Fri, October 16, 2009
Competition in the local golf industry could become more intense after the formerly elite pastime was declared an Olympic sport.
While it remains expensive to play a game on one of the city's golf courses, residents who have never wielded an iron now have the opportunity to practice swings, for free.
For example, every day, salespeople from driving ranges near the Eastern 5th Ring Road are distributing invitations to people in local communities for a couple of free ball-hitting sessions. The catch is that if you don't buy a membership card on the spot, you may expect to be chased by the salespeople's follow-up calls in the many days to come.
Golf officials may be happy to learn the marketing campaigns by the driving ranges, because they can educate people about the sport and help dispel its past bad reputation, as a vanity game of the moneyed classes, and a potential threat to the environment.
Beijing has more than 60 courses and far more driving ranges. Many company executives and working professionals play golf and regard it as hassle-free workout regime.
Anyone with a discount card can hit a bucket of 100 balls in green surroundings for 40 yuan ($5.5) at a driving range mostly in an outlying area, anytime between dawn and midnight. There are also daily-fee golf courses for people who are not club members but who still want to head out to the course once in a while.
Despite increasing popularity of the sport in China, the government has imposed a number of restrictions due to environmental consideration and concern over the widening social division. Golf operators say they are paying the same high business taxes as a bar or discotheque.
How will the government change its policies toward the golf industry, now that the International Olympic Committee has decided to add golf to the program for the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro? Zhang Xiaoning, vice president of China Golf Association (CGF), reportedly said China's golf sport "will have a totally different situation from now on" and he expected his organization to have more support from the public as well as the government.
Local golf players must think likewise as they try to capture more market shares with a lot of drive. Residents may enjoy more free swings in the future.
