Masters this week, and perhaps that is fitting. It’s already been a rough spring for “the rich man’s game” in China. On March 30, Chinese authorities announced the closure of 66 “illegal” golf courses — roughly …
Read MoreJack Nicklaus on golf in China: ‘They keep changing the rules every week’
Over the years, golf legend Jack Nicklaus has been one of the most prolific course architects working in China. But it’s clear the place has even the Golden Bear a bit befuddled. Speaking with Bloomberg’s Shelby Holliday recently, Nicklaus understandably appeared a bit frustrated by …
Read MoreHow you can give The Forbidden Game for Father’s Day even before it is released
A lot of people have expressed interest in giving copies of The Forbidden Game as Father’s Day gifts. Since the book won’t be released until shortly after Father’s Day – June 19 in the UK and July 15 in the US – we created a …
Read MoreGolf included in Shanghai kindergarten’s ‘man cave’
According to a CCTV report, a “special kindergarten” in Shanghai is teaching its male students “how to be tougher” — and golf, apparently, is part of the recipe.
Read MoreEarly reviews for my Unsavory Elements chapter
This hopefully bodes well for my forthcoming book (due out sometime next year from Oneworld Publications), from which my Unsavory Elements chapter is loosely adapted.
Read MoreListen to me talk golf in China on BBC Radio’s The Golf Show
“On this week’s Golf Show we hear from Dan Washburn who is an expert on golf in China, where there has been a recent boom in the sport.”
Read MoreMy brief encounter with Guan Tianlang in 2005
I’d like to be able to say, “I knew this kid would be making headlines from the moment I met him.” But, to be completely honest, I didn’t event remember meeting him. If not for this tweet from a writer in Beijing, I’d still have …
Read MoreGlobe and Mail on Chinese droughts and illegal golf courses
The Globe and Mail interviewed me about recent stories in the Chinese media linking China’s golf course boom with the country’s drought problems.
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