Currently China and Britain
are jointly training golf management personnel. One of the prestigious golf
management schools in Europe, Elmwood College of Scotland, has trained 42 golf
management teachers in China since 1999.
Wang Wentao, mayor of Kunming, the capital of Yunnan Province, revealed that
the local government would fully support Yunnan Agricultural University to set
up a golf management school.
From 1999 to 2005, the R&A, St. Andrews, the world golf rules and
development body, has consigned a comprehensive training plan to Elmwood
College, asking it to cultivate golf management teachers for China. Teachers
from China Agricultural University, Shenzhen Tourism College, Yunnan
Agricultural University, Shenzhen University and Tongji University have studied
in Elmwood.
Currently there are some 310 golf courses in China and millions of people are
practicing golf. Some 640 thousand people served in the golf industry in 2005,
while in the 1980s, this number was just four thousand.
"Kunming is a city of spring and sunlight, where 364 days in a year are
suitable for playing golf," said Wang.