Elite, expensive

Since its introduction to China 28 years ago, golf has been regarded as an elite, expensive sport. At the Sigesen club, non-members pay 1,080 yuan per person per round and caddies expect a tip of at least 100 yuan. Even with a permanent membership, which costs 188,000 yuan per person, the price of a round is still 260 yuan.

The fees are likely to remain high since the central government restricted construction of new golf courses because of concerns about land and water resources.

So far, China has produced few really excellent professional golfers. Liang Wenchong and Feng Shanshan are probably the only homegrown players capable of competing with foreign players. In June, Feng, 22, became the first Chinese golfer to win the LPGA Championship in the US.

However, the golfing authorities are attempting to boost the sport following the decision of the International Olympic Committee in 2010 to reintroduce golf at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro, said Zhang Zhuo'an.

In 2010, about 3 million people in China played golf, but that number could soar to 50 million by 2020, according to the Huidian report.

"It's a good chance for golf in China, and the industry will require an enormous number of pros to manage clubs," said Li Yuesheng.

At present, there are only 600 golf courses nationwide, but the number of new courses is rising by 20 to 30 percent annually, according to the Hebei Institute's data.

Each 18-hole course has at least 400 employees, from managers to caddies and greenskeepers, said Li, and his calculations suggest that the industry requires at least 240,000 workers. However, more than 60 percent of current workers studied at middle or high schools and lack the necessary knowledge of the sport, so many clubs are planning to replace their current staff with golf graduates.

The tough nature of the work means that some clubs in Shanghai have an annual employee turnover of 70 percent, while the lowest staff turnover rate was still more than 10 percent, said Wu Ming, director of the Institute of Golf Management at Shanghai Jiao Tong University.

Working with clubs

In their first two years at the Hebei Institute, students learn golfing theory, etiquette and the rules of the game. To gain practical experience at running a club, they are assigned two-year internships at clubs nationwide, including the Sigesen club in Beijing.

In 2009, Zhang Zhigang, Beijing Sigesen's deputy general manager, was impressed with the performance of two interns of the Hebei Institute, so he contacted the school and promised to employ more of its graduates.

"The golf industry is fundamentally about service. Many jobs such as turf maintenance and caddying are hard work, and require not only a knowledge of the game, but also a good service attitude," said Zhang.

Feng Jian said he learned about many aspects of the industry during his internship, especially how to deal correctly with high-end customers. "I knew how to do the job of a caddie or receptionist because the clubs told us about all the processes and problems we had to avoid. The experience gave me an advantage when I graduated and began looking for a job."

In the past two years, Zhang Zhigang's club has recruited more than 40 students from the institute, accounting for 15 percent of its total workforce. Each year, the club focuses on developing five key employees who have shown potential and are interested in running the course. Feng Jian is one of the workers listed.

Other sports colleges are following this template. Shenyang Sport University in Liaoning province enrolled its first group of 30 students last year and plans to have them intern at nearby clubs.

"The benefit of working with the clubs is also reflected in teaching resources. All the schools should employ more golf professors, but the clubs now have a lot more professionals that we can invite to teach our students," said Cao Jihong, dean of the social sports college at the university.

"Clubs and colleges have their own comparative advantages, so the only way to produce high-quality golf professionals is to work with the schools. We give a helping hand to colleges in building up golf majors, and we can send our workers for further education when those majors mature," said Zhang. "When that happens the industry will be upgraded with more professionally trained talent."

Liu Ce in Shenyang contributed to this report.

Contact the reporters at huyongqi@chinadaily.com.cn and peipei@chinadaily.com.cn