
Golf in China Is Younger Than Tiger Woods, but Growing Up Fast - danso
http://www.nytimes.com/2013/07/14/magazine/golf-in-china-is-younger-than-tiger-woods-but-growing-up-fast.html?hp&_r=0&pagewanted=all
======
danso
All in all, the child athlete training regimens here don't sound all that more
narrow or rigorous than what other nations have done for their Olympic
aspirations in other sports...but the OP is particularly interesting, I guess,
because it seems to be fueled by the upper-middle class acting out of their
own initiative, rather than just a top-down mandate. It's as if golf is the
new race for those who would otherwise want their children to be famous
surgeons and engineers.

The abandoning of school just to practice golf is...off-putting...at least
there's the consolation that there's huge money in professional golf, unlike
all the other niche Olympic sports (weightlifting, field events) that nations
invest in just to rack up a raw medal count.

Also: obligatory section that directly relates to HN-type discussions:

> _A few years ago, American golf academies seemed poised to flood the China
> market. But several famous ones that opened branches in China — run by golf
> luminaries like David Leadbetter and Cindy Reid — have closed, often after
> disagreements with local partners. It’s a pattern any foreigner doing
> business in China would recognize: Chinese firms tend to nudge out their
> foreign partners once the technology has been transferred and the local
> company has built up its own strength and know-how._

------
OldSchool
My only observation of golf is how it is neat trick to create apparently more
valuable real estate out of otherwise nearly valueless and featureless land by
building a golf course. Can't build a beach, can't build a mountain, can't
build a real lake without a real river, but a golf course, yes, we can build
one of those.

China seems overdue to fall into permanent Japanese-style economic stagnation.
Maybe we can flog their economy to death with overpriced golf course housing
developments.

------
jcampbell1
Golf in China is crazy expensive. In the US, there are generally places to
play for ~$40 a round, in fact there are two courses in NYC accessible by
subway for that price. In China, the cheapest I could find was ~$150/round.

I wonder if the Chinese public will be interested in the PGA once this
generation is playing on the tour. The sport is just so inaccessible to the
public, that it is possible none in China will care about their success.

------
combataircraft
Growing fast by cutting trees

------
dmead
golf is an arrogant sport to begin with. it will be even more arrogant in a
culture where a billion people compete for space.

~~~
GuiA
What's arrogant about it?

~~~
pitt1980
probably referencing the fact that it consumes alot of resources

takes alot of green spaces that could be turned into parks, only lets a few
people use them

depending on where the course is you consume alot of resources watering the
course

have to be fairly well of to get any use out of a golf course

not saying I agree, but I'm guessing thats the argument,

(had a gf that laid out roughly that argument)

~~~
icebraining
[http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.pt/2010/04/alot-is-
better-...](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.pt/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-
you-at-everything.html)

