Golf in Asia - from pleasant leisure to professional heights
Golf is an exciting lesson for the ordinary man and sometimes a lifetime for professionals. Once formed stereotype that this sport is an integral part of belonging to the elite and aristocracy has been gradually dissolved.
Henceforth, golf courses are not only an attribute of specialized clubs, but also a part of the infrastructure of tourist points and hotels.
The golf stepped in Asia with the opening in 1829 of the first golf club in India, later named "Royal Calcutta". At the same time, this club became the first one created outside the UK. At the same time, the first Indian amateur golf tournament was held, which was one of the oldest national championships in the world.
Almost half a century later, golf continued its march across the Asian continent. Playgrounds appeared in Malaysia, Thailand, Hong Kong, Japan.
The wave of modern development of golf, as a sport, swept Asia in the 60s of last century. And for today in this part of the world there are about 6000 courts, more than 200 projects are at the different stages of realization.
In 2009, the Asian Golf Industry Federation was established by a group of stakeholders. Members of this non-profit regional organization are over 80 largest companies dealing with construction and equipping of golf clubs and courts, service companies and architects of golf courses, development companies.
According to the updated study of the authoritative British bank HSBC “Stay of Play 2020: Golf Report”, the volume of the rapidly growing market of golf tourism in Asia and the Middle East is estimated at more than $ 1 billion.
The statistics of the American marketing company "National Golf Foundation" says Japan has taken the second place in terms of the scale of the golf market in the world. From 5 to 8% of the country’s population play golf.
In Korea, about 5% of the population considers themselves golfers. And now representatives of the business world related to golf, look hopefully at China. More than 65 million citizens of the PRC, playing golf, spend about a billion dollars for outfit. There are 600 to 1000 golf fields already functioning or under construction.
As for the big sport, in the women’s game six Asian-born female golfers are among the top ten world stars. Among them - Thai Ariya Jutanugarn, Japanese Haru Nomura, Lydia Ko (the New Zealander born in South Korea).
According to the ratings and achievements, over the last 20 years, South Korea, Japan, Thailand, and Vietnam have grown to the golf leaders in Asia. Asian golf is developing in progressive way. While in July 2012, only four players (three from Japan and four from South Korea) ranked the top-100 players of the Official World Golf Ranking, within four years in the middle of 2016 the number increased to 10 (four golfers from Japan, 2 - from Thailand, 1 - from India). The Chinese golfers Wu Ashun and Haotong Li are approaching this plank.
Golf gains more and more fans in Asia. In Iran, it appeared in 1920s thanks to Western oil and gas producers, foreign diplomats. For many years, Iranian people did not show much interest in golf.
Today, a golf course in the Tehran sports complex "Enghelab Sport Complex", located at the beautiful foothills of the Alborz Mountains, is visited by more than 3,500 people, 500 of them are women. Since 1995, the country has a Golf Federation, which registered 3000 players. The peak of the popularity of golf is observed in the provinces of East Azarbaijan, Ardebil, Isfahan, Alborz, Tehran, Chaharmahal Bakhtiari, Khorasan Razavi, South Khorasan, Khuzestan, Zanjan, Semnan, Sistan and Baluchestan, Fars, Qom, Kerman, Kermanshah, Golestan, Gilan, Lorestan, Mazandaran.
In the past twenty years, golf enthusiasm has been thriven in Central Asia. Kazakhstan is the regional leader in the number of golf clubs. There are eight clubs in the country and one children's academy.
In Turkmenistan, a mini-golf courses can be found on the adjacent territories of many hotels in the national tourist area of Avaza. The opening of the first golf club in Ashgabat will undoubtedly encourage the development of this fascinating sport in our country, which can be considered more than just sports. Golf is rather the desire for excellence and sophistication of logical thinking.
