American golfer Phil Mickelson announced this weekend that he will build a par-3 course for children with a golf academy in Kunming to promote the sport at the grassroots level, according to an AFP report.

Speaking on the sidelines of the WGC-HSBC Champions tournament in Shanghai this weekend, Mickelson, the current number two golfer in the world, said that his goal was to build a base for golf in China among the country's youth.

The sport of golf, which is suffering elsewhere in the world due to the global economic downturn and other factors, has high hopes for China, one of the few places in the world where courses are still being built.

The course and academy in Kunming and the upcoming The World Course in Tianjin, which is inspired by great holes from around the world, will be Mickelson's first golf projects outside of the United States.

"This is a tremendous opportunity to help develop the game in the largest emerging market in the world," he told reporters in Shanghai.

For Kunming, Mickelson's announcement strengthens the city's status as China's golf city. In last year's rankings of China's best golf courses by Golf Digest magazine, three of the top six courses in the country were located in Kunming. Both of the top two courses were located at Spring City Golf & Lake Resort, whose lake course edged out its mountain course for top honors.

Getting more than just children from wealthy families in Kunming to embrace golf will be a challenge, as no public courses exist and green fees at clubs such as Spring City and Lakeview Golf are more than US$100 for one round of golf.

Former Spring City general manager Arthur Yeo recently told ESPN that golf still has a long way to go before it achieves widespread acceptance from Chinese society – and the government.

"It is still an elitist sport, and for over 25 years it has been discouraged," said Yeo. "Right now, the government doesn't know how to respond because they still have to worry about the general public. Their power base is the general public."

Phil Mickelson image: Telegraph

Recently US magazine Golf Digest selected what it considered to be China's top ten golf courses, with three of the top six courses being in Kunming. Perhaps surprisingly for those unfamiliar with golf in China, the top two courses are both located at the same resort - Spring City Golf and Lake Resort in the Yangzonghai resort area, approximately 45 kilometers southeast of Kunming.

How did Kunming end up having the two best courses in China? GoKunming spoke with Spring City General Manager Arthur Yeo - who has been involved in the Spring City project since its inception in the early 1990s - about the challenges and rewards of building a world-class travel destination in Kunming:

GoKunming: Spring City's Mountain and Lake Courses were recently named the top two courses in China - what other awards has Spring City won in the last few years?

Arthur Yeo: In the last few years we have won many awards - we average about 10 per year – it would be too lengthy to mention all of them.

However, some of the more significant awards are: Best Golf Course in China and Hong Kong by US Golf Digest [1999, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2007 - they rank once in every two years], Best 500 Holes in the World in 2000 [18th hole mountain course designed by Jack Nicklaus] awarded by US Golf Magazine, Best Golf Course in Asia awarded by Asia Golf Monthly from 2004 to 2007, 100 Best Courses outside US ranked by US Golf Digest in 2005 & 2007 [ranked once every 2 years] and Best Golf Resort in China by World Travel Award [London] from 2005 to 2007

GK: How does Spring City overcome the challenge of having the best courses in China but being far from the coast?

Yeo: The recipe is a combination of good design, good construction adhering strictly to USGA specifications, good greenskeeping practice, good service management, spring-like weather all year round and being located in a very picturesque location with mountains and a lake.

This unique combination entices people to make Spring City Golf & Lake Resort a specific must-visit destination. Once they have visited the resort, they always come back again with their friends.

GK: What regions do Spring City's guests come from these days? Where do Kunming residents fit into the picture?

Yeo: Our overseas guests are typically from Southeast Asia, Japan and South Korea but we also have many local Chinese guests. We are also attracting a growing number of expatriates working and living in China – they tend to be from the USA, Australia and Europe.

Also, the number of golfers in Kunming is growing very fast and they form our bread-and-butter players.

GK: Yunnan has some of the best courses in China, do you think it can become synonymous with golf holidays like Florida in the US?

Yeo: Currently, no, as the number of golf courses in Yunnan is limited to seven at present.

However, this could happen in the future. Florida is a very established and developed golf community as compared with the Yunnan golf industry, which only started up 10 years ago.

GK: As golf becomes a more established sport in China and fewer new courses are built, what trends do you foresee for courses and golf as a sport in general around the country in the next few years?

Yeo: The development of golf has a positive impact on the economic and social development of the country - the current trend is that there are more and more golf courses popping up in China even with the central government clamping down on the development of golf courses nationwide. Also, there is a rapid increase in the number of Chinese learning and taking up golf.

Golfing in China will explode, however, the central government in my opinion should not curb the development of golf but rather monitor and control a healthy development of the golf industry in China. More emphasis should be given to:

1. Increasing education in golf maintenance and management to make sure that there are sufficient qualified people running and managing golf courses

2. Ensuring that minimal potential farmland is being used for golf development

3. Ensuring that quality golf courses are being built in a way that maximizes the use of land resources

4. Using 'green belts' within cities to develop public golf courses for public access at a reasonable price

5. Implementing strict environmental guidelines and controls for golf course developers in order to protect the environment.

Related article: China's top ten golf courses: Kunming is king

US-based Golf Digest magazine has released its annual list of what it considers to be the China's top ten golf courses. According to the magazine's editors, if you're looking for China's best courses, forget Shanghai, Beijing or Shenzhen – the best golf in China is in Kunming.

Kunming took three of the top six spots on Golf Digest's list, here are the results:

1. Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Lake course), Kunming, Yunnan province

2. Spring City Golf & Lake Resort (Mountain course), Kunming, Yunnan province

3. Sheshan Golf Club, Shanghai

4. Shenzhen Golf Club, Shenzhen, Guangdong province

5. Tiger Beach Golf Links, Haiyang, Shandong province

6. Lakeview Golf Club, Kunming, Yunnan province

7. Jian Lake Golf & Country Club, Shaoxing, Zhejiang province

8. Trans Strait Golf Club, Fuzhou, Fujian province

9. Pine Valley Golf Resort & Country Club (Old course), Beijing

10. Mission Hills Golf Club (Norman course), Shenzhen, Guangdong province

Kunming ended up beating out the big coastal cities with the top two courses – both at Spring City Golf and Lake Resort. Designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, Spring City's Lake course was named best in China, beating out Spring City's other championship course, the Jack Nicklaus-designed Mountain course.

Kunming reappears at the number six spot on the list with Lakeview Golf Club, which has been the site of the Yunnan stops of the Omega China Tour as well as the Faldo Series Asia.

Shanghai's Sheshan Golf course rounded out the top three.

Shenzhen is the only other city with multiple courses in Golf Digest's top ten – Shenzhen Golf Club was named number four, while Mission Hills Golf Club's Greg Norman-designed course came in tenth.

Editor's note: This story was cross-posted on China Sports Today

Image: Spring City Golf & Lake Resort

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