the forbidden game golf and the chinese dream

But he was forbidden to play because he was a lowly security guard, so he devised kind of in secret a way that he could try this game.Īnd the moment that you mentioned, he was at the driving range at the golf club that he worked at, and the upper staff of the golf club, they were trying to hit this ball over the 225-yard marker at the end of the driving range, over the hill. That was the first time Zhou had even heard the word golf. He gets a job as a security guard at a golf course in Guangdong Province - the birthplace of golf in China.

He grew up in a very poor mountain village in arguably the poorest province in China - Guizhou China.

And his inspiring story is really at the heart of the book. Tell us about Zhou Xunshu and don't leave out the first time he hit a golf ball.ĭW: I think Zhou is really the ultimate underdog. Zhou Xunshu (Courtesy Dan Washburn)īL: There’s a great story in 'The Forbidden Game' about how a peasant-turned-golf-course-security-guard took up the game. So, the PGA Tour in China the way the PGA can get its foot in the door in the market they view as the next big thing - or they hope to be the next big thing - but for China it's a way for golfers to earn these valuable world ranking points and get their names on the Olympic radar. The way you do that is by attaining world ranking points, and the only way you can do that is by competing in international tournaments. Now that golf is an Olympic sport - we all know that China is more than a little crazy about Olympic medals - the government is starting to pay some attention to the game, and they want to get as many Chinese golfers competing in the Olympics as possible. And when I say Chinese golfers, I'm not talking about recreational golfers. To what extent has that become a popular event in the country.ĭW: I think it's more important for the development of Chinese golfers than it is for the development of Chinese fans of the game. A few years ago the government started looking at a satellite photos to try to get a handle on the number of golf courses in the country.īL: Just three weeks ago, the PGA Tour China held its last event of 2014. No one knows exactly how many because it was so unregulated. And right now there's anywehere between 600 and 1,000. Since the moratorium went into effect, no other country has built more golf courses than China. So in 2004, according to state media, China had around 176 golf courses. But what they did was they instituted this ban and, in effect, turned their backs and let this thing that they were supposedly trying to stop grow even more out of control. Beijing issued a ban on it citing an out-of-control real estate market and the illegal seizure of farmland - both very valid concerns. Highlights from Bill's conversation with Dan WashburnīL: How did it happen that the construction of golf courses came to be forbidden in China?ĭW: Well, the most recent moratorium on golf course construction came about in 2004. Washburn spoke with Bill Littlefield on Only A Game. That's one of several challenges Dan Washburn explores in his new book, 'The Forbidden Game: Golf and the Chinese Dream.' Building one in a country where course construction is against the law is even harder work. Twitter facebook Email This article is more than 7 years old.īuilding a golf course is hard work.

The forbidden game golf and the chinese dream