"If the numbers are correct, how could the average Chinese person go out and spend $2,000 on a new set of Nike clubs, then spend $80+ for every 18 hole round?"

With this Reuters report making the rounds suggesting only one in 20 golf courses in Beijing having been developed legally, what better time than to debate China's horrible human rights track record the idea of exporting the failed American model for golf.

Reader Justin emailed awhile back after reading The Future of Golf and asked:

The old business model (building "championship" courses by Tom Fazio and Jack Nicklaus, charging out the nose for the latest-and-greatest equipment) no longer works here in the States- those in the know have made that perfectly clear.   However, instead of changing the model, all it seems like they're doing is moving that model to China.  For a country that averages nearly $5,000/year wages (per a 2006 survey), there doesn't seem to be a way for that to work.   

The likes of Jack Nicklaus, among others, pushed so hard for golf to be an Olympic sport.  What is they're fascination with golf in China (and India) other than to continue the growing of their bank accounts?  If the numbers are correct, how could the average Chinese person go out and spend $2,000 on a new set of Nike clubs, then spend $80+ for every 18 hole round?  I am far from omniscient, but it still doesn't make any sense to me.  

Me neither. Anyone out there that's traveled to China who sees the dying American model working in China?