Local golf courses never 'approved'

The number of golf courses in Beijing has more than tripled since 2004, but almost none of them have official approval from the government as golf course projects.

Developing golf courses in the capital often masquerade as creating "green belts" or building "tourism projects", Han Liebao, executive deputy director of the golf education and research center at the Beijing Forestry University, told METRO.

"We cannot call them illegal golf courses, though," Han said. "There are no authorities in charge of applications to develop golf courses."

When developers want to build a golf course, they have no relevant bureaus to turn to, he added.

With the rise of China's middle class in the last decade, luxury sports such as golf are becoming increasingly popular. From 1994 to 2004 there were only 170 golf courses in China but now there are more than 500, according to Han.

In Beijing, there were only 20 before 2004, now the number of golf courses with at least 18 holes is more than 60.

The first golf course in Beijing, the Beijing International Golf Club, was built near the Ming Tombs reservoir in 1986 with investment from a Japanese company. From then until 2004, golf courses were built as "tourism or merchant projects".

"They were walking a fine line by doing that," Han said.

However, in October 2004, the State Council restricted approvals for high-end real estate and golf courses. The policy was meant to stop the waste of arable land inside the city, but ended up making golf course development even more secretive.

"After 2004, many golf courses were built in suburbs such as Daxing and Shunyi," said Li Ming, an independent board director of a Beijing-based bank. Li is a big fan of golf and plays at least twice a week.

Li said that some golf courses were expanded as 'green belt projects', such as the Wanliu golf course near the Fourth Ring Road, built in 2003.

"Golf is healthy and costs less money than most other ways of getting together with my clients," Li said. "A dinner with clients often costs at least 10,000 yuan, but a round of golf costs only several hundred to several thousand yuan."

Li is a member of about five clubs in Beijing. The cheapest membership fee at any of these clubs is 300,000 yuan and the most expensive is as much as one million yuan, he said.

Li said since the middle class in Beijing will only keep growing, building golf courses should be encouraged.

"A well-planned golf course can save a deteriorating environment. A golf course was built in southwestern Beijing on a sandy river beach, for example, which helped stop the local sandstorm'," he said.

"Funding for the maintenance of the green belt from the government is not sufficient," Zhang Qun, operation director of Bayhood 9 golf course, said. "Expanding it through developing golf courses can serve the environmental purposes and earn some money."

Sun Anmin, deputy director of the National People's Congress law committee, also suggested most golf courses be given legal status retroactively at a conference during the annual session on March 7, saying that the courses provide employment and green space in urban areas.