By CGTN's Keerqinfu
Golf is facing a crossroads in China: people are showing great interest in this elegant sport and it's become a new lifestyle, but the country's anti-corruption drive has also slowed development.
A series of scandals that have linked golf to corruption have put the golf industry in a very embarrassing position. But Jack Zhang, founding managing partner of Foley Performance Academy, a golf academy in Florida, told CGTN's Dialogue he was still optimistic about the competitiveness of Chinese golf.
1
He also said he would keep up efforts to enter the Chinese golf market and train top golfers.
"What we are doing right now is on a different spectrum of what is going on with anti-corruption. Anti-corruption is on the real estate side. What we are doing is purely on the athletic, on the sports side. And our major focus right now is young athletes.”
Zhang said they worked with the China Golf Association, who recently laid out a “grand plan”: “they want to produce 30 million young golfers in the upcoming decade, for the preparation of upcoming Olympic Games,” he noted.
2
China, it seems, is well destined to produce top golfers. In the opinion of PGA instructor Sean Foley, a former coach of golf star Tiger Woods, the sport perfectly combined with the Chinese character.
"I really think that golf and Chinese tradition and society, they fit so well together. It’s quiet, respect, hard work, diligence, getting knock down, getting back up.”
“I really think that it could ultimately over the next 20 years… catch on like a wild fire, as far as the desire to participate in the game."
